| Author | Message | ||
     Georgehitch17 |
Good morning everyone, I have a 2009 thats been through more stators than tires! The last one was installed at 11,600 its now over 13,600. I do not run it below 5k unless its impossible. Has anyone followed the 5k+ guidelines and put lets say 5k miles on it with no issues??? I'm thinking of riding to Florida which would be 3k miles for total. Just curious how everyones doing with theres, also please mention if you're using the harness or not! Thanks | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
Hi Georgehitch17, I put around 4k on my first stator, with the harness. Then the engine was swapped out for a 2010 engine. The stator in the new engine lasted for about 8k miles, and the replacement stator has about 2k miles on it, still going strong. | ||
| Timebandit |
I have had the harness update since the break-in period. I never let RPM fall below 5000. I've got well over 5k miles on the original stator. One thing that might interest you in terms of promoting longevity is the EBR rotor swap. For a couple hundred bucks you can upgrade your rotor so that it squirts oil on your stator to help cool it. | ||
| Jumpinjewels |
I am currently in the process of replacing the stator/rotor before my 3rd one goes out. I have just under 3k miles on this one and it was already showing signs of burning out. So it maybe had some mileage left before it totally burned up. I try to keep it above 5k as much as possible and was using the harness fix. My bike has just over 10k miles. (Message edited by Jumpinjewels on March 30, 2012) | ||
| Timebandit |
JJ, when you say that your stator is already showing signs of burning out, what do you mean? | ||
| Dhays1775 |
i got my CR at just under 7k miles and i ALWAYS keep the rpms over 4500. only had an issue once, and that was because i got stuck in downtown at stop lights. just passed 12,500 miles. stock stator as far as i know. only replace the relays every 3k miles. am i the only one that trusts his stator? | ||
| Timebandit |
you're not alone.  Regarding PM, I suggested swapping out the relays with every oil change and nearly got my head chopped off by those people who expect the bike to be totally reliable without having to perform maintenance on it. | ||
| Jumpinjewels |
TB, when we removed the stator the upper 4 or so legs were dark brown and the other legs looked normal. When I was at the HD dealer when my 2nd stator blew one of the guys showed me a fried stator and that's what mine was beginning to look like. I'll try to get a pic on here so u can see it. | ||
| Jumpinjewels |
So here's the pic  | ||
| Timebandit |
is that a picture of a good stator or a bad stator? | ||
| Jumpinjewels |
this is the bad one that just came out of my bike last Wed. It was still working but definitely on it's way out. I reviewed your other posting on the good/bad thing. So I guess this is a good stator (was still working) but decided to take it out before it became bad. (Message edited by jumpinjewels on April 01, 2012) | ||
| Timebandit |
There's something to be said for PM, that's for sure. If you prophylactically replace them you'll probably never have a problem, but that can get expensive. Since you have a spare now, you might consider doing a rewind on the original core. If you go that route, it would be good to embed a temp probe or two. And if you're going to the trouble of replacing stators early, you might as well go for the oiling rotor mod as well. The reason I asked if it was good/bad is because it's really hard to predict failure based on the external appearance/discoloration. If you look at the stators in the stator photos thread, there are some nasty looking ones that still work fine, and some pretty good looking ones that went bad. I'm not convinced that there's a lot of predictive value in the external appearance. I'm thinking that measuring changes in insulation resistance would be a more reliable metric. The problem is that to find the answer, you'd have to test maybe a few hundred bikes at a rally and then follow them for failures, retesting them periodically to see if changes in insulation resistance reliably appear before failure. | ||
| Jumpinjewels |
TB, I did replace the rotor as well as I purchased the whole kit from EBR. As far as PM, I rode the bike this weekend after the fix and this is the first time I have ridden my bike with the peace of mind that it's not going to break down and it was worth every penny that I spent LOL.  I have 2 track days coming up in May and I wanted this fixed before then due to the fact that if the bike failed during track time, they don't refund your $$ due to mechanical failure. I also have a 1-2 week vacation planned this summer in the Idaho/Oregon region and didn't want to have the mental stress of "when" not "if" the stator was going to fail again. As far as getting this rewound, probably not. If you'd like to have it, it's yours to play with. | ||
| Curve__carver |
That stator looks pretty normal to me. what are the signs of going bad? | ||
| Timebandit |
I didn't realize that you replaced the entire rotor/stator kit. Switching to the EBR low power setup will probably cure the problems once and for all, so it sounds like you're all done -- no more worrying. Good luck on your track days, and have a great trip! (I have already sent you a PM about rewinding the old stator. Thanks!) (Message edited by timebandit on April 02, 2012) | ||
| Milezero5 |
i really dont think the over 5k rule is very accurate i ride below 5k quite a bit, above, and all around the rev range on my cr and im on the original stator and vr at 21000 miles but thats just me atleast the ebr fix is available | ||
| Timebandit |
21,000 miles on the original stator is pretty impressive. Congrats. Do you have the harness update? (Message edited by timebandit on April 02, 2012) | ||
| Nukeblue |
mine had the harness installed from new. i put 8k on it before the stock one went out. i did not follow any of the 5k rpm nonsense but did not ride in much stop and go stuff | ||
| Timebandit |
for me it's not "nonsense", it's just a matter of using the motor where the bike is fun to ride. to me, the engine is no at all fun in the low rpm band where it behaves like a -- YAWN -- air cooled big twin. to me, that chugging experience is just awful. i tend to ride my bike with the bars buzzing, so my bike rarely sees below 5k. | ||
| Stimbrell |
I would love to see a video of someone riding one of these bikes on the road and rarely seeing below 5K, though town, stop signs, traffic lights, 30mph limits etc, normal places we all have to ride, but rarely seeing below 5K. TunerPro is free and logs data so you could post some logs to show us how you rarely see below 5K if you have no access to video. You keep on saying it so why not show some evidence of what you keep saying. Lets see the video or logs of your riding, but rarely below 5K. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
Challenge accepted. I will post videos this evening as soon as I get the chance. | ||
| Pwillikers |
I commute through Austin where the weather is hot and the traffic congested. I have adopted creative detours that bypass the normally congested areas but the inevitable often happens and I end up snarled in traffic crawling along in 5~15mph. The coolant gets hot, the frame gets hot and I get hot. How should I keep the revs above 5k RPMs in this situation? I suppose I could either pull in the clutch and rev it to 5.5k RPM or commute on my SV instead of the cr or stop working altogether. Obviously, the third option is preferable. In any case, there are clearly environs where 5k RPMs are not practical. To suggest otherwise is silly. | ||
| Dannybuell |
Pwillikers ~ I feel the same way. | ||
| Curve__carver |
Pwk...exactly. I pay zero attention to the 5k theory. 12k on my stator/harness. It behaves the same as.the day it was installed. (first stator was damaged prior to the harness install). | ||
| Timebandit |
PW, I like your third option. that's the one that I chose. Nobody's suggesting that everyone should always ride over 5k RPM, they're just saying that's what's best for the bike and that you should do it if you can. This really isn't something that any of us should spend time arguing about, so I think there's a lot of wasted energy going there -- people tend to mince words way too much about the 5k recommendation. Submitting challenges and suggesting that someone rev at 5k while standing still seem just as silly as saying that you can never run the bike under 5k. None of those statements are particularly helpful. Obviously, if you're on the open road, it's better for the bike to run at higher RPM because oil flow/cooling is proportional to RPM. The "5K rule" isn't really a rule, so much as it was a wake up call for those people who had a preference for riding the 1125 at low RPM, like every other H-D product they're familiar with, and wondered why they were experiencing failures. No doubt, you can't ride at 5k RPM if you're in stop and go city traffic. Some would argue that commuting in stop and go city traffic is just as much, if not more silly than suggesting that you always have to maintain 5k on the tach. Regardless of whehter or not maintaining high RPM is practical for anyone's individual application, facts are facts -- not maintaining adequate RPM *and* MPH at the same time shortens service life for some components. The take home message is not at all unreasonable -- the bike requires RPM to provide oil flow, as well as MPH to provide airflow across the cooler, and to prolong lifespan you should try to provide both. It's not rocket science that if you provide both then things will go better than if you provide one or the other or neither. There tend to be a lot of positions taken on this subject that are just resistant to the 5k recommendation, for whatever reason. Setting reasons and personal opinions aside, I don't think anyone will dispute that the bike will function better and last longer at highway speed at a decent RPM than it will in stop and go city traffic. The individual should consider this and take it for what it's worth when assessing the suitability of the bike for his riding style, and the likelihood that he's going to suffer a breakdown. (Message edited by timebandit on April 03, 2012) | ||
| Timebandit |
"I pay zero attention to the 5k theory. 12k on my stator/harness." There is truth in that statement -- if you have the harness update, you can get away with not paying attention to the 5k theory because the harness takes care of that for you! | ||
| Milezero5 |
timebandit is right, i have the harness upgrade still in and i ride in jacksonville florida traffic everyday i mean its so hot here that im amazed i havent exploded into a fireball lol i do watch my voltage, it drops down to low 12s at idle then goes right back up to high 13s and low 14s when i start moving again i have done a few things to help cooling of the stator and the vr, whether or not they work is anyones guess | ||
| Dannybuell |
Milezero5's changes http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/648244.html | ||
| Timebandit |
Wow! Milezero5 has to have the best looking high-mileage stator that I've ever seen! | ||
| Reepicheep |
That's actually an interesting idea... better thermal transfer out of the stator cover. No idea if it is enough to make a difference, but it is a nice passive and noninvasive approach, and the thinking is sound. | ||
| Georgehitch17 |
keep in mind CR's are geared lower which means they most likely run theres at a higher rpm than our R's I was curious how many CR's have had stators go bad!? | ||
| Timebandit |
that's a really interesting point that you make about gearing and stator failure -- because the oil pump depends on RPM, oil flow depends on RPM. at the same speed, the CR will have more oil flow than the R. you might think that a CR would last longer than an R if they're both driven under the same conditions, just because there's more oil flow. | ||
| Georgehitch17 |
yeah Its always been a thought of mine about the CR everything should perform better when comparing the two... | ||
| Rkc00 |
My CR stator failed at 3500 miles. My R stator failed at 5000 miles. |
