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It's a damned bolt for crying out loud. Obsolete? Not in the last 100 years or so. You still have a couple in there. Take one out and see what the count is on it. If you don't know how to do a thread count, take it with you. Go to any hardware store, or Lowes, Home Depot, or any place that sells nuts and bolts and buy one, or a pack, or whatever you need. Jam a metric in a american standard, and you've now ruined it forever.
It's things like this that keep me from ever buying used.
Are there any low cost alternator conversion kits on the market for my '79?
Not that I'm aware of. If I were in your shoes, I'd check the swap meets, classifieds and eBay for a generator with good threads and rebuild it. A rebuild kit will be $50-$60 and it'll come with new bolts, bearings, brushes etc.
It's a damned bolt for crying out loud. Obsolete? Not in the last 100 years or so. You still have a couple in there. Take one out and see what the count is on it. If you don't know how to do a thread count, take it with you. Go to any hardware store, or Lowes, Home Depot, or any place that sells nuts and bolts and buy one, or a pack, or whatever you need. Jam a metric in a american standard, and you've now ruined it forever.
It's things like this that keep me from ever buying used.
It's things like that that have paid for most my bikes through the years and all the mods I do to them . Always have somebodys " Oh **** " to fix
It's a damned bolt for crying out loud. Obsolete? Not in the last 100 years or so. You still have a couple in there. Take one out and see what the count is on it. If you don't know how to do a thread count, take it with you. Go to any hardware store, or Lowes, Home Depot, or any place that sells nuts and bolts and buy one, or a pack, or whatever you need. Jam a metric in a american standard, and you've now ruined it forever.
It's things like this that keep me from ever buying used.
I did not have any bolt to pull out from there, as there were only two and those two the bolts shook loose and fell out while I was riding.... When I pulled into my driving (with a line of leaking oil) I looked down and noticed the generator was just hanging there and held to the bike by my clutch cable and the wires attached to the generator.
*remember, the threads were screwed up when I got the bike - I'm just doing repairs/replacement at this point*
I pre threaded metric and standard bolts into the slot, and the metric fit best.
At this point a heli-coil will be going in and should be complete by the weekend (time permitting).
Quick update - I installed Heli-Coil and it worked great for the first five rides, then I guess the bike just shook the helicoil/bolt loose and I ended up having to McGuyver the genny on with some ZipTies
If you look at the design of the way the generator is held on by only two bolts, its a horrible design.
Because the generator is so dang heavy and long, there should be some type of support strap on the other end, as not to weigh so much stress on the two little bolts on the one side.
With the zip ties in place the generator doesn't even leak or rattle.
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Quick update - I installed Heli-Coil and it worked great for the first five rides, then I guess the bike just shook the helicoil/bolt loose and I ended up having to McGuyver the genny on with some ZipTies
If you look at the design of the way the generator is held on by only two bolts, its a horrible design.
Because the generator is so dang heavy and long, there should be some type of support strap on the other end, as not to weigh so much stress on the two little bolts on the one side.
With the zip ties in place the generator doesn't even leak or rattle.
They make this stuff. It's called loctite. Use some and your worries and your bolt problems are over.
Any hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, or auto parts store will have some. Cheap. Works.
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