Hi ST community,
I’ve been contemplating this upgrade for a couple years, acquiring all the parts, but moreover, dealing with my fear of tacking a job this big and tearing apart the bike in ways that usually trigger cold sweats & nightmares. But with the support of the forum, including the toolkit, the many threads w/ stories detailing the challenges and sticking points, and of course John O himself, this amateur, shadetree mechanic in WI was able to successfully knock it out in a weekend + a few evenings to get all the pieces & plastic back in place.
Thank you again John for having available an amazing, essential toolkit for this project, and thank you for the quick phone consult the evening of day 2 when I was too dense to understand the wiring schematics.
The tools and parts lists, and the many instructions that POs have left in this forum were beyond helpful. I don’t think I can add much more helpful info to what’s already been said, documented or photographed for public consumption. That being said, here’s a link (https://photos.app.goo.gl/A8VCkmd5hG3yc9oR7) to pics taken throughout my journey to document some of the where, what, how. And I’ll leave a few thoughts below in case there are others on the forum w/ one of these antique bikes and are considering upgrading their alt to the new millennium.
1)Take your time. I was by far most efficient & productive when I wasn’t trying to hurry. If you’re like me and this is your first time disassembling THIS MUCH of your ST, it was super important (for me) to stay focused, in the moment, and mindful of each fastener removed, every part taken off the bike, what angle it was in, and in what order. I’d recommend taking photos if there’s any doubt that you’ll struggle to remember how to reassemble. This will pay off during reassembly.
I started removing the plastic on Friday night, and spent Sat/Sun removing the 28 & installing the 40, then M/T/W evenings working my way through re-installation of everything else starting with the swingarm, etc etc.
2)The only real heart dropping moment was when the wire of the Lewis Pin broke during my 1st attempt to yank it out. But following a short break to settle down and regroup, I was surprised how well the alt assembly came back out, and following reinstallation of the new Lewis Pin (using recycled bicycle shifter cable wire, and now part of the kit) and getting the alt assembly snuggly back into it’s it new home, it pulled out just fine.
3)Since this was likely the first time the swingarm was removed/reassembled, just re-lubing all the drive shaft splines seems to have made a subtle, very nice improvement in how the bike handles and accelerates. Just my imagination or have other’s experienced similar?
4)I’d highly recommend installation of a digital voltmeter as part of this project. As long as you’ve got that side of the bike exposed, it’s not much work to wire a voltmeter directly to the battery to ensure you’re within specs. I mounted mine where the headlight adjuster was.
5)I’ve ridden the upgraded alt ~3-4 hours now, and all looks good. The voltmeter shows 14.5 or 14.6 when I start the engine. Though, I noticed that volts decrease by 1/10th with every 15 minutes of riding, with 14.0 as low as I’ve seen it (but still w/in specs according to manual). This might be due to the 4-year-old battery I’m still using, but I’ll keep a watch on this.
Thank you again JohnO and the forum for all the support. John, just let me know where the kit is going next. I’ll hold it safe&sound until I hear from you.
Chris
I’ve been contemplating this upgrade for a couple years, acquiring all the parts, but moreover, dealing with my fear of tacking a job this big and tearing apart the bike in ways that usually trigger cold sweats & nightmares. But with the support of the forum, including the toolkit, the many threads w/ stories detailing the challenges and sticking points, and of course John O himself, this amateur, shadetree mechanic in WI was able to successfully knock it out in a weekend + a few evenings to get all the pieces & plastic back in place.
Thank you again John for having available an amazing, essential toolkit for this project, and thank you for the quick phone consult the evening of day 2 when I was too dense to understand the wiring schematics.
The tools and parts lists, and the many instructions that POs have left in this forum were beyond helpful. I don’t think I can add much more helpful info to what’s already been said, documented or photographed for public consumption. That being said, here’s a link (https://photos.app.goo.gl/A8VCkmd5hG3yc9oR7) to pics taken throughout my journey to document some of the where, what, how. And I’ll leave a few thoughts below in case there are others on the forum w/ one of these antique bikes and are considering upgrading their alt to the new millennium.
1)Take your time. I was by far most efficient & productive when I wasn’t trying to hurry. If you’re like me and this is your first time disassembling THIS MUCH of your ST, it was super important (for me) to stay focused, in the moment, and mindful of each fastener removed, every part taken off the bike, what angle it was in, and in what order. I’d recommend taking photos if there’s any doubt that you’ll struggle to remember how to reassemble. This will pay off during reassembly.
I started removing the plastic on Friday night, and spent Sat/Sun removing the 28 & installing the 40, then M/T/W evenings working my way through re-installation of everything else starting with the swingarm, etc etc.
2)The only real heart dropping moment was when the wire of the Lewis Pin broke during my 1st attempt to yank it out. But following a short break to settle down and regroup, I was surprised how well the alt assembly came back out, and following reinstallation of the new Lewis Pin (using recycled bicycle shifter cable wire, and now part of the kit) and getting the alt assembly snuggly back into it’s it new home, it pulled out just fine.
3)Since this was likely the first time the swingarm was removed/reassembled, just re-lubing all the drive shaft splines seems to have made a subtle, very nice improvement in how the bike handles and accelerates. Just my imagination or have other’s experienced similar?
4)I’d highly recommend installation of a digital voltmeter as part of this project. As long as you’ve got that side of the bike exposed, it’s not much work to wire a voltmeter directly to the battery to ensure you’re within specs. I mounted mine where the headlight adjuster was.
5)I’ve ridden the upgraded alt ~3-4 hours now, and all looks good. The voltmeter shows 14.5 or 14.6 when I start the engine. Though, I noticed that volts decrease by 1/10th with every 15 minutes of riding, with 14.0 as low as I’ve seen it (but still w/in specs according to manual). This might be due to the 4-year-old battery I’m still using, but I’ll keep a watch on this.
Thank you again JohnO and the forum for all the support. John, just let me know where the kit is going next. I’ll hold it safe&sound until I hear from you.
Chris
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