Generator Cover Protection

[markjenn]

I just got back from a tour of the Texas Hill Country where a friend of mine had the misfortune of a minor drop on a rain-slick road. He was riding a rented 2005 FJR which was just like mine at home. (I was on a R1200RT which I didn't particularly care for.)

The damage was mostly the typical scratched plastic, but I was surprised how badly the generator cover fared. Despite the fairly low speeds, it was heavily ground down and holed. We managed a duct-tape patch with tie-wraps holding the patch on and limped home with only a minor oil leak, but this was definitely the weak point on the bike with respect to patching up the bike and continuing a trip after a relatively minor accident.

I had someone back into mine in a parking lot and knock it off the sidestand and the generator cover was again the spot that took the biggest hit.

Any suggestions for providing some protection for this fragile part? Would frame sliders save it? Does anybody make a sacrificial cover?

- Mark

 

[Ignacio]

I would search on +carbon +fiber +stator and you'll see various discussion about this before.

 

[05fjrBluedevil]

I think that the sliders may have helped, and the high way peg seemed to help as well, but that could also rip the screws out of the cover. to bad i got to test this out myself yesterday!

 

[radman]

Guy at WFO5 laid 'er down, had the carbon fiber cover on, and still punched 'er through. Hit shit, sumpin's gonna come out bad. But, since you asked...........

Bike Johnny Cover

 

[SkooterG]

It has been commonly accepted that the stator cover is the weak link in a lowside on the left side. Hole it, and oil will leak out that can preclude an otherwise rideable bike from getting home. That is why the CF cover has been such a popular farkle.

However, I am not so sure the conventional wisdom is correct.

At WFO-5 one of our members (worldboundfornow?) low sided and holed the cover. IIRC, he ran it with that hole for quite a while and while oil was leaking out, it was only a minscule amount. From my foggy memory, it seemed that one could still go many, many miles with a hole in the cover. I remember being quite surprised, and thinking the big $$$ I spent on a cover was perhaps not necessary.

Still, good insurance I suppose.

Bummer on wrecking a rented bike. Hope the rider is ok. How much did it cost him?

Edit: Radman - are you sure that bike had the cover on?

 

[SkooterG]

As much as it pains me to admit this radman - you were right. :blink:

Ahhhh.....young grasshoppers. CLICKY HERE for the path to crashed FJRs with holes in the carbon fiber stator cover enlightenment!

Sho 'nuff. That FJR had the CF cover on it, and still holed the aluminum cover.

Still, as I thought, he rode it several hundred miles home without any measureable oil loss.

 

[radman]

As much as it pains me to admit this radman - you were right. :blink:
Ahhhh.....young grasshoppers. CLICKY HERE for the path to crashed FJRs with holes in the carbon fiber stator cover enlightenment!

Sho 'nuff. That FJR had the CF cover on it, and still holed the aluminum cover.

Still, as I thought, he rode it several hundred miles home without any measureable oil loss.

Yup. The alternator area isn't a reservoir for oil, nor does it carry pressure, other than crankcase windage, so as long as it isn't holed right at the bottom, a guy could survive the holing. In the case of the WFO incident, at worst a plug of RTV would have sealed it well enough to make it home if there was any concern.

 

[Charlie Hoss]

It seems like a gen cover guard could be made that would attach to the cover screws, cover the lower rounded edge of said cover, be made of possibly SS steel for strength, and sell for a reasonable price.

SKYWAY?

 

[Groo]

Maybe if we made the gen covers out of that stuff airplane black boxes are made of...

 

[Bounce]

https://www.fjr-tips.org/mods/ea/ea.html

 

[twowheelnut]

Deleted

 

[markjenn]

Bummer on wrecking a rented bike. Hope the rider is ok. How much did it cost him?

Thanks for asking. No injuries to speak of, just a bruised hip. He was wearing proper gear and the speeds were low, perhaps 20-30 mph when he fell. He had the extra renter's insurance, but that just reduced his liability from actual costs to a $2500 deductable which he'll likely pay. He's checking to see if there are any angles on his regular car and bike insurance that might cover a rental situation.

BTW, the guy making the repairs says the cover is only $80 or so. I'm surprised it's so cheap. Mine is scratched from the tipover and I may go ahead and replace it for that.

The outfit renting the bike (www. sportryderrentals.com out of DFW) were nice enough about the shunt and all four of our rented bikes (RT, ST13, FJR, and FZ6) were in good shape.

The oil leak was a slow one, but it would be tough to continue a tour for an extended period of time without affecting more of a repair than we could make with duct tape and tie wraps. The hole was about the size of a nickle. If rode the rest of the day to get back to DFW, but if we had to go further we would have had to do something more permanent - probably fashioned a beer can patch and used some JBWeld or QuickSteel to seal it up.

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I'd like to do something with mine to toughen up this area.

- Mark