Alternator leads

Dear John,

Your lead will have 47 years worth of baked on crud at bach of grommet and both will be much stiffer than new. Try a kettle ful of boiling water poured down back of primary case onto lead and grommet to soften things up, one of those flexi funnels would help improve your aim!

regards Martin

After all these years the PVC outer sleeving will crisp and crunchy and the grommet in the case will be as hard as a dried up dog biscuit.

I broke up the grommet with the end of a long, thin screwdriver. Then when the stiff PVC outer was released, and I had the stator on the bench, I carefully sliced that outer off. The cable insulation was still nicely flexible underneath so I covered those with a new black PVC cover and heat shrank it at both ends, but left the centre flexible.

It may be easiest to fit the cable back through a new grommet before adding the cable nipples. But I have always had the nipples in place. It is then easier to push and pull the grommet in, with the cable in place, but only if the inner is held on the bench and you can get at both sides. I have done it with the cover on the bike, but you are never 100% sure that the grommet is fully located. Unsatisfying sort of job to do.

Fitting the alternator is indeed a bit of a bugger on Commando's,last did mine in 2010 - Not charging at present so I think I'm going to be doing this again myself shortly My notes state:

• Smear new grommet with silicon grease, insert & rotate to ensure it has seated in the chaincase.
• Do not remove bullets from wire, there should be about 2â of wire protruding from the encapsulating sleeve. Coat the ends of the wires with silicon grease & insert one wire through the grommet & straighten.
• Insert the second & ease through by pushing on one end & keeping tension on thebullets at the rear (needle nose pliers can be used to push the wires through)

I can't remember where the advice cam from,I think it might have been Rosner's (where I purchased what appeared to be the only stator in the UK at the time!). I'd never waste any time trying to refit a hardened usedgrommet; it's mucky & hot back thereso they get very rigid, they're cheap as chips to replace & life is just too short!

I've also got a note about using aplastic lemonade bottle to assist when setting the stator/rotor gap.

Good luck, Mike

<EDIT: Everything can be fitted with the rear chaincase in situ, it's a bit of a pig, but can be done>

Previously Martin Freeman wrote:

Dear John,

Your lead will have 47 years worth of baked on crud at bach of grommet and both will be much stiffer than new. Try a kettle ful of boiling water poured down back of primary case onto lead and grommet to soften things up, one of those flexi funnels would help improve your aim!

regards Martin

hello a hair dryer will do the same thing