That or a piece of right sized (or made to size with a hacksaw) metal tubing.

Best jobs done always employ hammers and hacksaws in my opinion anyhow

Even tho not under tension getting the barstud to line up to wiggle it & so the splines
slide through is the challenge imo

 

Progress Report

I was experiencing quite a bit of frustration with getting the coat hanger wire to depress the pawl whilst it was routed through the start motor aperture.

so i decided to just practice depressing the pawl and releasing the tension with the wire going through the larger hole right in front of me for the alternator. Having successfully released it after a minute or two of fiddling and cursing and bending and fiddling and cursing it released the pawl once more and i pushed the guide down fully.

To my surprise it remained down. Seizing the moment i shoved the assembly through with a socket at the other end as suggested. This worked a treat and i tightened up the three bolts and moved to remove the socket. errrrrr...... NO NO NO

The socket refused to come out, so i released the three bolts and removed it all. This time i tried it without the socket and the tensioner still hadn't tightened up so i put it all together again. the end of the thread still didn't show.

Hmm, out it came again and i took each component off and tried it several times without varoius parts attached. each time it slid straight in and there was plenty of thread.

But as soon as i added the inner larger ring (Part #1) in post #24 i was short.

FINALLY it dawned on me that instead of locating into the bearing the shaft was being pushed back out.

So I held the end with my right hand to keep it central (remember there is no tension on the shaft as the pawl is released and not re tightened) with a few gentle taps of the rubber hammer it worked its way onto the bearing and VIOLA!!!

so simple its beautiful. no spokes, no sockets, just a penny drop that if the shaft was long enough but not getting there it must be being held back or retracting.

Ok, so I've re-assembled the alternator and tightened everything up. I cleaned up the seat of the bearing that sits in the alternator cover and it just dropped in. I few more taps on the mallet had the cover slide in easily. the joy of working with new parts.

I've put the starter motor in, re-attached the battery and hit the starter motor to turn it over.

All sounds very normal and hopefully once the carbs are wrestled into place we can proceed to actually getting it running again.

forgot i had taken off the radiator and put that on my parts bike. so will need to swap that over.

Once its running i will dis-assemble partly to ensure all the cables and hoses are running in the right places.

Now I've done this job I would say the key is the pawl. Once you have this released its simple. i don't quite understand why the tensioner didn't immediately re-tighten but it might be the damper stopping it. with a released tension on the alternator chain you really don't need a spoke or a socket. in fact its a very gentle placement back in the bearing. Well for me it was anyway. I know others have used various approaches but the pawl and the chain being loose is the go!

I huge huge thanks to Seb, Shadow and Sprock who have kept at me to ensure i got it right and got it done.

 

We're here to help Owen

Congratulations - but how are you going to be sure the pawl releases and the alternator chain tensioner...........re-tensions? It'll rattle like a Gillard in Government if it isn't tight.

Well done on your progress thus far.

Cheers, SB

 

Excellent Owen - perseverance wins out

 

SB- Bugger! Thought it would self tighten. Every time I've gone near it it tightens. was just hoping i had got it fully depressed and held with the Damper.

Will start it up and see what sort of noise it makes.

Reckon i could get it apart now in under an hour anyway. Guess I can do the wire again if i need to - did do it once before!

Sigh though!

Owen

 

Carbs back on. wow those circle clips are tedious!

Just the radiator tomorrow and then we will see.

But there is a lot of careful routing of pipes and cables to consider too.

I think i might have a good look at my parts bike to see where everything goes. Its actually much less worked on/molested than this runner!

 

well there is good news and bad news - and more bad news!

It starts - fantastic!

It pisses petrol everywhere

there is (as Seb said there would be) a sound from the alternator chain that sounds like its a rattler

so i will need to get back in there and do it with the spoke after all - sigh!

Petrol is annoying, wasn't leaking before, so maybe i have not connected everything. especially as the parts bike did the same.

Is there a second hose that must be connected i wonder - will search here for solutions

ponder over the MotoGP

 

Great news that it starts, bummer that it rattles and pisses petrol Owen

So here's my take (leaving the petrol issue aside for the moment).

Somehow, and I'm not sure how, the spring to the alternator chain tensioner has been compressed and remained compressed after you put everything back together. This is not good.

The idea of the spoke/wire down the back of the pawl on the tensioner shaft is to leave the tensioner 'floating' not fixed in the lower position. I'm just hoping that the spring isn't broken.

When the alternator shaft is removed initially, the alternator damper still in place holds the tensioner at its 'normal' position. The moment the damper is removed, the tensioner extends and pushes the chain to try and take up the slack. This is the reason the pressure has to be released prior to refitting the replacement/refurbished alternator/damper then alternator shaft assembly. I'm now kicking myself for not taking photos when I did the job initially this time last year.

With the wire/spoke down the back of the ratchet pawl it allows the tensioner to float - to extend fully and as needed be pushed back by the pressure of the alternator damper and assembly shaft refitting allowing everything to line up with minimal fuss or pressure.

Only when everything is reassembled and torqued up should the wire be pulled allowing the ratchet pawl to re-engage with the serrations thus holding the alternator chain under tension.

If I was in Brisbane Owen, I'd pop around to help but alas 2,000 km away.

I'm not sure what may be holding the tensioner down, but that has to work for the alternator chain rattle to cease.

Cheers, SB

 

Seb, thank you for articulating it much better than me! I agree with everything you've said. I'm going back in for sure!

I don't think the spring is broken.

As you say depressing the tensioner fully with the spoke holding the pawl away from the shaft whilst the damper is in place and aligned will put the pawl at the bottom of the shaft with the indents.

But i have removed the spoke and the pawl is simply engaged with the lowest ratchet point and stuck fast at that point.

Once the gubbins are fully assembled with the spoke in place, removing it will cause the shaft to instantly ride up to the correct tension.

At the moment it is just sitting at the same ratchet (the lowest one)

I had thought (why?) that the act of the chain slapping onto the guide would cause the pawl to release and allow it to tighten. Just typing that makes me realize the stupidity of my statement.

going to explore the petrol issue some more first. Starting with removing the tank from the equation or at least propping it up so i can see if petrol is pouring out of it somewhere!!

Ok, I'm rambling......

Owen

 

Ok, there is dumb, there is stupid and there is both-me!

if you put the original fuel pipe back on that runs from the fuel tap to the fuel pump AND you remember to include the clips at each end AND you tighten them....

so no more petrol leak.

Bike starts after a sec or two of churning - cue manic chortle!!!!

Given its 9:50pm i dont want to **** off my neighbours so i didnt run it for too long.

The chain noise was still there but seemed to disappear after a bit.

I will run the bike again the morning and get it hot. also need to research bleeding the cooling system as i just whacked a load in til it showed in the radiator cap as covering the element.

Trying hard not to get my hopes up and the lack of petrol leak is currently outweighing the probability that i will need to go back in.

but at least i might sleep!

Cheers

Owen