Bought my first Triumph ever... an '07 Rocket 3 with 100k on it and charging issues!

JLeather

.040 Over
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
55
Location
Ijamsville, MD USA
Ride
2007 R3 Classic
Like the title says. Last night I'm browsing FB Marketplace trolling for deals on bikes (because there aren't enough projects in my garage already) and I spot an '07 Triumph Rocket 3 Classic with 100k miles and "needs a stator" for $2500. Probably a terrible idea, but long story short it's in my garage now. I did get to ride it and aside from "not charging" (which I will have to confirm for myself) it runs and rides great. Brand new rear tire. I'm going to need some help since this is my first Triumph ever, and obviously a charging issue is pretty serious on these things. I'm not afraid of undertaking some pretty serious work on bikes. I'm currently completely overhauling a '77 BMW and building a Panhead chopper from scratch, which is why I figured I'd roll the dice on this R3.

It has already showed it's disdain for my purchase by the seat release ring breaking off as soon as I got it in the garage, so the seat is at least temporarily stuck. The PO replaced the R/R unit and told me that "didn't fix it", although he also told me the new one was only $55 so that's a little suspect. I got the old one as well. He also told me that he had it checked by someone for stator continuity to ground which confirmed a bad stator, but I want to see that for myself obviously. What's the best way to check that (once I get the stupid seat back off)? Anything else I should keep an eye on given the miles on this thing?
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There is some good info on this forum about diagnosing and replacing the stator. I did it a year or so ago and would not have succeeded if not for a few of the members here. I'm not sure if you will have to completely remove the engine (on your Classic). I did not have to on my R3T, but it was about the same effort the way I did it. Someone smarter than me will be along shortly. Welcome to the forum.

Here is a place for some info. stator replacement
 
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Welcome to the forum. Don't worry about 102,000 miles, mine had many more than that when I sold it, and it is still going strong.

There are manuals and wiring diagrams in my signature which will help. Also if you search the forum you will find some stuff on the stator and how to test it. There are a lot of people who will be happy to help you, and a bunch of us who like a bit of fun.
 
WELCOME! to our R3 family from Miami, Fl... She's a beauty... :cool: Here you'll find a TON of information, help and some good natured ribbing now and then. :whitstling: :sneaky: Beyond the search function, a good place to start is taking a look at @idk 's signature for a maintenance manual and more.
-MIG
 
Thanks all for the encouragement, and especially the link to the service manual. Unfortunately the bike fails all the checks for the stator. Fuse #11 is fine, all three stator legs measure continuity to ground (0.5 ohms) and none of the stator pins is making the requisite 15-25v while the bike is running. Seems like I'm destined for a stator replacement...
 
Only thing I need to check is trace the stator wire all the way to the engine and make sure it hasn't chafed through somewhere? It's weird, the guy told me that when it failed he was about an hour from home. Bike wouldn't start, but he got a push start and rode it that whole hour home so it must have been charging some? Then came the replacement reg/rec and the stator diagnosis. I have found the bike does not charge at all (11.90v while running right now) and I wouldn't think it would make it an hour on a battery already too dead to crank it over? I'm also surprised that all 3 stator pins are grounded out. I would have expected only one to fail, unless after one fails the added strain quickly burns out the others?
 
A while back i worked on one that was the same way. It was charging a tiny bit but not enough to keep up with the draw. When u let it run it would drop a couple of tenths in a little while and continue on a downward trend. I to could not understand how it could do that.
Torqueing down the last little bit of the stator was freaking me out because it took almost max torque and felt just like something stripping.
Hth
 
A while back i worked on one that was the same way. It was charging a tiny bit but not enough to keep up with the draw. When u let it run it would drop a couple of tenths in a little while and continue on a downward trend. I to could not understand how it could do that.
Torqueing down the last little bit of the stator was freaking me out because it took almost max torque and felt just like something stripping.
Hth
Was it in fact a bad stator on that one as well?
 
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