Stator Rewinding

Anyone have the info on the guy who rewinds stators here in the States? From what I recall, old school guy without much of a website. Basically you mail him your stator and a check. I thought someone said he was close to retirement but had an apprentice that might take over?

http://www.customrewind.com/

+1 for Gary at Custom Rewind. Very quick turn around. Put a $100 in a box and you'll get it done. I asked him for upgraded windings and output leads.

+ 1 for Gary. He does great work.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy

You guys send in you old ones and have them rewound, or just buy a rewound one from him?

Send him your core and he will rewind it.

Thanks, here's hoping I still have some dead cores laying around so I don't have to take anything apart!

sa1713

Send him your core and he will rewind it.

+1. Just remember to ask him for the upgrade. Over 10K on mine and the volt meter has not varied a tenth of a volt since doing this.

huntinggunns

sa1713

Send him your core and he will rewind it.

+1. Just remember to ask him for the upgrade. Over 10K on mine and the volt meter has not varied a tenth of a volt since doing this.

Will do!

He'll make the leads longer too so you can run it strait to the R/R - no intermediate connector to cause problems.

KPerham

You guys send in you old ones and have them rewound, or just buy a rewound one from him?

The oem staors are precision made and wound, vibration and heat are barriers to their life expectancy. If you even have a Glimer of thought, some aftermarket half A$$ hand wound stator does as well, then be my guest.

My time is precious and replacing a stator is a pain in the A$$, I do it once with the OEM part and dont have to worry if its gonna work well. But Ive seen so many time people try to short cut and end up with issues, and then the complaining about the Branded bike, and it turns out they short cutted and running aftermarket charging crap.

When they beefed up the rr on the 6th gen and moved it to the front of the bike, seems to have took care of that issue, atleast my 100,000 mile RR has been fine, I did fry a stator 45 to 50,000 miles ago. But it had 56,000 miles on it, which is way above average for a motorcycle stators life.

Thats not to say all aftermarket is crap, but alot of it is, Ive seen nothing other than maybe 5 gen RR's those OEM's are crap. AS far as the 6th gen's the oem stup is the best and longest life parts to obtain. Heck those staors are only $225 Brand new, some bikes oem stators are over $350.

And the rubber grommet thingys? He uses the old ones or new ones? But he does put them on, yes?

^^^ Probly a good idea to talk to him direct before you set up an order.

He puts brand new grommets. Take a picture of the OEM windings and compare them to Gary's. You'll see the difference in gauge and process. The OEM windings have "lane" defections, where Gary's are nice and tight. Not sure if that makes a difference, but that with a bit more coating helps me sleep better.

mello dude

^^^ Probly a good idea to talk to him direct before you set up an order.

Yep. Today is Sunday, his hours are M-F. Yesterday was Saturday, his hours are M-F. Tomorrow is a "holiday", I can call him but no idea if he is open. Even if he is, I can't send off my stator(s) because the PO is closed.

His website offers no options on "setting up an order" anyway.

Just trying to get the facts from those who have already used the service.

spud786

KPerham

You guys send in you old ones and have them rewound, or just buy a rewound one from him?

The oem staors are precision made and wound, vibration and heat are barriers to their life expectancy. If you even have a Glimer of thought, some aftermarket half A$$ hand wound stator does as well, then be my guest.

My time is precious and replacing a stator is a pain in the A$$, I do it once with the OEM part and dont have to worry if its gonna work well. But Ive seen so many time people try to short cut and end up with issues, and then the complaining about the Branded bike, and it turns out they short cutted and running aftermarket charging crap.

When they beefed up the rr on the 6th gen and moved it to the front of the bike, seems to have took care of that issue, atleast my 100,000 mile RR has been fine, I did fry a stator 45 to 50,000 miles ago. But it had 56,000 miles on it, which is way above average for a motorcycle stators life.

Thats not to say all aftermarket is crap, but alot of it is, Ive seen nothing other than maybe 5 gen RR's those OEM's are crap. AS far as the 6th gen's the oem stup is the best and longest life parts to obtain. Heck those staors are only $225 Brand new, some bikes oem stators are over $350.

Are you on the correct forum? This is the VFR forum where guys help out each other and relate stories of success of failure directly related to what the original poster inquired about.

But I think I will "be your guest" and try this "half A$$ hand wound stator". before the manufacturers and most after-market suppliers started sourcing dubious quality parts and components by the gross from unknown off-shore locations there existed people who had the skill to properly repair/rewind a starter motor, an alternator or generator and even rebuild internal combustion engines.

I suppose if you needed an engine rebuil you would shy away from federal mogul, keith black, world products, doug thorley, holley, or accel and just stick with whatever the OEM put on to meet a price point.

I will try to get my stator removed before you are able to ship Kevin, maybe we can get together later next week.

HUMOROUS!

Almost as fanciful as your notion that OEM stators are precision made and not made to meet a price point for mass production.

I don't know but compared to what Gary does, the Honda OEM looked like it was a 3rd grade science project.

Anybody got pics of one of his completed rewinds?

And I agree, someone competent and dedicated can certainly do an excellent job rewinding stators and alternators.

We get large electric motors (100hp, 75hp, 150hp, 20hp, 30hp, 50 hp, 300 hp) rebuilt, after years and years of use and abuse in terrible conditions, and we send them out for rebearing and rewind jobs all the time, and they come back just like new, and run and run and run for many more years, if not a decade or more.

rangemaster

I don't know but compared to what Gary does, the Honda OEM looked like it was a 3rd grade science project.

+1. You could tell that the windings on the unit Gary did for me were very carefully wound and it looked great. You could also tell that the winding and output wires were slightly larger. I would use him again in a heart beat. Here is a small review of what my initial thought were. BTW, after 10K + miles my voltage readings have never moved since doing this work. If someone knows what they are doing they can do a much better job than a mass production facility.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/70371-98-charging-system-re-build/

Veefer800Canuck

Anybody got pics of one of his completed rewinds?

And I agree, someone competent and dedicated can certainly do an excellent job rewinding stators and alternators.

We get large electric motors (100hp, 75hp, 150hp, 20hp, 30hp, 50 hp, 300 hp) rebuilt, after years and years of use and abuse in terrible conditions, and we send them out for rebearing and rewind jobs all the time, and they come back just like new, and run and run and run for many more years, if not a decade or more.

 

Veefer800Canuck

Anybody got pics of one of his completed rewinds?

And I agree, someone competent and dedicated can certainly do an excellent job rewinding stators and alternators.

We get large electric motors (100hp, 75hp, 150hp, 20hp, 30hp, 50 hp, 300 hp) rebuilt, after years and years of use and abuse in terrible conditions, and we send them out for rebearing and rewind jobs all the time, and they come back just like new, and run and run and run for many more years, if not a decade or more.

The first pic is OEM, the second pic is Custom Rewind.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/gallery/image/63031-vfr-800-oem-stator-001/

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/gallery/image/63030-vfr-800-stator-custom-rewind-004/

I'm all turned around on this. I think I better take the advise of someone with zero experience! You guys that have had your stators rewound clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The two oem stators that have died on my RC51 certainly must be better quality.

I dont see any differnce myself, beteen the garys and the USED oem . The garys has clear epoxy and the Oem Opaque, other than that no differnce. Is the garys a direct oem connector fit, it would be the first aftermarket ive seen that is.

One thing Ive done over the years on differnt modesl is track the reliablity of such things, if oem isnt getting the life then look eleswhere. The average motorcycle stator life is less than 50,000 miles, many average around 20 or 30,000 mile, and can still fail as early as 10,000 mile. Any motorcycle stator that last more than 50,000+ mile is considered above average stator life, the vfr's oem stator fits in this range, so its a solid performing unit. The have been a few that only got 35,000 mile off vfr oem staors but really thats below average, and not the rule.

Gary's s not a direct OEM fit as it can be ordered with lengthened stator wires that can be directly connected to the Reg/Reg eliminating the three wire connector that turns brown and is the source of many of the problems.

10-4

Switchblade, I don't think the RC51 has any more heat issues than the VFR800. All have side mounted rads and run higher temp numbers than one might expect if compared to an I4 with a front radiator. That's why I keep my display off the water temp on both bikes. Not necessary. And I don't think that it cooks the stator on either bike. But who knows...

OK, got the RC51 back together and it's looking great! I was at 13.8 or so with the fast idle warming up. After I got it out on the road, it came up to 14.2 and settled in there. After a brief stop, it was up to 14.1 for a while. Then was back at 14.2 at nearly any rpm above idle.

The old setup with the used stator I bought and the Lascar voltmeter produced wildly varied results. It would jump around all the time, as much as a volt or more at a time, sometimes up to 15v or more! Some of that was due to the really sensitive nature of the Lascar unit metering the voltage, but I've seen them on other bikes and they didn't jump around anything like mine was. Certainly not by an entire volt. More like hundredths or as much as a tenth.

The CompuFire R/R is still on the bike. It was installed at the same time as the previous stator, so all the voltage jumping I just wrote about was not due to it at all.

I also installed this Chinese Voltmeter: (As I previously mentioned the Lascar VMeter shook itself to death at Road Atlanta)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251222029291?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

For $5.43 I figured it was worth a shot. Turns out it's kinda hard to read. I thought it was down far enough to get out of direct sunlight, but it's still kinda tough. Can't beat the price, and it isn't necessary to constantly read it, so it'll work.

My lascar meter jumps around a bit, but I give it that its a sensitive piece. To verify the real voltage, I check it with my multimeter and the voltages there are rock solid, near zero variation at all.

WooHoo, great news Kevin.

KPerham

Switchblade, I don't think the RC51 has any more heat issues than the VFR800. All have side mounted rads and run higher temp numbers than one might expect if compared to an I4 with a front radiator. That's why I keep my display off the water temp on both bikes. Not necessary. And I don't think that it cooks the stator on either bike. But who knows...

Back when I test rode an R1 crossplane, that thing see's the 230's degrees no problem , very hot running.

spud786

KPerham

Switchblade, I don't think the RC51 has any more heat issues than the VFR800. All have side mounted rads and run higher temp numbers than one might expect if compared to an I4 with a front radiator. That's why I keep my display off the water temp on both bikes. Not necessary. And I don't think that it cooks the stator on either bike. But who knows...

Back when I test rode an R1 crossplane, that thing see's the 230's degrees no problem , very hot running.

WOW where's the logic in that .

P.S. Kevin great to see its back together.

Ran a quick errand on the RC today and it stayed solid at 14.1v with my heated jacket liner on medium. :cool:

Finally got mine after Gary called me back.

Said he had just bought a real old boat and been working on it and hoped that I would like what he had done with the stator.

Now to get my suspension on the new 98 and check the electrical circuit and see what condition it is in. :fing02:

How long did it take to get your stator back? I sent mine off to Gary a week ago and I haven't heard back from him.

We played phone tag for almost 10 days. I would call him and he would be out buying wire and other stuff and not be able to write down my credit card info.

After he called me back on Tuesday afternoon I had the stator back the next day. I think he had completed the work so that turn around is not normal.

Have you tried just the 800 number or the 205 area code number as well?

Don't bother with the email address on his website, no one monitors it.

sudo

How long did it take to get your stator back? I sent mine off to Gary a week ago and I haven't heard back from him.

OEM. guaranteed to work and arrive, I depend on promptness not some yahoo that has no time line, good luck, Im sure you'll get it eventually if you press like everyone else.

4-5 days I think after he got it in. I sent him three then split the one off for Caver, but he was waiting for him to pay before sending them all to me, so it wasn't a clean transaction. In any case, it was quicker than the gasket from the online parts dealer.

You did make sure to include all your info in the shipment? Give him a call. I had better luck getting him on the phone than CC did.

spud786

sudo

How long did it take to get your stator back? I sent mine off to Gary a week ago and I haven't heard back from him.

OEM. guaranteed to work and arrive, I depend on promptness not some yahoo that has no time line, good luck, Im sure you'll get it eventually if you press like everyone else.

OEM guaranteed to work like the 35,000 or so that have failed in VFRs...maybe you should revisit the 6th gen suspension thread where you tell everyone that there is no need to set sag on street bike...you are obviously in over your head in this thread.

Yes Im over my head, you guys are funny though, I enjoy the drama!

OEM stators are wound by hand all the same, but by unskilled independent contractors in southeast asia. If they were machine wound, the windings would all be perfectly evenly spaced, instead of meandering back and forth like they do on the OEM coils. So I'd rather have someone with more than two decades worth of stator-rebuilding experience to wind my stator.

But to get back on topic, I'll give Gary a call on Monday to see what's the holdup. My tracking number says that he received my stator last Saturday, but he hasn't cashed my check yet.

Hey everybody, do yourself a favor and go ahead and add spud to your ignore list like I have. No need to read anything he posts. Won't waste your time at all.

sudo

OEM stators are wound by hand all the same, but by unskilled independent contractors in southeast asia. If they were machine wound, the windings would all be perfectly evenly spaced, instead of meandering back and forth like they do on the OEM coils. So I'd rather have someone with more than two decades worth of stator-rebuilding experience to wind my stator.

But to get back on topic, I'll give Gary a call on Monday to see what's the holdup. My tracking number says that he received my stator last Saturday, but he hasn't cashed my check yet.

oem are hand wound? right(crinnge), but its the opposite!!! my only point is all stators fail, but Ive not see any aftermarket outlast the oem's on the bikes Ive run, such as the 6th gen. I am intriqued though in the desire to believe there's better, if and when I see it, I'll be on your side. More or less I think its just trying to save a Buck, cause the belief the oems are crap in comparison.

But like Ive said before on average the VFR oems exceed well over 50,000 miles in life, and that in the motorcycle world, is considered above average stator life.

spud786

sudo

OEM stators are wound by hand all the same, but by unskilled independent contractors in southeast asia. If they were machine wound, the windings would all be perfectly evenly spaced, instead of meandering back and forth like they do on the OEM coils. So I'd rather have someone with more than two decades worth of stator-rebuilding experience to wind my stator.

But to get back on topic, I'll give Gary a call on Monday to see what's the holdup. My tracking number says that he received my stator last Saturday, but he hasn't cashed my check yet.

oem are hand wound? right(crinnge), but its the opposite!!! my only point is all stators fail, but Ive not see any aftermarket outlast the oem's on the bikes Ive run, such as the 6th gen. I am intriqued though in the desire to believe there's better, if and when I see it, I'll be on your side. More or less I think its just trying to save a Buck, cause the belief the oems are crap in comparison.

But like Ive said before on average the VFR oems exceed well over 50,000 miles in life, and that in the motorcycle world, is considered above average stator life.

If you don't believe me that they're hand-wound, take a look at the research paper that I've attached. The OEM stator core appears to be produced using the lamination method with six 60-degree segments, judging by the individual bands on the ends of the teeth and the six pins going through the stator body. Thus, it can't be easily folded to wind using a needle winder like in figure 6. It would need a gap of "3.5-4 times the wire diameter" between each winding to allow a needle winder to wind each tooth (see figure 5). Now take a look at the attached closeup of my stock stator. There is clearly not that much space at the base of each slot to fit a needle winder. And since there's a bit of an overhang at the end of each tooth, the coil can't be prewound and then slipped onto the tooth. Therefore, they must be hand wound in order to achieve such a high slot fill factor.

It's not that the OEM stators aren't acceptable; I just figured that someone who winds stators for more than minimum wage might do a better job.

statorwinding.pdf

I've seen some oem suzuki stators fail at 5 or 10,000 miles Like the vstrom, thats pretty pathetic. I tracked the DRZ stator failures nationwide, offroad it was about 10,000 mile average life, mainly street, average about 20,000 mile. Many did the after market thing, only to redo it later, same here on vfrd, although we've had a lag of aftermarket stator issues here, allowing this avenue of replacement to creep back in with high regard. Im on my second vfr oem stator first one 56,000 miles, second one is now over 45,000 miles, that seems pretty good consistant track record, if you ask me. If the gary's can do post 50,000 miles then maybe its a decent aftermarket, Im just going off other aftermarket stator history. On a side note, what ever produces the results long term, is what Im intererested. I use the history of the results , and on the vfr the oem stator produces the best output, and longest life, and direct fit doent hurt either when you need to get it done without complications. My wiring has not seen the damage others have, and that damage might have actually accelerated their stators demise.

+1 Sudo and my OEM stator only lasted only 23,000 miles. I sending it off to be rewound next week.

I finally got my stator back from Gary last week. Total turnaround time including shipping both ways was 15 days. Strangely, he still hasn't cashed the personal check that I sent along with my stator.

The stator looks good. I asked him to upgrade the windings and cable. They do look like they're a thicker gauge than the OEM stator. Gary replaced the rubber grommets and plug too, which I hadn't expected. I slapped it into my '02 yesterday and she runs fine. It feels good to be riding again. :cheerleader:

sudo

I finally got my stator back from Gary last week. Total turnaround time including shipping both ways was 15 days. Strangely, he still hasn't cashed the personal check that I sent along with my stator.

The stator looks good. I asked him to upgrade the windings and cable. They do look like they're a thicker gauge than the OEM stator. Gary replaced the rubber grommets and plug too, which I hadn't expected. I slapped it into my '02 yesterday and she runs fine. It feels good to be riding again. :cheerleader:

He runs a business, he probably does check cashing at a specific time.

Whats the ballpark of getting this done? I've got two used OE stators and I trust neither. I really thought one was upgraded, but i pulled it from the old motor and it turned out to be a stocker.

sudo

sudo, on 31 Mar 2013 - 10:52, said:

I finally got my stator back from Gary last week. Total turnaround time including shipping both ways was 15 days. Strangely, he still hasn't cashed the personal check that I sent along with my stator.

The stator looks good. I asked him to upgrade the windings and cable. They do look like they're a thicker gauge than the OEM stator. Gary replaced the rubber grommets and plug too, which I hadn't expected. I slapped it into my '02 yesterday and she runs fine. It feels good to be riding again. :cheerleader:

IMO the whole issue with stator life is the coating degrade not the wiring

Looks good! The windings seem to be done with more care than the OEMs.

NakedViffer

sudo

I finally got my stator back from Gary last week. Total turnaround time including shipping both ways was 15 days. Strangely, he still hasn't cashed the personal check that I sent along with my stator.

The stator looks good. I asked him to upgrade the windings and cable. They do look like they're a thicker gauge than the OEM stator. Gary replaced the rubber grommets and plug too, which I hadn't expected. I slapped it into my '02 yesterday and she runs fine. It feels good to be riding again. :cheerleader:

He runs a business, he probably does check cashing at a specific time.

Whats the ballpark of getting this done? I've got two used OE stators and I trust neither. I really thought one was upgraded, but i pulled it from the old motor and it turned out to be a stocker.

What are you asking? Time or cost? He quoted me $210 total for the two VFR stators I sent him. If you don't want to send a check, he took my card over the phone.

Like mentioned above, probably about 2 weeks including sending both ways.

Figure out if you want the stock connectors. I don't know what options he can provide. I'm using aftermarket plugs and had what I needed on hand so just got him to leave the ends bare.

spud786

sudo

sudo, on 31 Mar 2013 - 10:52, said:

I finally got my stator back from Gary last week. Total turnaround time including shipping both ways was 15 days. Strangely, he still hasn't cashed the personal check that I sent along with my stator.

The stator looks good. I asked him to upgrade the windings and cable. They do look like they're a thicker gauge than the OEM stator. Gary replaced the rubber grommets and plug too, which I hadn't expected. I slapped it into my '02 yesterday and she runs fine. It feels good to be riding again. :cheerleader:

HOw can you tell the oem is an opaque coating, if they were actually heavier wiring, it would produce a differnt output anyway, from what ive seen posted numbers wise, its shy of the oem output but still usable. Id like to see them go 50,000 miles, then maybe its comparable to oem. While a few have posted their vfr oem hasnt made it past 20 or 30,000 miles that below average, Both of mine have gone well over 50,000, and the last one still going. So thats the bar to beat.

IMO the whole issue with stator life is the coating degrade not the wiring

I agree with you that stator failure is due to the coating deteriorating and not anything to do with the wiring. However, when you say that Gary's stator rebuild puts out less than an OE, I have to disagree. As long as all the connections in the system are cleaned and the R/R is working like it should, I can prove that it does put out more. 15.0 volts at anything over 1600 RPM even with high beams and the fan running is pretty darn good if you ask me. If others are running less than that I can pretty much assure you that the R/R is not working right or there are some connectors in the system that are not up to the task. That is the reason I tell everyone to ditch the connectors and solder/hardwire the components together. Not hard to change out a component even if it is done this way.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/70371-98-charging-system-re-build/

Is Gary still the man when it comes to getting a stator that will last more than 30K miles? Also wondering if my bad rectifier helped the demise of the stator. :(

Also if anyone has a spare stator for my 99 they would like to sell me to get mine off to get rebuilt or a bad one to use as a core I would be much appreciated.

30Bones

Also if anyone has a spare stator for my 99 they would like to sell me to get mine off to get rebuilt or a bad one to use as a core I would be much appreciated.

I have 3 03's...

Switchblade

30Bones

Also if anyone has a spare stator for my 99 they would like to sell me to get mine off to get rebuilt or a bad one to use as a core I would be much appreciated.

I have 3 03's...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

30Bones

Switchblade

30Bones

Also if anyone has a spare stator for my 99 they would like to sell me to get mine off to get rebuilt or a bad one to use as a core I would be much appreciated.

I have 3 03's...

Thanks I already got mine back grime custom rewind

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Any photo's ..

Old

[image: sa9uraza.jpg]

Rebuilt

[image: 3ape7eby.jpg]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks excellent job ..

Heres two of mine that are really fried !!

[image: HondaStator]

30Bones

Old

[image: sa9uraza.jpg]

Rebuilt

[image: 3ape7eby.jpg]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks better than OEM to me...

both look like after market to me

'Merica! Couldn't be happier. Glad I found this business and utilized it.

I noticed that my battery has been a bit weak lately, so I figured it was time for a new battery. While I was charging up a new battery, I took the opportunity to inspect my wiring. To my surprise, I found that an inch of insulation had melted off each wire on the stator side of the connector to the R/R. It seems that the insulation on the rewound stators don't cope with heat very well. I'm going to chop off the connector and solder the wires together tomorrow.

Thanks for the thread revive, Im looking at stators now and seeing the long term effects is a huge decision factor

sudo

I noticed that my battery has been a bit weak lately, so I figured it was time for a new battery. While I was charging up a new battery, I took the opportunity to inspect my wiring. To my surprise, I found that an inch of insulation had melted off each wire on the stator side of the connector to the R/R. It seems that the insulation on the rewound stators don't cope with heat very well. I'm going to chop off the connector and solder the wires together tomorrow.

WOW...did you notice the arcing between leads while running the bike?

I would think it would look like a light show in that area while the bike was above 5k rpm.