Bob hit it on the head. Get a Cycle Electric stator and regulator/rectifier.

I know we're talking about Touring machines here but the root causes that burn up a stator are all the same. Over taxed, weak battery, bad ground, bad regulator/rectifier or the wrong kind of regulator/rectifier.


Modern Sportsters have shunt regulators vs series regulators. The stock shunt regulator will burn up stators on a pretty regular basis because they work at 100% all the time and shunt the excess voltage, regardless of draw.

If I replace anything to do with a an HD charging system I install Cycle Electric components. Made in Ohio and high quality.

 

Couple of thoughts on this.
Firstly it's only good business practice to buy parts as inexpensively as possible. Some (stockholders) would say that there is a responsibility to do so. Hopefully a quality manufacturer will balance material cost with quality to achieve a satisfactory balance.
Also to be considered is the fact that manufacturers can be lied to or fooled about quality by suppliers. Just look at the airbag recall...
Secondly, internet fourms, at their core, exist to whine and complain. For example, my 07 Ultra Classic still has the stator it was born with but I don't start a thread saying how well it's still working at 9 yo.
Finally, you have no clue about the actual failure rate of this, or any other, part on these bikes. If HD makes 250k + bikes a year and have 5k stators fail in two years that's less than 1% failure rate.

And I haven't had any HD Kool aid, well not too much anyway. I could copy and paste this into nearly any vehicle fourm and it would still hold true.

 

LOL, I am amazed when I see people post about how screwed up Harley is and how the company is always screwing us by buying the cheapest china crap on the market and then keeps riding a Harley.

 

Probably #1 cause is heat, either from overloaded systems, corroded connections in the charging circuit causing high resistance, and not to forget one covered in bugs and road dirt and never washed off. That **** make a great insulator!
It would be a wise idea as part of normal maintenance to unplug connections clean the pins and put back together with dielectric grease, ESPECIALLY if one rides in the rain a lot or washes their bikes with a hose. I use never-seeze and a star washer on the frame ground points. 3 bikes and 150k all still had the original stator.

 

oh yea ! you know they do !

 

If you are having stators go out on a much too regular basis, even on your very nice large motor, there are obviously other contributors on your bike that need addressing. Electrically, look toward the regulator and the battery. Run a high quality synthetic fluid in the primary to handle the temps a primary case can see, especially on your 117. Ensure that your primary is "full" of fluid. Investing in the higher quality stator and regulator mentioned above may be the ticket.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^
Everything is made like crap today. A small hole in the insulation would allow oil to short the windings.

 

Are you Running an aftermarket stereo or amps? What fluid are you running in the primary and how much?

 

Thanks for all the good advice, I run Redline products, I will also be looking into if I have too much of a load. The battery is a Harley battery so I think that's good.

Thanks again for the help.

 

I just took my bike in for it's 50K maintenance, and my tech said my stator was frying - - primary oil apparently stunk like melted wires.


I'm kind of disappointed in the MoCo - - I've been very diligent with all maintenance since I bought the bike new, and I didn't expect the stator to go out so soon.