Triglide and Freeheeler riders

[Phu Cat]

I started ridin Harleys in '89 on a new '88 FXRT after riding tons of jap iron goin back to a Sears Alstate about 1960. Of the 5 new HDs I've owned I've had to put stators in 3 of em. (One of the Electra Glides, I only owned one for about 6 months so maybe its not really fair to include it in the count.) So 75% of the big twins I've had to put stators in. Doesn't that seem kinda high? The Triglide I own now just turned over 35,000 miles and had to have its first replacement stator. None of my other EG stayed with me long enough to exceed 35,000 miles but they all needed stators along the way. Have you guys run into this problem or do your stators last longer than that? Each time I replaced one I put in a Cycle Electric, usually intending to keep the bike, I just made it better for the next guy. It's not like I have money to burn!

PC

[Mykneesbehurtin]

Between the wife and I we have owned 16 Harleys ,2 for her and 14 for me since 1989.The wifes first bike was a Sporty which she owned for about two years and put 10,000 miles on it.Her second bike was a 1993 FXLR that is still in the family(she gave it to our son 3 years ago) this bike had about 60,000 miles on it when the stator went out,replaced with a Cycle Electric it now has 74,000 on it.

Now for me I never really kept a bike very long until 2001 when I bought my Road Glide owned this bike for 11 years and it had 60,000 on it when i traded it for a 12 Road Glide and the 12 Road Glide had 30,000 when i traded for my 16 trike.Neither Road Glide had a replacement stator. Some of the guys I ride with have high mileage Bikes with original stators.

So either we have been lucky or you have been unlucky.I know they have changed the comps a couple times in the past few years.Why mess with success with a design that has worked for many years.Other than to make it cheaper for more cash in their pocket.

[1dn5up]

Jim, haven’t heard of any one with stator issues, other than folks that like there ride to look like Xmas trees ! Shorts, polarity mistakes , will also damage it.

BTW; Freewheeler , lol

[Sunman]

Never had any stator problems on my 1979 FL or my 1981 Low Rider. On my 2000 Road King the stator went out at 26,000 miles and had to haul it back to Houston from Mena, Arkansas in a rental truck. Stopped in Texarkana at the Harley Dealer and he was out of stators. Said he had four in stock before the Arkansas State Hog rally but had 4 bikes come in on the way to or from the rally with bad stators. On my 2005 CVO Electra Glide the stator went out at 28,000 miles but I made it back to the house. Replaced it with and Axel lifetime warranty stator and when I sold the bike at 69,000 miles it was still in the bike.

I have know many people that have had to replace stators on their Harleys but many that have not. I have never had to replace a stator on any other brand of bike I have owned (Honda, Suzuki, Ducati, Victory). Harley has a known problem with stators and should do something about it. But hey, they make money on it.

Sunman

[Lee H. Mann]

My guess is that some are more vulnerable to heat conditions than others.

I have owned a number of Harley-Davidson's and at one time or another their stators fail sooner or later. The earliest was on a 1999 Ultra-Classic with a little over 5,000 miles. It didn't have any extra lights and just failed on a trip. I charged the battery overnight and pulled all of the breakers and made a 50 mile trip to the closest dealer and got it replaced.

My last one was the 1994 FXLR that I now have. The Regulator plug just melted off causing the stator to overheat and burn up.

I have replaced a number of them on later models and it is a small percentage but remains an unnecessary nuisance.

In 2002 I attended a weekend show in Snow Shoe, WV and took 10 popular aftermarket stators with me. No failures !!

I guess I was good insurance for all attendees !

[PosseRider]

I started ridin Harleys in '89 on a new '88 FXRT after riding tons of jap iron goin back to a Sears Alstate about 1960. Of the 5 new HDs I've owned I've had to put stators in 3 of em. (One of the Electra Glides, I only owned one for about 6 months so maybe its not really fair to include it in the count.) So 75% of the big twins I've had to put stators in. Doesn't that seem kinda high? The Triglide I own now just turned over 35,000 miles and had to have its first replacement stator. None of my other EG stayed with me long enough to exceed 35,000 miles but they all needed stators along the way. Have you guys run into this problem or do your stators last longer than that? Each time I replaced one I put in a Cycle Electric, usually intending to keep the bike, I just made it better for the next guy. It's not like I have money to burn!

PC

Started riding HD in 1962 Dont remember how many Harleys I have had (old age) but most I put over 70 k on them. 03 we did 105k on it & no stator prob. Only one stator & that was on a low mileage bike. I guess about 14-16 HD's.

[MikeyTX]

Ben riding harleys along with a mix of metrics since i was a teen. Never had a stator go out. I never as Frank said have my bikes overloaded with too much lighting. NOw , Harley has better electrics along with LED lighting. If I pulled a trailer, it would have to have LED RTS lights and side markers.

[67wizard]

Only trouble I had was on a Gold Wing 1983.

None on my Harleys, only owned three with

lots of miles and smiles.

[Sidecarbill]

Most bikes don't have feedback alternators. I think the newer Goldwing might. But most charging systems are at maximum output and shunt the excess to ground. In other words lt doesn't matter what the amount of lights are it always puts out maximum.

[ultrafxr]

Replaced stator on my '99 Ultra but can't recall the mileage but I think it was well over 40k at the time. They replaced the one on my '07 when the motor grenaded at about 60k but that may have been just because they were in there and could under ESP. Bigger problem I've had has been with voltage regulators - my '06, my '07 and my '12 Ultras all have failures and at fairly low mileage. In fact H-D had a recall (several months) after the one on my '12 failed. Sure hope they've got this corrected.

[MDO]

In general, if I had any model bike/trike with problems that are wide spread and reported by many, I would try not to use the same OEM part that went bad.

For 2017, they have beefed up the electrical output(by 50%) on the Freewheelers, so hopefully the components are of improved quality.

[MikeyTX]

Harley keeps beefing up the electrical systems. Even though they don't want people towing, they know damn good and well they do. Also, the new boom audio systems draw mor juice with the additional amps required.

[Jack Klarich]

All my Harleys served me well

50k plus with 1 failure in 94 I am lucky

This was on a 92 FLHS bought new with ESP

Out of the 8 NEW and 4 used it was the only failure of a stator

The new M8 has a beefed up stator time will tell

[DK Custom Products]

Have had a few regulator failures, many compensators replaced under warranty, but only 1 Stator. That was on my 2005 Road King at around 50K miles. I did have some non-LED driving lights and a small amp & speakers on that bike...first one I ever had tunes on.

The last 10 or so years I have been big on SEE & BE SEEN, but all the extra lights are LED, which are, combined, less of a load than previous bikes with just factory bulbs.

On the '11 TG and '14 TG, no stator issues.

Kevin

[vito]

I started ridin Harleys in '89 on a new '88 FXRT after riding tons of jap iron goin back to a Sears Alstate about 1960. Of the 5 new HDs I've owned I've had to put stators in 3 of em. ...

PC

I've owned a dozen and had only one stator go south. Maybe I'm just lucky. When the stator on the 1990 FLHTC died at just shy of 100,000 miles, the Harley rep told me that the problem was two fold. 1) stator hold down screws would vibrate loose if not properly lock-tighted, allowing the rotor to hit the stator, and 2) the plug coming out of the primary would loosen and cause shorts.

[Phu Cat]

Well, I've also gone thru 3 regulators, but two of em were after jump starting from a dead battery. (You know the story about that.) But regulators are a breeze to change so I don't get too worried about them, but as much as we pay for these bikes, the electrics shouldn't be going out. Can't remember the last time I replace an alternator in any of my cars.

[Peter A.]

On my '88 FLHS (current mileage 274 thou-I bought new) i believe I've replaced the stator 3 times.

On my 2010 trike (current mileage 90 thou) stator was replaced once. Neither vehicle has excessive lights or other power robbing accessories.

The '02 Electra Glide (which my Son now has) has never had a replaced stator (approx 65 thou miles).