'03 GL1800 Alternator Drive Gear Failure

[TrikerMimi]

Hello all! Unfortunately we had an alternator drive gear failure on our GL1800. I have seen other forums where people have had this problem. It is going to cost about 2200 bucks to get her fixed, because the engine has to be pulled. Has anyone else ever had this done and how is your bike doing since the repair? Anything you can tell us would be welcome.

 

[TrikerMimi]

Well, since noone has chimed in on this page, I'll take it that this problem is just as rare as my dealer said it was. It's been almost two weeks and we don't have her back yet. itching to ride!!!!!!!!!!

 

[three wheeler]

The adg failure is not very common but it does happen. I've read about it several times on other forums. Just last week a guy was in tellico plains, tn several hundred miles away from home when it happened to him. He decided to chance it and try to make it home and was successful. From what i've read, the motor has to be opened up or "split in half" for the repair. How many miles are on your wing? I have an 02 motortrike adventure with 37000 miles on it. Only trouble I've had was a bad front u-joint last year on the blue ridge parkway near maggie valley about 150 miles from home. The kicker was I had a replacement at home. We got a room in maggie valley and I hopped on my dads trike and went home and got it. I got back the next mornin at 6 and was back in business by 7. I went to the nearest auto parts store and bought a set of rhino ramps and pulled my trike up on them and fixed it in the motel parking lot. When finished I strapped the ramps on top of my cycle-mate trailer and off we went. This was the 2nd day of a week long ride on the parkway. Talk about a conversation piece. I bet I told that story 50 times that week because everytime we stopped someone would ask "what are the ramps for."

 

[TrikerMimi]

There are many schools of thought on the "motor split", but according to my dealer it is a rear case removal, not a motor split. We have 72000 on ours, but I have heard of this happening everywhere from 6000 miles to 125000. Sounds like you had quite the trip! Glad all worked out!

 

[team5150]

Here are some recent posts on another board that will tell you more than you ever though you'd know about the ADG failures - why they happen and how this guy has come up with a cure.

Rocky's New Custom Collar for the ACG/ADG

Rocky's ACG Pictures

 

[TrikerMimi]

I think that is awesome, but we cannot work on our own bike, and Honda wont touch it. (Of course) I checked out other forums and 99 percent of people never have the problem again. We will keep our fingers crossed. We just want her back. Those forum pages were very informative, but WAY over my head!!!!

 

[crazy]

Where did you take it for repair?

 

[TrikerMimi]

We took it to our local Honda dealer....Dupage Honda in West Chicago. We got her back on June 28th and put 642 miles on her that weekend taking her to Quincy, Illinois for a Trike rally. She didn't even hiccup!!! The tech at Dupage talked with me for over 30 minutes about all they did to her. He took his time and went over everything 3 times to make sure she would be right. They did a fantastic job. She's running great again and that broken ACG has a prominent place in our garage to remind us to take advantage of every opportunity to ride!!

 

[Rowdy]

There are many schools of thought on the "motor split", but according to my dealer it is a rear case removal, not a motor split. We have 72000 on ours, but I have heard of this happening everywhere from 6000 miles to 125000. Sounds like you had quite the trip! Glad all worked out!

The only time the engine cases would possibly need to be split is if all the pieces of the retainers etc. are not found. Even then, I would have to give it considerable thought as to whether I wanted to do it then.