Getting through a failed alternator on my Ural Sidecar Rig

The day after my first ride into the mountains on my Ural Sportsman sidecar rig, I became another Ural owner who's alternator failed.  Here and in the following few articles, I'll detail how I lost my 35 amp Russian alternator through it self-destructing and the process I went through to fix it myself (with lots of help from a friend).

I was riding Natasha to my new job and she started making sounds like "marbles in a blender". I feared the worst but I was already close to the new job location and I for sure did not want to be late on my first day!

I parked her, got ready for work and worried about her the rest of the day. I figured the alternator had finally started to go. They've a really bad reputation in the online forums, with some of them apparently breaking apart into pieces and taking the engine along to their doom. Their other nickname is the grenade alternator. That paint a clear picture for you? It was these kinds of thoughts that weighed on my mind.

So, the first day of work is done, I gear up and walk out to a light rain in the parking lot. No big deal I thought. Then the electric started made the dreaded "death rattle" noise when one's battery is not charged up enough.

Several kickstarts later, I got her going. Yay I thought. The rattling noises seemed to have abated a bit as well (this turned out to be not a good sign). I got going in the rain and she seemed to be running OK but noisier than usual. Then I noticed the alternator light was on. Didn't think much of it as I was concentrating on finding my way home in the rain.

Got lost of course, vision was not the best due to visor issues. Finally got turned around and headed in the right direction. I was on Inspiration Drive east of Parker when she started making like she was out of gas. I switched to reserve but still she continued to bog down. I finally coasted to the side of the road where she finally died. The battery, without the alternator charging it, had finally run down. Damn.

Called my loving wife and she quickly brought me my spare motorcycle battery. Of course, it was raining the whole time I was on the side of the road, a few nearby lightning strikes as well to "lighten" my mood.

Once my wife found me, I got the spare battery (which I keep charged), swapped them out and Natasha cranked right up. She was still making the marble in blender noises albeit less loudly now and I raced home in the rain; managing to get her home before the second battery was totally drained as well.

Dried off, got some dinner and finally got some courage to take a look at the alternator. My #2 son was most helpful in handing me tools and such I must say. I had to remove the airbox but finally managed to remove the alternator. It was toast.
 

This is what it looks like in one piece, note the gear on the left side of the picture

source: F2 Motorcycles

The small geared piece used to be part of the center shaft of the alternator!

Note the sheared off center shaft, and damaged areas surrounding it

Best shot I could get of the ring gear within the engine to which the sheared off gear from the alternator mated and was spun by it

A closeup of the sheared off section, that smooth looking dome on top used to be part of the alternator's center shaft!

At this point, I was debating the following courses of action, the next few articles will show you what I ended up doing.

1. Have the Ural trailered (if possible) to Golden, CO where the nearest repair shop that I know is located. Get an estimate. It's going to be at least $600 for a replacement alternator, plus labor, probably more since the ring gear that spun the sheared off gear shaft on the alternator was probably damaged too. This also assumes that the repair shop can find a replacement alternator....they're apparently very hard to come by and backordered everywhere. If I could fell confident the ring gear in the engine is fine, I could order a replacement alternator and put it in myself but how the heck do I do that?

2. Give up on this sidecar rig and just cut my losses. I must admit, as my wife pointed out, that at least Natasha failed in this manner close to home, not while I was on that mountain trail on Sunday! The motorcycling gods were indeed with me then.

3. Sell her off on craigslist as a parts bike. Try and recoup some money and move on.

4. Dismount the motorcycle from the sidecar, sell the motorcycle for parts bike and explore the concept of attaching her to Brigitta, my 1987 R80 though I am loathed to do that. Brigitta is such a sweet, and reliable, motorcyle to run as she is today.

Ride Safe, Ride Aware.