Suzuki RF900 "Cush" drive needs fixing? Please help

**chadnz** · 26th April 2007, 14:32

Hi all,

My RF900, 1998, has 35000miles on it, and the battery doesn't charge... one place said I needed a new alternator generator, costing $1400 brought over from Japan, and another mate said that its a common occurence at these miles on RF900s... and its just the "Cush drive". Can anyone give me some info on where to get parts and how to fix it please? Any ideas would be wicked. Thanks, Chad, chadnz@gmail.com

**ManDownUnder** · 26th April 2007, 14:36

Riffer is your man for this detailed stuff. I have sent him a message so he knows to look in here

**chadnz** · 26th April 2007, 14:46

Yeah I don't know what a cush drive is or where to get one or how to fix, i got a mechanic mate that cna do it all, just need to know WHAT to do heh

**Warr** · 26th April 2007, 14:50

If its like any other motor cycle (permanent magnet rotor) alternator. Chances are its the Rectifier/Regulator that has cooked.
Look at 2nd pic
That shows stator coils which feed to the Rect/Reg 3 wires. Yellow in colour, the expensive bit to replace is the stator. With a multimeter on resistance find these 3 yellow wires, you should have the same resistance between any 2. On open circuit / zero ohms will indicate the stator is burnt out.
This is NOT the most likely cause of your troubles.
If you do have similar resistance .. then very likely you need a new regulator/rectifier.
No need to buy OEM just make sure the one you get has decent heatsink fins on it. A mod some of have done is to mount a cooling fan over the top of the fins just to ensure it will last a little longer.
Best of luck

Bend-it below has alerted me to that I have written a load of Bull...t
Looks like the RF uses a propper alternator - Good on Suzuki !!

As Bend-it states most likely is the brushes which feed the control voltage to the rotor via the slip rings.
Hopefully easy to replace. When I did mine on my XJ900 I took the old ones down to a local auto Electrician and he found/modified some to suit.

**Bend-it** · 26th April 2007, 14:51

Yeah, 've heard about this problem as well, but *touchwood* it hasn't occurred on mine... Apparently gsxr750 alternator units are the same and it's easier to find 2nd hand ones of them... Would love to read riffer's comments.

**Bend-it** · 26th April 2007, 14:53

This what you need?

http://shop.wemoto.com/pictures.dyn?u=1915519qqq5828373

**chadnz** · 26th April 2007, 14:57

Mean as, thanks for the info, will pass on to my mate... now to see what Riffer says too!! Thanks for such fast replies everyone!!

**xwhatsit** · 26th April 2007, 17:08

Cush drive shouldn't have anything to do with your battery or alternator or anything electrical. All it is, is some rubber inserts in your rear wheel, that act like little shock absorbers to take up the `thumping' that comes from the engine through the chain. They are there to minimise chain/sprocket wear and make for a smoother transmission.

**Ixion** · 26th April 2007, 17:51

Yes, rear wheels have them. But so do some alternator drives. Sort of mini versions of the rear wheel ones, for the same purpose. BMW has one, so too, apparently , do RF900s.

**xwhatsit** · 26th April 2007, 19:59

Originally Posted by Ixion

Yes, rear wheels have them. But so do some alternator drives. Sort of mini versions of the rear wheel ones, for the same purpose. BMW has one, so too, apparently , do RF900s.

Would that cause the alternator to fail, though?

**Ixion** · 26th April 2007, 20:08

Well if the drive fails, alternator rotor, him no go round n round n round n... Then , no lecktrickery.

**Blackbird** · 26th April 2007, 20:14

If there's a chance that it's your alternator, look at the following post and get in touch with Ken Cairns in Hamilton. http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ght=alternator

**crazybigal** · 26th April 2007, 20:15

sure will, these bikes do them at around 60,000km mark so sound about right.
dodgy mechanic telling him he needs new stator bla bla for $1400 bucks

should know better.
from mem you can get cush drive sorted for under $200 bucks. battery may be poked as well.

Originally Posted by xerxesdaphat

Would that cause the alternator to fail, though?

**crazybigal** · 26th April 2007, 20:17

pm madmal64 he did his old rf900 a while ago, he will give you some ideas

**Grahameeboy** · 26th April 2007, 20:21

If the motorcycle will only run when the battery has charge then there's most likely a problem with the alternator cush drive which can shear. This is an easy one to spot as, once the battery is flat the motorcycle simply won't go. Once again, this is a problem that, while it's probably possible to do it yourself, getting someone who knows what they're doing usually saves a lot of time and stress in the long run.

This happened on my RF..........