Bad rectifier. Do I have any alternatives?

1983 KZ750 LTD K1 (belt).

The original rectifier has seemingly kicked the bucket, not surprisingly, and my bike is virtually un-ridable because of it. Time for a new one.

Electrical is NOT my specialty. So far, I feel like my best bet is to buy a repro from this guy . I've talked to him via email and he knows his stuff and is confident that he can outfit my bike. However, it's $100 for the stupid part, and I'm a cheap bastard.

My riding buddy has an RD125, and we were reading accounts online about how those RD guys swap out $10 rectifiers from lawn mowers or something and run them on their machines, apparently without any problems. Now my inner chopper rider likes that idea. But let's be real, that sounds sketchy and I don't want to damage my ride by transplanting the wrong organs in it.

Can anyone give me any advice here? I tried doing a search, but found nada - and I'm SURE I'm not the first guy who's had a shot rectifier on one of these bikes.

What are the possibilities of putting a different, cheaper part on the bike? If it IS possible, where would I start to look for one? I mean, so far I've found rectifiers off of other KZ750's (not my model) for half the price, and those seem tasty...

Or am I doomed to buy the bike-specific part for a Benjamin?

I would love some wisdom and direction, preferably before I do something rash and stupid.

Your bike uses a 1-phase, combo regulator-rectifier for a permanent magnet alternator.

You can use a reg/rec from a 78 or 79 KZ650. But being that old, it's hard to say how long a used will last.

Also, how did you determine the reg/rec is bad?

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationHere's a new old stock one on eBay. The guy is asking $90 or best offer and free shipping - so maybe offer him $65 and see if he takes it; he might because he has 2 of them to sell. They are still available from Kawasaki at a whopping $155. Ed

Hatchet wrote: 1983 KZ750 LTD K1 (belt).

The original rectifier has seemingly kicked the bucket, not surprisingly, and my bike is virtually un-ridable because of it. Time for a new one.

Electrical is NOT my specialty. So far, I feel like my best bet is to buy a repro from this guy . I've talked to him via email and he knows his stuff and is confident that he can outfit my bike. However, it's $100 for the stupid part, and I'm a cheap bastard.

My riding buddy has an RD125, and we were reading accounts online about how those RD guys swap out $10 rectifiers from lawn mowers or something and run them on their machines, apparently without any problems. Now my inner chopper rider likes that idea. But let's be real, that sounds sketchy and I don't want to damage my ride by transplanting the wrong organs in it.

Can anyone give me any advice here? I tried doing a search, but found nada - and I'm SURE I'm not the first guy who's had a shot rectifier on one of these bikes.



What are the possibilities of putting a different, cheaper part on the bike? If it IS possible, where would I start to look for one? I mean, so far I've found rectifiers off of other KZ750's (not my model) for half the price, and those seem tasty...

Or am I doomed to buy the bike-specific part for a Benjamin?

I would love some wisdom and direction, preferably before I do something rash and stupid.

Call Chris at Z1Enterprises

See if one of their products will work on your bike:
www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com

A popular swap is a Shindengen SH-232. It is a shunt R/R just like stock and readily available on eBay.
If you wanted to upgrade, you could get a brand new series SH-775 from a Polaris dealer. Won't overheat the stator like a shunt R/R will. Polaris R/R (part #1)
You can get connectors here

It will be the last R/R you ever buy, and it will save your stator as well.

That Shindengen sounds like the kind of thing I had in mind. I'll look into that.

In the meantime, per 650ed's contribution, I managed to find a NOS replacement part on eBay for cheap. For now, It seems good. But I'm not convinced it solved my problem yet. I'm still doing some experiments trying to track down the problem.

Thanks for the help guys. Your expertise is priceless.