Just bought a 98 Hawk. Racetech front springs, Fox twin clicker shock, SS lines, CBR954 wheels/brakes, VFR clip ons, custom white pearl paint and gold paint wheels, carbon fiber bits all around, seat cowl, Devil high mount exhaust w/ bafflectomy, jetted, PAIR removal, custom yellow face guages, superbike grips, hugger, 1 tooth down on front sprocket, pazzo levers, woodcraft rearsets, eh I forget the rest. Anyways in other words it's the bike I would cheat on my wife with. And that's saying a lot.
Took it home and first thing I did was check the R/R after reading these forums. Yup it was melted and crapped out. So I got a 99 R1 R/R - jesus what a difference - this thing is huge. For the biggest and best mass production bike producer I have no idea how this piece of crap slipped into the build. And I'm no mechanic. Anyways the question I have is this - the connector was melted so I cut the wires from the Hawk and also cut and stripped the wires from the R1 R/R. Can I just solder the wires together or is there any reason I need to use a spade connector like what was originally on the bike? I'm not big on electronics so this may be a dumb question but I want to do it right the first time. Don't see any reason why I couldn't connect all the wires together directly - looks to me like these connectors are mainly used to make replacement an easy plug-and-play job. Thanks in advance - I've learned a lot from you experienced owners here and it's appreciated.
David

 

When I installed my RR, I used spade connectors, soldered them to the wire and then soldered the spade to the pin connector on the RR for a really good connection. Been running it for over a year now with zero problems.

 

Welcome to the forums,

Wiring a R/R directly with no plug is proven in the lab(motovoltage) to be the most solid application , as no more hot spots in the AC leads or plugs form.
The 3-phase AC wave generated by the stator behaves like analog radio frequency(because it is) at higher RPM and will arc within and heat-up every plug terminal between the stator and the R/R. You cant stop this without solder.
If you have a melted plug thats deformed, you better check your stator for shorts before installing a new R/R.
I will soon ( by tomorrow night) post a concise and easy to follow charging system check out procedure on my site and here too.
'How to check a stator with only a test light-and other easy tests on your charging system.'
Theres a lot of hokus pokus urban legend about bikes and their charging systems.

 

Great thanks for the quick and concise reply. Although I'm dying to get the bike on the road I'll wait for your post...sounds like a great idea. The plug wasn't deformed, just noticed the plastic was melted around the spade connectors and the ends of the wires were hard and brown.