Motorcycle Repair: 82 cbx howling screeching intermitant noise

Question
QUESTION: i've had this bike for nearly 30 years but have not ridden much in the past and not at all the last 6 or 7 years. Annually I drain the gas tank and refill with fresh gasoline and put Stabil in each time, and either find a volunteer to exercise it or run the engine for a while to get the freshly stabilized gas through the system. My lack of riding it is a spinal injury catching up with me, but this year I put a vetter terraplane on it and so have put several hundred miles on it with an occasional howling or screeching noise startling the heck out of me, so far it stops either eventually or at times it stops with cracking the throttle or at a shift point. I'd like to fix during the winter here, but where do I start? the noise appears to be on the left side, I've read of the alternator problems and it certainly is likely where the noise "appears" to be, thx craig

ANSWER: Hi Craig,  It is likely to be the alternator clutch.  It is easy to remove the alternator and take a look, only 3 8mm bolts hold it on, and you need to disconnect the electrical plug on the right side under the side cover.  The sound could be screeching or like a cricket on steroids.  When did you change oil last?  I'd do that first, regular, 10W40 castrol GTX.


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QUESTION: chg'd oil about 4-500 miles ago and used castrol 10w40 :)  i haven't even seen a schematic of the alternator so likely dumb question...but then what?  i've read about weak spring , is that entirely different ,unconnected?  bearings involved?  Seems many folks change out the alternator to a non Honda one?  is the repair that difficult or IFY?  thx so much for your time, btw my bike is elsewhere for a bit getting the side car painted, so i will be unable to report back with my observations, cvh

Answer
There are two friction plates, pushed together by a spring.  In front of the spring is a steel washer, then a fiber washer, then the friction plate.  On the alternator side, there are two bearing that are important, one at the verty end in the cover cap (which is released when you undo the shorter 8mm bolts) and the main one that the rotor is running in.  If all the bearings are OK and the clutch plates are good, then the system works reliably.  The aftermarket solutions are preferred by some but I don't like the looks of them.  Good luck with the repair.