I recently inherited an '87 LT250R from my father, but theres a problem. 10 years or so ago we were in Glamis and my dad was riding the 250. I was very young at the time and was constantly getting stuck on my little 80. My dad spent more time off his bike digging me out than he did riding around. The last time he got off and left the bike at an idle it stalled. When I try to kick start it, it wont budge. I understand that it is seized, however I am looking for a more experienced opinion on what exactly is wrong before I start tearing it apart. Could it be that its just the rings or a more serious problem? I am an active duty Marine and am dedicated to fixing this bike in my off time. I just ordered my Clymer repair manual and I will do whatever it takes to fix it, I would just like to know a little more about what I'm getting into before I start. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you and Semper Fi!
Also, what else would be recommended to replace/repair/rebuild seeing as it has been sitting for so long. I am a newbie and apologize for my lack of knowledge on the subject. Again, any help is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the forum Man,,,
Best place to start is with pulling the engine out the bike and pulling down the top end to see whats going on. Did it seize on that day or has it seized just from sitting over the 10 years?
It seized that day at an idle. It was not being ridden very hard or anything that day, infact more time was spent off the bike than on.
Tear it down and check the top end all new bearings and seals and orings. Use oem parts from Suzuki
Also a bolt might came out and got into gear and lock the motor up. But on full rebuild use billet thrust washers and the rm wrist pin bearing. Just give it a full rebuild if money isnt a issue
after sitting 10yrs you may find some rust on the cylinder walls and crank bearings. seals probly dry rotted also. let one of mine sit 1.5yrs and the rust process had started. not sure if it was the gas or castor oil or both
it may have had a lean idle and locked up, do a top end
use a weisco piston and the other parts that were talked about on here. good luck
who knows maybe a hone or a bore and you will be riding
check rubber boot that holds carb on real good, when you take it off flex it all around looking for cracks.
any crack will let air in and run your bike lean.
so cometic gaskets
billet washers for the piston, sold here
weisco piston
there is a member on here thaqt can get you discount oem parts for your bike
So thankfully I got the time to get out there and pull it apart (most of the way) and found this(picture)! I was shocked to say the least because I've never heard of anything like this happening. How does this happen? just regular old wear and tear? I suspect now that the pieces that didn't manage to get ontop of the piston are down in the crank and thats what caused the seize. Sounds logical right? I haven't torn apart the crank yet because I dont want to go too much further without the manual but am I correct to assume I'll need to rebuild that as well?
Heres a list of parts I plan on getting. If you have any other suggestions please let me know!
Top end rebuild kit
Weisco piston kit
Piston sleeve?
Bearings and Bushings
Carb rebuild kit
Spark Plug
Air Filter
All new fluids
Heres a list of parts I plan on getting. If you have any other suggestions please let me know!
Top end rebuild kit
Weisco piston kit
Piston sleeve?
Bearings and Bushings
Carb rebuild kit
Spark Plug
Air Filter
All new fluids
Depending on what size the bore is now and how bad its scored you may be able to have the cylinder bored instead of resleeved.Make sure you ad the aluminum thrust washers and RM pin bearing to your list.Stupid question but you wouldn,t have happened to run the quad out of gas or very low.I,m no expert but the specking on the top of the piston suggests you were really lean and some detonation issues.Tthe rings obviously look nasty as well.Like I said I,m no expert so maybe one of the builders will chime in.
I added the washers and Rm pin to the list thank you! Amazingly enough its barely scored at all! At first I thought it wasn't because I can barely feel a "ripple" when I run my hand along the inside. As far as if it was run lean or out of gas? I am not sure because the bike has never been run in my ownership. Obviously I will be sure not to do that once I get it rebuilt.
lets see the head, you will have to have it cleaned up if there are any imperfections in it.
check pipe for piston skirt parts, it may have blew some of them into the pipe,
Thanks for your service in the marines man! I just got done putting an 87 together. I had carb problems from the start. Couldn't get them ironed out, then I stumbled across a sudco racing keihin 39mm PWK. It was in an old KX250 that was a junk bike. The guy who had the bike gave it to me for free!! What a huge difference it made. So keep your eyes peeled for a keihin. Any PWK from 36-39mm will make a big difference in power. Good luck with the rebuild. Keep us posted.