'88 LT230 Project

[Uuhnt]

Well, this past weekend I drove up to St. Paul with my friend to check out his most recent purchase, a 1988 Suzuki LT230. He got it for 400 dollars, so obviously this is going to be a work in progress, I just have a couple of questions for all you guys in your infinite wisdom

First: This thing likes to smoke. It looks like a Doobie Brothers concert when I ride this thing around the yard. As you may know, LT230s are fourstrokes, so is this a valve problem? Would a simple valve adjustment do the trick? Or is it a ring problem? Or a combination of both? He's planning on redoing the top end anyway, but we are just curious as to how much of a problem this could be in the short term.

Second: The case is cracked Obviously the ideal way to fix this is to get a new case half, but that is kind of expensive since cracked cases on these machines is as common as Pontiac GrandAms. Can we take the case to someone and have them weld it? I have heard of people doing this before, but I always thought that you can't weld cast aluminum.

Third: Tires. Does anyone have any old 21x7x10 stock tires from any of their machines laying around? If anyone has some old stockers that they won't get any use of anymore, we would love to take them off your hands

 

[blasterdemon7]

It sounds like you need new rings and valve stem seals.You can try useing JB weld on the crack to fix it.Good stuff.

 

[blasterdemon7]

Seen my old LT230 at a yard sale yesterday.They painted it white but I know it was my old one.Same tires and could see purple under the fenders.

 

[xjma]

I used to have a quadsport 230, those things ROCK!! Great motor in them!!

I would assume that the smoke is from the rings...but hard to know unless you open it up. If you keep oil in it, it should be OK.

I would recommend when you rebuild it that you split the cases and have them machine a bigger oil port in the crank for the lower rod bearing. The port is small from the factory and can get clogged and cause the crank to seize. Ask me how I know!!

You could either reuse the stock crank or get a better, lighter one for more power. Better piston too, for more power. You could also go with valves....but if they're in good shape they're not necessary, but doing work to them would increase the power. Just a lighter piston and an aftermarket exhaust really wakes that motor up. IIRC the exhausts are cheap for them...it's just a header pipe and a megaphone muffler....not much to it. I had a supertrapp on mine with the discs on the back, thing worked pissah.

What part of the case is cracked?? It should just be the cover on the left side. There are still a few of those cases hanging on the walls of my dad's garage!! I don't think they can be welded as they are cast pieces with some strange alloy of metal....but I could be wrong??? IIRC, back in like the 90s they were like 90 bucks for that case cover. Use new bolts around the sprocket and get a new case saver. Keeping a tight chain is the key to not having that happen again. Those things are powerful and like to stretch chains pretty quickly (especially non o-ring chains when you play in a lot of mud) so keep an eye on that. Atleast the adjuster is easy, loosen two bolts and rotate the carrier!

I'd grab a set of 22" mud tires for that bad boy. I used to run 22" realtors on the back and IIRC 23" bandits on the fronts.

Damn I loved that quad!!

 

[Uuhnt]

Yeah it is the left side stator cover, as well as a small chunk from the case that was cracked off. The previous owner tried to JB Weld it, but it wouldn't hold oil. Now about the exhaust, you said you had a supertrapp? I couldn't find any made for the LT 230, did you just modify one from a 250x to fit it? I've heard of other people doing that.

 

[xjma]

Well I don't think it was a 'supertrapp' brand, but it had that same type of thing with the discs that you could remove or add. It may have been cobra or dg....not 100% sure, maybe cobra....

It was a nice setup. Lighter than the stock silencer and way more powerful. Nice sound too. That thing used to put warriors to shame. (which I know isn't saying much...but still, a 230 smoking 350s is pretty cool) And one of the people that I could smoke is a way better rider than me.

 

[brandoz28]

well, your smoke is either from loose valve guides or rings. if its guides....just find yourself a new head, it'll probably be cheaper than fixing the old one.

ps..........dump some 20w-50 in the bottom end and see if it doesn't smoke so bad hehehehe thats what we did for a loooooong time on my lt185....it used about as much oil as a 2 stroke lol

 

[samolia]

i recommened a top end rebuild with new piston, rings, valve seals, timing chain and all that other good stuff...

another thing to check is the crank wear the connecting rode is suppose to slide back and forth but if the connecting rod rocks back and forth then you need to rebuild that too or your smoking problem will come back because of premature piston wear..

 

[Uuhnt]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Does anyone know if the broken piece from the bottom of the case can be welded or soldered back in place?

 

[samolia]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Does anyone know if the broken piece from the bottom of the case can be welded or soldered back in place?

yes it can all you need is a mig welder with the special wire meant for welding on aluminium...
i suggest getting a scrap peice of aluminium to practice on first tho cause practice is a very big deal in welding

 

[blasterdemon7]

I used to have a quadsport 230, those things ROCK!! Great motor in them!!

I would assume that the smoke is from the rings...but hard to know unless you open it up. If you keep oil in it, it should be OK.

I would recommend when you rebuild it that you split the cases and have them machine a bigger oil port in the crank for the lower rod bearing. The port is small from the factory and can get clogged and cause the crank to seize. Ask me how I know!!

You could either reuse the stock crank or get a better, lighter one for more power. Better piston too, for more power. You could also go with valves....but if they're in good shape they're not necessary, but doing work to them would increase the power. Just a lighter piston and an aftermarket exhaust really wakes that motor up. IIRC the exhausts are cheap for them...it's just a header pipe and a megaphone muffler....not much to it. I had a supertrapp on mine with the discs on the back, thing worked pissah.

What part of the case is cracked?? It should just be the cover on the left side. There are still a few of those cases hanging on the walls of my dad's garage!! I don't think they can be welded as they are cast pieces with some strange alloy of metal....but I could be wrong??? IIRC, back in like the 90s they were like 90 bucks for that case cover. Use new bolts around the sprocket and get a new case saver. Keeping a tight chain is the key to not having that happen again. Those things are powerful and like to stretch chains pretty quickly (especially non o-ring chains when you play in a lot of mud) so keep an eye on that. Atleast the adjuster is easy, loosen two bolts and rotate the carrier!

I'd grab a set of 22" mud tires for that bad boy. I used to run 22" realtors on the back and IIRC 23" bandits on the fronts.

Damn I loved that quad!!

It rocks???????????Mine seemed slow.It felt like my 200 4Trax in power.

 

[Uuhnt]

It rocks???????????Mine seemed slow.It felt like my 200 4Trax in power.

From what I've ridden of this bike so far it seems pretty awesome, and that's when it's not running right. I think once we dump some money into it, it will really be a great woods and trails machine.

 

[Uuhnt]

yes it can all you need is a mig welder with the special wire meant for welding on aluminium...
i suggest getting a scrap peice of aluminium to practice on first tho cause practice is a very big deal in welding

Thanks for that info, I definitely just had a huge sigh of relief. We didn't see the point in shelling out 80 dollars for a new stator cover and 100+ for a new case half, not to mention gaskets.

 

[motoman9911]

It rocks???????????Mine seemed slow.It felt like my 200 4Trax in power.

I thought they were slow too.

 

[brandoz28]

my neighbors had one of those....couldn't kill it and it was faster than my lt185 lol

 

[xjma]

It rocks???????????Mine seemed slow.It felt like my 200 4Trax in power.

Mine ripped!! They are great trail machines. Maybe yours was just not in good form?? I mean, they are old machines.




If you're going to assume that the case is aluminum, and that it's weldable, I would suggest using TIG, not MIG. I think the cases are an alloy of aluminum, but that's about all I can say for sure. They are cast. I am pretty sure that the actual makeup of motors such as this is some crazy sort of mix of alloy that is not common to anything other than bike motors. I'm not a welder, but my brother is (haha) and I know that in terms of welding to cast iron, that is very very tricky (like the cast nodular iron pumpkins of a jeep/truck axle). I don't know if that will be the same for the engine cases or what, but I would have an experienced welder do the job. Oh, and on top of getting the case saver and new bolts for the case saver, I used to use RTV on both sides of the gasket along the bottom and around the front sprocket area.

 

[matthewgrindle]

How do u adjust and tighten the chain that goes to tbe motor to tbe rear sprocket and if I have a 42t sprocket on the rear what should I put on the front sprocket?? The one thats on there is a 12 but the new 84 link chain 520 would not fit its a half a link to small and if I add a link its way to big. then its likes to come off .

 

[Myblasterisblue]

My dad had a lt230. I hated that sideways kick start