how do i tell the year of my lt230s? I heard that the rims were changed to silver in 87, however those could have been swaped easily. is there any serial # cross refrence chart i could look at?
thanx, john

 

hello
it should say on front frame near steering shaft i belive thats where i found mine

 

yes, i have found my s/n but i would like to know what year it is. how can i tell from my s/n

 

If you still have the VIN sticker on the frame, it should have the model # on it. Here's the decode info:

LT230SF - 85
LT230SG - 86
LT230SH - 87
LT230SJ - 88

Obviously, if you have the original decals, they were different every year. Let me know and I can tell you what had what. Otherwise, if you still have the original plastic, you can tell. 85 had orange plastic, black nose piece, black seat with hollow yellow letters that said suzuki, and black frame. 86 had redish/orange plastic, black nose piece, blue seat with white hollow lettered suzuki seat, and black frame. 87 had white plastic, black nose piece, blue seat with white hollow lettered suzuki, and blue frame. 88 had white plastic, blue nose piece, blue seat with solid white lettered suzuki, and blue frame. 87 & 88 also had keyed ignition, different head lights, blue hubs, and a totally different rear axle carrier from the 85/86 model which had standard round housing. (The carrier is very slightly different from 87 to 88, but is interchangeable)

Hope this helps.

 

i have a blue frame, white plastic, blue seat, black nose piece, and i also have a plastic cover that goes over the light on the front that i have not seen on many others. It has 3 decals, one on each side above the fenders that say 230 and have diagnal lines on them. the side of the seat says suzuki, and the little piece of plastic under the seat has quad sport written on it. i think is an 88 from your description,and i seem to remember the vin having the j

thank you,
john

 

If the plastic hasn't been changed, the white ones were 1987's. Mine also had the plastic around the headlight. I think most were destoyed in roll overs..mine was for sure..lol..

 

John,

Actually, with a black nose piece and your decal description, your plastic is from an 87. Both 87 and 88 had the white plastic over the headlight. The reason it seems rare is because 87's and 88's are rare. (There's more 86's out there than 85, 87, and 88 combined.) 88's had blue nose pieces which had a blue Suzuki "S" on the front. Also, remember the '87 seat had hollow white suzuki letters while the '88 had solid white letters. Yours probably has hollow letters (looks better in my opinion).

As far as the VIN, if my memory serves me correctly, all Suzi quads have a J in their VIN. I think they all start with JSAA or something like that. The VIN sticker I'm talking about is not the VIN plate. The VIN plate is welded to the frame and only has the VIN and not the model #. If you still have the vin sticker (a silver aluminum decal which should be glued to one of the frame members), it will not only tell you the model #, it will give you the build date. The 85 models were built starting in about July or so of 84 until March or so of 85, and so on.

Atomic Punk, both 87's and 88's had white plastic. However, by his description, I do think you are correct in that he has an '87.

 

Yep..forgot about the '88's being white..been so long since I've seen any white ones..

 

thank you, the seat does have the hollow letters, and im pretty sure that it is all original. I know that my dad's friend who had it before me almost never used it, and that is how i ended up with it.
thank you for helping me determine it is an 87'