Well I bought my first Suzuki tonight. The plastics are a bit rough and will need stitching unless I can find a place to weld them up....if possible. Previous owner had not ran the
quad in ten years, but I brought it home, washed off the spider webs and gassed it up. It started right up....and then leaked gas out of the card all over as expected. I had to see
if it would turn over though. So clean the card and I might just tear it down and have it powder coated this winter. Needs a few bearing and ball joints here and there, but it is in
otherwise really good condition for its age.

More pics.....
1990 Suzuki LT250S Photo Gallery by dirtweed at pbase.com

 

You have, in my opinion, a collector's item! They only made them 2 yrs and yours is in remarkable shape. Not only that, but its an awesome quad regardless of its rarity. I still snap up any 250s shocks I see on ebay... they're that good.

Be careful of the chain coming off and cracking the magneto cover. So many have been cracked that the price is ridiculous. It would be hard to find one less than $170.

Congrats on a great find though!

 

Thanks! I was wondering why I saw reproduction covers on eBay. So the shocks on the quad are decent....good, replacements are pricey! It looks like one of the
A-arms is a bit tweaked....that would explain the cracked front plastics. Looks like they made contact with a tree at one point.

I think no matter what it will get tore down. I have so many bearings to replace that I might as well just take it down....plus I have done it to all my tractors so what is
different with the quad? :-)

 

Its a lil faster than a tractor

I'm not saying the shocks are as good as aftermarket or the ones coming with race-ready KTMs, but compared to any other 250, those are top of the heap.





There is something about 250s plastics. They just seem to fall apart. The 230s didn't do that. Most 250s quads I see are missing huge chunks.

Here is a 230 and 250. The 230 is a 1986. The 250 is a 1990.





The swingarm bearings are something people find creative ways to beef up because that's what leads to the chain coming off many times. I extended my swingarm 4 inches and added a big hunk of steel to address the bearing problems.







The old one looked like this



New bearings where mangled after the 1st ride because the tube wasn't strong enough to hold them straight.

Also put in a new bolt. Its $30 for the bolt, but it needed one.

 

Oh yeah I know the aftermarket shocks are going to be far better, but for the trail riding I plan on doing I don't think the stock shocks will have a problem holding to my big behind.
Mods are not for me. I have no skill at that so it will be a stock redo. I just got off the phone ordering parts. I'm sure I'll need more when I start to dig into it.


D

 

randy do you have any pics of the swingarm on the 230?

valder that is a very nice 250. i would love to have that. almost looks new lol

 

That is a 230 swingarm. I just weld more on the front

 

find you a lt250r swingarm and install it.

 

Thanks Nate, but it photographs well. The plastics are a bit rough with some very big cracks, some of the ball joints are shot, swing arm bearing is way gone, Steering stems travels up and down and is all rockety from side to side. Needs some freshening up.


That one will fit on it? Shock too?

I want to find someone that will make a decent grab bar for it as well. I see PRM makes one for the LT230S, but it looks like it mounts differently
to the frame than this one.

 

Started tearing into it this weekend. So far it looks pretty good underneath.

New plastics shipped and should be here on Monday.