Hi everyone I just traded a non running 1981 Honda 185s 3wheeler for a 1986 running Suzuki 230. Its seen its better days plastics wise but overall seems to be a decent little machine. Any tips on what i should check or change to keep it running in good shape? Has pull start and electric start. First pull it starts right up. Electric start don't work. Neither does headlight. Battery probably? Just want some tips on all this. Thank you!

 

Replace the swingarm bearings and make sure the chain stays adjusted properly.

It sounds like you have an LT230E, which is important to differentiate between the LT230S when ordering parts.

 

How do I find out if its the e or s. Its shaft driven

 

Ohh. I'm not sure what that one is. It's definitely not an s. I thought the e was chain driven as well, so I m not sure which model you have.

 

Shaft drive is the ute model. Does it have rear suspension? My guess is no and that is definitely the hallmark of the utes. A bad battery could certainly be your starting culprit, but on a machine this old it could easily be in the wiring or starter, etc. Battery is easy to check and would be where I would start though.

 

You most definitely do NOT have the S model. S (or sport) model was a kick start 5 speed, chain drive quad. The E was the shaft drive, electric start (I'm not 100% on it though... maybe high 90's)

With that being said, there probably are some parts that fit between the S and E model. I never had to do much parts swapping when I had my 86 S model. But, I do know that as far as brakes are concerned, they are interchangeable, as well as the quadracer 250 models, if you ever need master cylinders, wheel cylinders, etc..

 

I don't think the LT230E was shaft drive either. Apparently, there was another 230 quad by suzuki. It looks completely different than the LT230S and LT230E.

 

Yup. They had a 230 ute also. Minimal front suspension, no rear. shaft drive with a dual range transmission. The 230E shared almost everything with the 230S except it had electric start and no manual clutch.

 

I went through the micorfiche for the 1986 model year with anything that had the 230 engine size:

LT-F 230 was shaft drive.
LT230-GE was shaft drive.
LT 230 S was chain drive.

I looked up the final drives of those 3 models on Rockymountainatv.com OEM microfiche. That was the result. Now, they did have a 2nd listing for "LTF 230" as well. I didn't include it because I don't know if it was programmer error when they made the website. If you want to include it in the results, that one is shaft drive as well. The LT-F 230 was the utility quad with the standard front and rear racks. I hope this clears it up for you.

 

I think it's a GE or F model.
S has a chain.
If you look on a Suzuki dealers website you can look at the fiche(s) to figure out what you have.
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