I am currently looking to buy a Lt250, I have found a really nice 1985 lt 250,my buddy told me than 86 and older are bad years. he said somthing abought the exhaust port making them unreliable. he also said that they are slower than the 87 and newer Lt's.well what do you think should I buy an older one or wait to find a newer one?????????? wa250atver

 

i have 2 friends that have '86 QRs, i have a '91, my brother has a '90... so i am familiar with all the changes.
85-86 is prone to crack in the front suspension area... later years are stronger, and as they changed, they added gussets and strengthened the entire frame.
the powervalved engines(87-92) are more powerful and reliable. the reed cage & porting is different on the 87 though. all LT's are prone to cracking around the footpeg mounts and front suspension mounts.
the rear suspension 85-90 is all the same, later years did have a fully adjustable rear shock. 91-92 changed the rear suspension design, it is more like current MX bikes... this is both good and bad, lowering the rear of the '85-'90 is less expensive for TT & FT racing, the 91-92 is better for MX and has a little more travel.
what year you get may depend on what's available, but if you're just trail riding & an occasional dunes trip, the 85-86 is a great machine. for a great duner and possible TT/FT racer '87-'92. for MX i think the '91-92 is the best of the bunch(most reinforced frame, best suspenders). i've heard that the best sand drag motor out of these is the '87, but i could be wrong.
it all depends on what you want out of the machine, and what kind of riding you want to get into. hope this helps

 

Thanks for the info this really helps. It sounds like I should wait and find an 87 or newer. Theres hasent been one for sail here yet,except for the 86 and older.....Is it posible to put a 87 head and cylender on a 86 and older motor, and just how much more powerfull and reliable is the 87 and newer Lt??? Can I make an older one just as quik reliable with some up grades.. Wa250atver

 

Whatever you do don't buy the 85. It had only 5 gears. The front suspension was also terrible. Something like 5 inches of travel.

 

There is nothing wrong with the 85 and 86 lt250. I will admit that they have a little less power than the later lt250's since the reeeds are different. I have an 86 and have had no problems in the 11 years that I have had it. IT has been to glamis on average 2 times a year and it never let me down. IF you are not abusive and take care of your machines it will take care of you. Also, you cant mix and match motor parts from 85/86 to 87 and up.

 

i had an 85. a friend of mine has an 86. both have 5 gears and pipes. mine would walk all over 400ex's all day. his is about even with my ex but he has 18 inch tires and i had 22's. mine had works suspension which was great but his is stock suspension which is the worst suspension i've ever rode on. you can't go fast over anything bumpy without it rattling your teeth out. both of our frames snapped. both of ours were raced before we got them but i suspect our frames would have snapped eventually anyways. they do have weak frames over the shock mounts. i got mine welded for like 20 bucks. his was welded and gusseted. as far as reliablilty. the engine was very reliable. mine did throw the counterbalancer through the case but thats not common at all. i don't know why that happened. but the engine itself was reliable as hell. mine was still on the stock bore and so is my friends and we both had good compression. most of the problems i had with mine were my fault including a slipping clutch (put it together wrong), blown rear shock (it was old and too many flat landings) carb problems (put the needle in wrong or somethin so it was runnin way to rich). theres nothin wrong with the oldest models. but the newer models are better.

 

i have an 86 LT250r and she rips. i have no complaints about dependability with it. starts on the second kick everytime. only thing i dont like about it is the suspension. but after you ride a decked out R, your more less spoiled and everything else just seems tame. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I have an 86 and I really like it. I'm rebuilding it from the frame on up right now so then she'l really stomp the 400EXs. I don't think that the suspension is all that bad, but look what I have to compare it to. One is a utility and the other one doesn't even have suspension!

 

Wa250ATVer, have you looked in the cycle trader? There's always LT's in there, Also, how much do you have to spend?

 

Sounds like there are some supporters of the 85 and 86. The best part of them is that since most people dont like them, you can get them cheap, way cheaper than 250r's and then modify the hell out of them. I only paid $700 for mine 10 years ago, and since then, I put a pipe on, rebuilt the top end, removed the air box and put a K&N filter on. Upgraded to a quadzilla carb, among other little goodies. I still have les than $1600 total investment which includes the purchase price. My last trip to Glamis I was racing a raptor up comp and it beat me but only by a couple quad legths. It got off the line faster, but didnt pull away anymore past the middle of the hill. It also has 400cc more, so it didnt bother me.