Gettting my 250R going again

[Zookie250R]

Hello there. I've got an 86 Suzuki LT250R, and sadly it has sat in my barn pretty much the entire time I've owned it... The swingarm broke soon after I got it, and I have yet to the time or money to fix it. Well, the times of no riding are coming to an end, dang it!

I am bound and determined to be riding my bike within a month. Now I just need to go over a checklist, which I like you gentlemen to add to or edit as necessary.

1. Drain out old gas (Almost 6 months old) ( I DID run the engine out of gas before parking, thank God)

2. Remove the old swingarm, replace swingarm, bearings, seals, grease as necessary.

3. Check and/or change oil.

4. Add new gas, kick start, and pray...lol.

I'm sure there are some other things that need to done or checked with a bike that has been sitting a while, but that is all I can think of at the moment. I do have a Clymers manual that came with it, and I'm pretty handy with tools.

I also have another question. For normal riding, what is a good oil mix to use?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if these questions have been answered already.

[rjatv]

Sounds like u got most of it covered, i would dump like a teaspoon or 2 of 2 stroke oil down the sparkplug hole before u try starting it just to lube it up, it's prolly a little dry, it might smoke like a bith when u fire it up but who cares, u want lubrication at first, and 32:1 is a good ratio to run.

[jsmstorm]

Might want to add the airfilter to that list, and maybe spray some carb cleaner in the carb as well

[Zookie250R]

Cool, thanks guys. I'll definitely go ahead and order a new filter, now that I think about I haven't inspected it in a while.

32:1 sounds good. Anyone recommend a brand of oil to use? I have heard good things about the factory Honda 2 stroke oil, and I have also seen someone use Purple Power as their 2 stroke mix but I'm not sure I would use that without some other verification.

I guess I should search the forum for the best 2 stroke oil, lol. But I've spent time typing this, so now I gotta post it, heh.

Thanks again.

[98632wr500]

ive always ran 40:1 ratio and its seemed to work out for me...and other than the filter you got it covered...other than maybe some new tranny fluid...

[lt250racer]

I would only run 40:1 with high quality oils......AMSoil (dominator), Spectro.
I also Run AMSOIL at a 40:1 ratio but 32:1 would be fine.
If your looking for maintenance issues, take the rear brake caliper off & clean & grease it. Also Grease the rear bearring carrier, however the axle will be a beast to get out if it has never been removed.
If you want you may want to take the carb out & take the bowl off the bottom to clean the 2 individual jets, to make sure they dont have any partial block.
Flush the coolent system....Good easy thing to do.
Oil chain....

Simple Preventive Maintenance

[lt250racer]

Here are some pictures of where to have the swingarm welded, You can see where the one side of the pivot cracked & then was welded.
Also.....Always use premium gas!!!

[Zookie250R]

Man the swingarms for the 85-86's wasn't very strong, was it? I guess that is why they changed the design for the 87+'s.

When I first got my bike I didn't know the swingarm was a weak point and I guess I didn't see the cracks on the bottom. Well, this is what happened after a bit of riding:



I don't believe it is repairable, at least not to a long term degree.

Thanks for all the advice, I will definitely grease the rear caliper and carrier, and only premium gas for this bike. Will check the cooling system too. All this stuff seems pretty easy, save for the swingarm replacement, but I want my next ride to last more than 5-10 minutes dang it! I know this bike is awesome, I just need the chance to find out...

Thanks again, LaterZ.