Quad Runner 250 4x4 Resurrection (LT-4WD)

[coyote56]

Background on this Quad.

Over the past year or so I have been teaching my 7 year old Niece to ride. She loves it, I even went as far as buying her a 2012 Arctic Cat 90cc and getting it up and running. We have a bond, her dad (my cousin) is a deadbeat junkie who abandoned her mother as soon as he found out she was pregnant, so my family has all been helping her over the years. I didn't have a dad or a father figure growing up. That hurts and I didn't want her to feel that way, so I have been taking her fishing, to ball games, aquarium etc etc and now it has progressed into riding four wheelers. So after stopping by the family farm and observing and seeing what I was doing and watch us ride one of our old retired farm hands approached me with something interesting. It seems a few years ago he was making his rounds around his old family farm and came across an abandoned four wheeler in the creek bed on his property. He called the Sheriff, they came and got it and took it. A few weeks later they bring it back to him. They ran the serial numbers, it has/had never been reported stolen. Since it was never reported stolen and it was on his property, as far as they were concerned it was his. He put it in his barn and its been there for 4/5 years now. It was mine if I wanted it. Naturally I jumped at it and picked it up..

Turns out it was a 1997 Suzuki Quad Runner 250 4x4. A bike exactly like the one I had as a teenager. I have decided I want to rebuild and restore it as much as possible to what it was rolling off the factory floor. Maybe I am a little bias but  I think these were some of the best quads ever built. The four wheel drive transmission has always been cool as hell to me. Anyway this is going to be my rebuild thread on the bike.

These photos are from the day I brought it home. The front half of the plastic is in great shape. The back, has been destroyed, I am looking for a replacement. Since the day I have brought it home I have ordered a replacement stock airbox system, a cover for the battery box and a rebuild kit for the carb.

[coyote56]

So I have got her to fire up but she billows out smoke. I am not sure if it is just the old gas or if it is the top end. I am hoping its just bad gas and a junked up carb. I noticed that most of the cables that are supposed to be attached to the carb were disconnected so perhaps that could have something to do with it. I took the carb off and got her cleaned down and put back together with a rebuild kit I ordered a week ago. It cleaned up nice. I am going to wait to put it back on when I get the new choke cable in. Someone had taken it off in its past and never reinstalled it. I am also going to go ahead and just completely remove the plastics. The back half is trashed and the front I will probably just end up selling and ordering all new plastics from Maier unless I find a decent rear half. Anyway removing the plastics will give me more access to the rest of the bike and I am going to be cleaning out the fuel tank and replacing the petcock assembly and vacuum pump next weekend.

 

 

[coyote56]

update,

I have gotten the carb reinstalled and she starts up but... well... apparently I am going to need a top end rebuild...

 

 

[Richard1234]

Long shot, but did you get the oil level right in the sight glass?

I just bought a quadrunner and the owner had filled it up til he could see oil in the fill tube!  

I'm guessing being that full might cause some smoke!

[coyote56]

On 11/24/2021 at 9:33 PM, Richard1234 said:

Long shot, but did you get the oil level right in the sight glass?

I just bought a quadrunner and the owner had filled it up til he could see oil in the fill tube!  

I'm guessing being that full might cause some smoke!

along with some other issues... I am hoping you did an oil change.

 

I have bought another identical bike to this, it is in a lot better shape but it has a stuck valve. I figure if I am going to go ahead and repair that, I may as well put new rings in it while I am at it. Then again it only has 928 miles on it... so I kind of hate to tear into it that much but well.. its not that much of a bigger step.

[Richard1234]

1 hour ago, coyote56 said:

along with some other issues... I am hoping you did an oil change.

 

I have bought another identical bike to this, it is in a lot better shape but it has a stuck valve. I figure if I am going to go ahead and repair that, I may as well put new rings in it while I am at it. Then again it only has 928 miles on it... so I kind of hate to tear into it that much but well.. its not that much of a bigger step.

I didn't actually.  I just drained oil until it got back in the sight glass.  It was barely run with the oil as it would only run on full choke.  Is there a reason to drop the new oil?   

[coyote56]

On 12/1/2021 at 3:05 PM, Richard1234 said:

I didn't actually.  I just drained oil until it got back in the sight glass.  It was barely run with the oil as it would only run on full choke.  Is there a reason to drop the new oil?   

I am just always skeptical of maintenance done by previous owners. That being said, you can usually get a good idea if you talk to the previous owner for a while. I could tell by the way this guy talked all he ever did was add fuel and oil if it needed it. A lot of times on these older bikes, people just added oil when they needed it and never bothered changing the oil filter.... I can't trust a 24 year old oil filter in the case of this bike. I like to put new filters and new spark plugs on them just for the piece of mind and to know the job has been done properly. I have seen some guys use socks to replace the air filter.... the air filter is $5.

I am also very detailed person by nature. I was in law enforcement for a while and in military intelligence. I keep records of everything, my boats, pick up trucks, atvs, farm tractors and equipment each have a notebook in the glovebox or in my desk with a detailed record of maintenance preformed. Everything from your standard regular maintenance, minor repairs and major repairs. I give them to the next owner when I sell or whatever.... to be fair this may also be because of my German heritage and our notorious attention to details. 😂 However in the long run it has proven time and time again to be worth the time.

[Paul4x4]

Nice bike!

 

Just got myself my first 4WD quad (I'm mainly a three wheeler guy). I think it's a 1990 Quadrunner LT-F4WD. It's basically in mint condition, with only the engine's top end taken apart for some weird reason... All the removed parts came with the machine, so IF I'm missing something, it looks like it's only gonna be some nuts and bolts, worst case scenario! I'm slowly gathering information on it and start putting it back together!

[coyote56]

13 hours ago, Paul4x4 said:

Nice bike!

 

Just got myself my first 4WD quad (I'm mainly a three wheeler guy). I think it's a 1990 Quadrunner LT-F4WD. It's basically in mint condition, with only the engine's top end taken apart for some weird reason... All the removed parts came with the machine, so IF I'm missing something, it looks like it's only gonna be some nuts and bolts, worst case scenario! I'm slowly gathering information on it and start putting it back together!

there are actually a quite a few good videos available on youtube on these bikes. Also the older King Quad videos are helpful, these are the same bikes with a smaller engine. I think Mid Nebraska Motorsports and Schneids15 are great channels to check out for help.

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by coyote56

[Paul4x4]

Thanks! I'll check out those channels.

[Crawdaddy]

I love passion projects like this.  Let us know how the restoration goes.  

[coyote56]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:36 AM, Crawdaddy said:

I love passion projects like this.  Let us know how the restoration goes.  

I will continue to update the thread here as I go along. Right now I have been waiting for about 2 weeks for some parts to arrive. They were on back order from partzilla. I ordered new gaskets and new piston rings. The bike only has about 900 miles on it but if I am going to go ahead and work on the valves, I may as well just rebuild the entire top end while I am at it. They should be in before Christmas break and I am hoping that I can get it all taken apart and put back together with about a days work and have her fired up and running by the end of my time off.... then I will move on to the original bike and see if she is worth trying to repair. Either way that one will most likely end up being sold.

[LT-4WDinNY]

On 12/3/2021 at 11:30 PM, coyote56 said:

there are actually a quite a few good videos available on youtube on these bikes. Also the older King Quad videos are helpful, these are the same bikes with a smaller engine. I think Mid Nebraska Motorsports and Schneids15 are great channels to check out for help.

 

I have loved Schneids15 videos... will have to check out those other ones too!  Thanks for sharing!

[coyote56]

ok update...

I wasn't able to get as much done on the bike as I was hoping during my Christmas break. I got all of the back plastics off, I got the recoil starter off and got the engine lined up top dead center.... I was prepared to dig into it but then I had some issues happening on the other side of my farm I had to handle. I am hoping that next weekend I can get the head taken off and torn down for repairs. I am not a big fan of how the set the ending in time on this thing. It's enough to make me a little nervous about doing it myself. I guess we will find out next weekend.