Hagbard

This happened to me on my Honda Foreman recently I attached some pics of the adjuster bolt, and what it threads into under the clutch cover, if you backed the adjuster bolt out too far, the 'boss' it threads into may have fallen into a position where you can't get the bolt threads to catch in it again. Or, conversely you may have overtightened it and the threads have stripped internally in the boss, externally on the adjuster bolt, or both. You won't really know until you find out . Chances are you may need to replace the adjuster nut/bolt if turning it in the opposite direction didn't fix the issue. At the very least, you'll want to take off the clutch cover to put it back together if possible, and inspect the clutches for wear. It's not a super difficult or expensive process to change the clutch discs, and after 30 years of even casual riding, they probably could stand to be replaced. Parts diagram and numbers: https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/suz/5ff8cfbb87a8661920f10152/clutch

Just FYI. Check your starter gear. The one behind the clutch that meshes with the starter bendix.

OK so, just on the off chance anyone FROM THE FUTURE comes here, I had this EXACT same problem and tried all the same solutions presented here. You wanna know what it was? The starter gear disc that sits behind the primary clutch was filpped the wrong way. The 'post' is supposed to be facing OUT away from the engine, and on both mine, and the parts machine I had, it was the wrong way. Thing is, even installed backwards IT WILL STILL START AND RUN. BUT WILL NOT MOVE OR REV UP. My suspicion is this: People read about the clutch tweaks, take it all apart, pull a few rollers, lighten the clutch arms by 18g, put it back together and either flip the starter gear or put the washer on the wrong side of the bushing, thereby limiting or eliminating primary clutch travel. They search online for "LT80 WILL NOT MOVE OR REV UP" in vain, clean the absolute piss out of their carb multiple times til it's got a mirror finish from being boiled alive in lemon juice and purple power. Buy new jets. Buy a new carb. They check stator alignment and timing. Replace all the electrical components. Twice. Then give up in frustration and sell it to the next guy who goes through the same Sisyphean cycle, only to have the thing roll back down the hill dragging him and his wallet along with it. After all my google fu and internet sleuthing here and abroad in the wilds of the ATV forums, I had come to the conclusion that it was flat spots on my rollers and them being gunked up with old grease and mouse feces. All of these things proved to be true, and I ordered all the relevant parts last night. And then had the epiphany whilst browsing the parts fiche at Babbitt's. "IT'S FU*%ING BACKWARDS!?!" It was, indeed, fu*%ing backwards. So I flipped it. The right way. And after the fifteen thousandth time of taking half the quad apart and putting it all back together again... it fired up and went brap and lit up the tires. And that's how I got caught ripping around the streets half naked in the rain on a child's ATV screaming "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU************************%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! IT RUUUUNNNNNSS!" and doing donuts in the road at 2am like some sort of deranged two stroke Dr. Frankenstein.

It’s been a year of swapping and fixing and swapping and fixing and swapping…. Last year I bought a KFX80 mouse condominium for $500, fixed it and swapped for a Blaster, fixed that and swapped for a LT230s, straightened that out and swapped for an ‘07 KX 85, cleaned THAT up and traded it for a clapped out LTZ400 with OMF bead locks, ELKA shocks, HotCams, ProTaper bars, and a serious case of “PO had no clue what they were doing”. I recently posted about finishing up that LT160/230, well almost finished - timing was off for some reason, but before I could get it figured out I found someone to swap it with for a 94 XR200R with a strange ticking in the head. Replaced it’s timing chain and guides, re-tensioned, popped out the valves and cleaned them all up, all back together and the ticking persists. Flipping thru the Clymer manual that came with it I found a stacked head gasket tucked inside. And saw a green paper one on the bike. 💡 So anyway, I traded it to someone more inclined toward two-wheeled adventures for an awfully clapped out DVX400 with a lot of Alba’s finest red anodized aluminum ding dongs all over it. And a Houser chromoly stem! AND a big bore kit (JE Piston). PO couldn’t get it to run, which turned out to be a combination of 4 stripped threads in the cam journals, and a “twist n’ tape” job on the damn stator wires. 😳😝🤣 After a few weeks of wrenching and part swapping and fixing and sweating and swearing and parting out - I nearly have a drivable quad… and a pretty damned nice one for my tastes at least. Thinking about sinking a few hundred Kold Kutters into this extra set of tires and having a go at the ice this winter

1990 Suzuki LT160e that has been frame-off restored and motor swapped with a LT230e. Motor has new Wiseco piston, Shindy valves, upgraded valve springs. New carb. Full DG RCM Alloy exhaust and oversized header pipe. All new tires, rears are Maxxis RZR Plus MX, new seat cover, all new plastics, new bearings and seals all around, fresh brakes and new tie rods. Took me a year to finally have that light bulb epiphany oh sh** moment when I realized one crucial mistake from last fall, corrected it, and it fired up and ran like a champ.

One I have is similar to this. https://www.amazon.com/Thin-bearing-puller-remover-30mm/dp/B01M3Z5RT3

Once you have removed the sprocket, chain, case saver (59), cover plate (46) , o-rings, oil seal (47), and spacer (55), the bearing (40) can be removed.

Aaand true to form - instead of doing any of that - I pulled the 230E motor out of the 160 and rebuilt the top end instead. New valves, springs, valve guide seals, crosshatch hone on the jug, and a new Wiseco piston and rings. Crank looks great, no up/down and very minimal deflection. Posting this while I let the gasket remover do its thing, then reassembling. If nothing else, I'm getting more efficient at R&R'ing quad and dirtbike engines LOL

Boo! Quiet around here. Quick update for no reason in particular other than hearing myself think. Been wrestling with yet ANOTHER LT80 because I thought it would be a quick project, but mainly cuz I'm a glutton for punishment. Traded a different go kart for this one, which "just needed a top end" but also has now gotten new rear brakes, transmission gears and bearings (plug pulled and left dry to rust solid together), new carb, throttle, brake cables and lever, clutch bearings... I ended up trading the Blaster (that I got in trade for the KFX80 mouse condo) for a 1985 230s that made a lot of noise when you kicked it over, none of it good. Tore down to find a bent crank and evidence of a lot of piston slap like gouging in the cylinder wall. The crank had been DIY'd in a vise and never balanced, so crank bearings were roached. Used the left side crankcase half from it, and the right side, guts and top end from the moldy D-CON 230s mentioned above to build one good working 230s motor, reinstalled it, and it fired up first kick with a little gas in the bowl. Traded it a week later for a 2007 KX85. So I effectively turned a KFX80 into a KX85. Pretty good horse trading IMHO. Buddy of mine picked up the 250s chassis and engine this week and is fabricating a complete exhaust for it. Asked for a lot of granular data about the engine - bore and stroke length, cam lift and duration, valve diameter, carburetor venturi size, etc. - to input into design software. Pretty excited to see what he comes up with. Also got some LTZ400 plastics from one of the locals in trade for a go kart frame, so that should be a fun project getting them to fit. Trying to work up the motivation to replace the carb in the King Quad before I get hammered with snow, but procrastination is winning that battle at the moment.

This might help a little

Could be a bad pick up coil on the stator. Or a loose/worn connection between any of those components. Could be as simple as the spark plug boot being loose on the plug wire, or loose at the coil and, you never know.

I’ll try to take a look and see if I can find any markings on it. Incidentally I pulled the top end off of that 230 S motor I got a few weeks ago, it had been sitting in a barn for a while, and it looks like something made a nest in there at least temporarily. My best guess is D-Con, mouse sh**, and mold. it cleaned up nice. the guy said he re-ringed it before shelving it. Appears to be true.

Started it up today. Still have a bit of an exhaust leak from header to muffler, but it sounds strong. IMG_1894.MOV https://imgur.com/gallery/vXhEFgM Took it for a quick rip, need to adjust float and get jetting right, but it goes like Billy blew sh**. Stopping is another story. Bled front brakes, but the pads are toast. Rears not functioning at all yet. Rode it anyway, broke a chair ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'd love to grab it from you for sure. I think the stator coils themselves are fine, and I'd ideally like to get that 230S built, with or without having Vince make a frankencrank. PM me an address and I'll send you some loot. I got some handy things in the mail today - case splitter, valve spring compressor, valve guide reamer, and a couple other doodads. I got a hunch earlier, and just confirmed that it has a Blaster rear fender on it. They cut the airbox out of it and drilled some new holes. It doesn't look *that* bad, but a real 250S seat wouldn't fit. I think that's why someone cut the seat pan. I had the little daredevil all afternoon and just had an hour to fiddle with it, managed to get it to fire and purr on a shot of ether. Sounds fukn mean lol. Also figure out that the DG Krome RCM I have is for a Kawasaki Mojave 250. Go figure.

What's broken is the backer plate that the two large coils and the pickup attach to, which itself bolts to the stator cover. I replaced the stator with the one out of the 230S for now. How do you determine what the timing advance/retardation is by looking at the flywheel? Is it the placement of the notch in relation to keyway? I have both 230S and 250S, as well as ones from LT160, and 230E. Would be interesting to compare.

Out of curiosity, and not being able to find any replacements new for the 230/250S, what are the chances a 250R stator would work? It appears to be the same mounting plate, but has 3 coils instead of 2. Otherwise, I suppose I could repot the coils in some epoxy resin. I'm heading to the hardware store to get a third mounting screw for the stator, and going to put it back together for now.

So, I had this weird thing happen where I would confirm getting spark using both a spare plug in the boot, and the plug in the engine, when unscrewed. Smelled and felt the plug was wet with gas. Check spark again, nothing. Tore the harness apart looking for fuckery, found a little, but nothing to account for this intermittent no-spark condition. Started thinking "What would cause spark then no-spark, seemingly at random?" and it occurred to me that contaminants in the oil (water?) might be sitting peacefully in the bottom of the oil until they get stirred up by a few cranks. Decided to pull the shiny new stator cover that someone apparently went to a lot of trouble to install. After being annoyed by the mismatched hardware making me run to the bench three times for different sockets, I got the cover off and was immediately greeted by milky-gray looking oil. Not great, but I felt vindicated in my hunch, however impossible it may have seemed, this stuff was ready to turn to mayo if it actually did run. As I was letting it drain into the catch pan, I noticed something amiss inside the shiny new stator cover - a small stray screw. Was one of the ones that held the pickup coil in place, which was just kinda dangling there, with the other screw also backing out of its threads. Screwed that all back together and snug and noticed ANOTHER screw loose, this one on one of the main coils of the stator, backed way out and bent over at a 30 degree angle. Pulled it out and got it straightened in the vise, started screwing it back in, and then noticed an entire third of the stator plate that contained one of the mounting holes was broken off and missing entirely. The remaining two holes had buggered phillips screws in them, and also not tight at all. This was the rough equivalent of that zip-tied stator in the RV125. Absolute fukn trainwreck. Luckily I have that 230S motor that's all JB weld, and it's that same stator. Going to swap those out in the morning. The DG cleaned up really nice, and I repacked it, put it all back together and went to see how it fit, and it doesn't. Not at all. I think it's for a Honda or something, it's got a weird downturn/hook to it. So I plan to steal the exhaust off the 230 as well since it's going on the bench for rebuild soon anyway.

The other bonus is he lives about 10 minutes away and has access from his neighborhood to a bunch of powerlines and sandy pine forest trails that I used to rip around on as a kid. Said I could park at his place if I wanted to go out there.

I think he traded it for something to the guy who bought it and put a stator cover on it. The plastics are pretty fu**** up, but I think I can make do with what’s there. Strip and paint like the KQ. I redid the steering stem bushing in the LT 80, I’m pretty sure this one is about the same. The guy in Connecticut just messaged me back, said he would ship me the seat, but I have to mail him a postal money order and the shipping label because he doesn’t have a printer or PayPal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just realizing I saw this on FB this summer for like $900 and missed it by a day. Guy said it needed a little work and was missing a stator cover, but had spark. Whoever Came with a DG exhaust and a new ebay carb along with a few other odds and ends in a box. Just pulled off the harness, CDI, regulator, and coil to clean them up and shore up the connections. Looks like it needs front brake pads, and a new back brake reservoir. Something's a little sloppy in the steering, either stem bushing or tie rod ends, haven't really investigated. Rolls nice, and suspension feels OK. Tires are ALL clapped out, but I've got extras around. The "ears" of the seat have been chopped off, but I found a guy with one on FB for $25 that's ratty but solid pan and foam. I'm trying to negotiate getting him to ship it to me from CT.

Got it! I’ll post pics in a minute or twoI’ll post pics in a minute or two

I don't want to jinx it, but I'm talking to a guy in my town about trading the CRF80F and that RM80 roller for an 89 250S. Going over with the bikes tomorrow to see if he wants to trade.

A little arts and crafts project from screenshots of the service manual: