gt550 starter

[roxie]

Hello all,
I have a gt550J had it about a year and the engine will not spin over with the electric start(koukosan).
The starter motor sounds to be turning over, but not the motor ,the battery is good.
I heard once of a problem
in this area with the early bikes and i believe there was a mod, but i may of dreamt it.
I have not had anything apart as i thought to seek advice first. any help greatly appreciated.

[Alan H]

Dunno about a mod other than fitting a later clutch with a redesigned starter clutch. Maybe better off to strip what you have and find out what's wrong with yours first. They are very simple to work on and there's only 3 rollers with cups and springs in three tapered slots. I remember having mine out (in the day) during an engine strip and it only involves the loss of a couple of knuckles and a bit of swearing.

[julian]

Hi have just done one on my 550k ,the starter gear that fits in rear of clutch has a fixed bush on it this is what breaks mine was in 4 pieces chewed up rollers and springs , got rollers and springs from discount suzuki parts and managed to get a new starter gear off of ebay old type ,would of preferred newer type but havent managed to find one yet .Quit easy to do hardest part is undoing clutch centre nut rest is easy ,can do with engine in frame just need to take exhaust of that side and a good impact driver for those cross head c case screws ,ebay usa has these gears for sale quit often or even ebay uk ,can almost guarentee this is your fault so you could wait untill you can get a gear but if its badly broke it can jam up locking crank fiddley getting springs and rollers held back while fitting starter gear .When fitted starter gear turns free one way other way locks to clutch this is what turns engine over

[yeadon_m]

Roxie,
I read somewhere (but do not know if its true) that it is just possible that a failed starter clutch 'might' lock up a running engine. I'd hope it cannot 'fail dangerous' like that but if it could, it wouldn't be fun if you were riding it at the time. Unless you're sure it cannot do this, it might be better not to ride it until its either fixed, or the probably broken subassembly is taken off completely.
Just my 10c,
Mike

[oldjapanesebikes]

Until its apart we are all just guessing :-)

The change to the starter clutch is detailed in the service bulletin #26 which is available at this link. Obviously there are quite a number of unmodified versions still working and on the road, and also I suspect quite a few out there still which are broken and so are relying on the kick starter. Mine was in many pieces when I opened it up - the photo shows what I found on the left, and on the right what an old style starter clutch boss is supposed to look like. The big bits were contained/held in place within the clutch housing, but I did find some small bits loose in the bottom of the transmission case, so I suppose Mike's mention of lock-up is a possible risk. It certainly didn't look pretty but appeared to have been that way for a while and was actually not the reason why I pulled the engine apart. The centre gudgeon pin had broken and split the piston in two - didn't sound good at all !

[Alan H]

Very interesting and informative that link Ian.
Love the comment regarding installing the unit the wrong way round.
Basically, if you do, the engine drives the starter motor instead of the other way around and the starter doesn't appreciate being spun at warp speed for some reason!!

[roxie]

Thanks for all the info and guidence, will have to take it apart and investigate,will post my results.

[roxie]

all sorted now springs in starter mech were ll in pieces, thanks to all who replied

[yeadon_m]

Roxie,
Not a nice thing to find, but on the plus side, you now know for sure whats needed to fix it. Good luck!
Mike