GS300L starter idler gear chipped a tooth

[Guest]

Hey guys, been yet another while since being on. Anywho, as I was going out to get oil for a routine change, the starter just instantly locked up. I rolled the bike off and went about my merry way. Well, I pulled the stator housing after draining the oil and found the idler gear had broken a tooth. Pulled it out, starter motor still spins like a blender.

But I'm having trouble finding that idler gear the Suzuki part number I have found is 12611-11400. Does anyone know if that number cross-references with any others? I'm admittedly not thrilled about forking over $150 for an NOS gear if I can help it.

Also, will the starter clutch be okay without that idler gear in place? I may see if a machine shop can weld/cut a new tooth onto what I have if so.

[John Park]

If the starter clutch outer gear is spinning without the gear to hold it still, it's a bit questionable whether it would be safe. Normally, it is stationary and only moves when the starter does and at a sub idle speed. It might just whirl about harmlessly - or not. When it 'overruns' the center it would engage itself which is probably benign, but it wasn't designed for high rpm and results could be interesting.

Did you find the missing tooth?

The part number is not the same as any other bike and cmsnl.com lists it as unavailable. It IS the same part as the GS250 and there should be plenty of those in 'breakers' yards in the UK.

I recall a member here with the handle of UK Jules who was restoring a 250 and sourcing parts over there. He might be able to help.

It looks as though the gear is smaller for the 250 but the same across the 250/300 models.

[tom203]

Ask this ebay seller if he's got one in his teardown collections..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-SUZUKI-GS300-SM224-starter-clutch-/290949831167

[Ric]

Hey thanks for the replies!

John Park, I went back and forth about that very thing and decided just to put the idler gear back in and disconnect the yellow/green starter relay wire as a failsafe in the meantime. I did find out that the 250 & 300 have the same idler gear. And a new one from Babbitt's will run $127 plus shipping. Tom203, I have seen that seller on ebay before when I looked at swapping a 450 front end onto the 300. But it never dawned on me to ask if he had an idler gear. Thanks for that little nudge in the right direction!

[LHO39]

Nearly went blind Sunday morning. viewing thousands of photos on eBay. It turns out the GS250T has most of the same lower end parts as the GS300L In particular the STARTER GEAR is identical. So I searched GS250 parts and I found TWO of them. Both hidden in piles of transmission gears. I bought one pile. The other is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUZUKI-GS250...RXFsCT&vxp=mtr Look at the upper left in the photo.

I NOW HAVE A BUNCH OF TRANSMISSION GEARS, BEARINGS, SHAFTS AND SHIFTERS for GS250 BUT MOST ARE ALSO FOR GS300. IF ANYONE NEEDS SOMETHING LET ME KNOW.

[Ric]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been back to this sooner - been a LOT happening here lately. :/

So I found a guy on ebay with everything downstream of the clutch assembly, from a 250 with 2500 miles. Including the starter idler gear. $73 shipped, I've had it in for awhile now and no issues at all!

PLUS, I have all the pieces needed to put in sixth gear(cue manaical laughing), yay! After doing some digging through the service manual(which is so much like the 300 that the 300 is just an appendix to the 250 manual), I found that the 300's output shaft is a tad longer than the 250's. But other than that they are identical. 6th gear goes right in the void between 2nd & 3rd on the 300. The 300 3rd/4th gear even has the dog teeth to engage 6th gear. So at my next oil change I'm gonna pull the engine, split the case, pull the shafts and put 6th gear on, swap shift drums, reassemble, add oil, and ride. B)

[Ric]

LHO39, that one link you have is actually the pile of gears I ended up buying LOL!

[LHO39]

Did you actually do the sixth gear? I looked at the GS300 supplement. Seems simple. Does it all fit in as you surmised? Easy installation?

Is the new gear ABOVE fifth? how much of a space between the fifth and sixth gears on RPMs?

[Ric]

Hey, so sorry I missed this!

It made a WORLD of difference! No record setter mind you, but it is absolutely an improvement. I know the engine is built to sing soprano, but with pipes/pods/jets it gets awful painful on the ears at highway speeds. Now it runs 60 at around 5100rpm in sixth, compared to around 6000 in fifth - with a 15/39 sprocket set. Theoretical top end is now 99mph. I'll never take it that fast - I'm too much wind resistance. :P

If I can score some higher compression pistons, I have a bead on a set of 250 cams to swap in. They have 20° longer duration with the same lift, so the valvesprings should be golden. Besides, they arenthe same ones used in the 4valve 750, and it revs to 9500rpm which is where I'd back out anyway. The extra power would only help things.