82-83 1100E Crankshafts

[Guest]

So they say the 82 crankshafts weren't welded except maybe later ones closer to 83. Is this really an issue? Has anybody grenaded a stock 82 crank?

Has anybody tried to weld up an 82 crank?

[5150/gs]

Yes,could be,yes and yes lol.I belive Rapidray may have tons of experience at this.

[5150/gs]

And welcome to the best GS reource available to Mankind.

[5150/gs]

Accidental overrev will twist the crank,you will know u did it because u will have massive engine vibration i believe.

[evh]

I'm suprised that Suzuki would design a crankshaft that can twist from "quick revving" or free revving.. These are motorcycle engines, these are made to quickly rev LOL and really at the time the GS1100E was one of the top Superbikes in the world.. Superbikes are used for racing and riding like a superbike. what the heck were they thinking? If I ever tear mine down for a rebuild I'll weld my crank up where it's pressed together.

[Nessism]

I'm suprised that Suzuki would design a crankshaft that can twist from "quick revving" or free revving.. These are motorcycle engines, these are made to quickly rev LOL and really at the time the GS1100E was one of the top Superbikes in the world.. Superbikes are used for racing and riding like a superbike. what the heck were they thinking? If I ever tear mine down for a rebuild I'll weld my crank up where it's pressed together.

Are you joking? Even engineers, as bright as they are, are not perfect. Design weaknesses are addressed as they are uncovered and the breed is improved year over year.

[evh]

Are you joking? Even engineers, as bright as they are, are not perfect. Design weaknesses are addressed as they are uncovered and the breed is improved year over year.

actually I wasn't joking.. Something like a crankshaft you would think should have been well thought out.. It's not like Suzuki doesn't know what they're doing.. They make some of the best small performance engines to date.

In a lower performance engine I can see the crank not having issues but underneath a GSX cylinder head and valvetrain that wants to turn it's a different story.. I wonder how many failures have actually happened? or is it one of those things that happened to a couple people out of a million..

[Homie]

In a stock engine the 82 crank performed just fine. It wasn't until people started building them up and leaning on them that the crank issue surfaced. In high HP applications the press-pins could twist a little causing the crank throws becoming slightly out of phase and resulting in the aforementioned vibration. As Nessim stated, the Suzook engineers took note and corrected the problem for 83 by welding the pins along with fixing the problem with the crank rotor taper by making it thicker. IMO, your 82 crank should be just fine unless you already have a problem with it, or you plan to boost the HP a significant amount from stock.

[Nessism]

actually I wasn't joking.. Something like a crankshaft you would think should have been well thought out.. It's not like Suzuki doesn't know what they're doing.. They make some of the best small performance engines to date.

In a lower performance engine I can see the crank not having issues but underneath a GSX cylinder head and valvetrain that wants to turn it's a different story.. I wonder how many failures have actually happened? or is it one of those things that happened to a couple people out of a million..

The only people that know how many twisted crankshafts there were work for Suzuki. Obviously, there were enough to warrant the welding countermeasure. Apparently, Suzuki's durability judgement protocol did not anticipate the problem, but at least they fixed it.

[blowerbike]

actually I wasn't joking.. Something like a crankshaft you would think should have been well thought out.. It's not like Suzuki doesn't know what they're doing.. They make some of the best small performance engines to date.

In a lower performance engine I can see the crank not having issues but underneath a GSX cylinder head and valvetrain that wants to turn it's a different story.. I wonder how many failures have actually happened? or is it one of those things that happened to a couple people out of a million..

how about the old kawi's...twisted cranks quite often and the early ones had center pin issue's due to being to small/not strong enough/to few of teeth ect..

the 80-82 GS1100 issue is more related to the small taper of the crank and the alt. rotor spinning and destroying the tapered area.
in all my years i have only had one twisted GS crank..

[sedelen]

actually I wasn't joking.. Something like a crankshaft you would think should have been well thought out.. It's not like Suzuki doesn't know what they're doing.. They make some of the best small performance engines to date.

In a lower performance engine I can see the crank not having issues but underneath a GSX cylinder head and valvetrain that wants to turn it's a different story.. I wonder how many failures have actually happened? or is it one of those things that happened to a couple people out of a million..

Surely you've heard about the one year only '83 GS1100E clutches, that didn't work out as well as previous years. How about the engineering put into the frame cover tabs that keep breaking off? the plastic front fender the paint flakes off of, and the location of one of the exhaust heat shield mounting screws you have to take the pipes off to get on, and as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on those front fork anti-dive units, but we did get a really big headlight!

[isleoman]

In all my years I've also only seen one, unfortunately it was mine. It was not modded. It had 10K on it and after finnishing an 8000 mile cross country trip, I did a celebatory wheelie when I turned down my home street and when the front wheel landed there was a constant loud whirring noise.

Suzuki stood behind the failure and rebuilt the engine with a welded crank. The irony was that I knew in 84 when I bought it as a left over about the crank problems. I asked the dealer about it specifically. He said he just had to check a data base and 10 minutes later wrote on my Bill of Sale that my bike was a late build one that came through with the welded crank. Surprise

[evh]

Surely you've heard about the one year only '83 GS1100E clutches, that didn't work out as well as previous years. How about the engineering put into the frame cover tabs that keep breaking off? the plastic front fender the paint flakes off of, and the location of one of the exhaust heat shield mounting screws you have to take the pipes off to get on, and as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on those front fork anti-dive units, but we did get a really big headlight!

LOL these headlights on our bikes are probably left over search lights from WW2

[evh]

In all my years I've also only seen one, unfortunately it was mine. It was not modded. It had 10K on it and after finnishing an 8000 mile cross country trip, I did a celebatory wheelie when I turned down my home street and when the front wheel landed there was a constant loud whirring noise.

Suzuki stood behind the failure and rebuilt the engine with a welded crank. The irony was that I knew in 84 when I bought it as a left over about the crank problems. I asked the dealer about it specifically. He said he just had to check a data base and 10 minutes later wrote on my Bill of Sale that my bike was a late build one that came through with the welded crank. Surprise

The VIN Should tell if it's a late build bike shouldn't it?

[sedelen]

LOL these headlights on our bikes are probably left over search lights from WW2

And they're quite valuable also, check out what this one on E-bay went for, I'm in disbelief myself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360484642089?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649