Drive splines

[tom203]

Remind me again...the wheel drive spline on the 82 shafties were weak..what color?

[storm 64]

Silver are the weak ones.
I replaced mine (850g) at 27,000 miles.

[Redman]

Not to argue with Norm, but I was going to say the original 1982 ones were golden colored.
The new replacements are more silver.

[Nessism]

Lots of info about this in the archives...

Very first generation wheel splines were recalled. Something about the studs. These were black oxide colored.
2nd version were good, also black oxide.
Goldish colored version were next. Not sure what year they came to be but 1981 maybe? Those are the worst and they were not superseded until a number of years passed.
The current service parts are silver colored and seem robust.

[Steve]

Yup, black, then gold, then silver. Avoid the gold.

The silver ones are still available as NEW.

.

[storm 64]

I'm truly not trying to cause confusion or mislead anyone. I understand the new good ones are silver. But in my 1982 850g it had a silver one that stripped out. I replaced it with a black one from a 1979 850g. I'm not sure why I just didn't buy a brand-new one... Anyway, to the original poster. Just buy a new one from Suzuki and you'll be golden. 👍

[tom203]

Thanks guys... I picked up a spare wheel assembly off a 83 gs650.. The splines appear to be silver, but seem to be less robust than what's currently on my bike now..though they aren't chewed up like redman's gold pic. At next tire change, I will compare .

[bwringer]

It's very hard to tell the difference between the bad gold splines and a newer silver spline unless you have them both in front of you. IIRC, the new ones seem to have a more "machined" finish than a "cast" surface texture.

The part is still in production and being used on new Suzukis -- the 800cc "Boulevard" cruisers. It's up to about $150 these days, I think.

But with a little cross-referencing, you'll find it was used on tons of Suzuki shafties over the last 39 years, so it's not too hard to find good driven splines and rear wheels containing good driven spline units.

[tom203]

"But with a little cross-referencing, you'll find it was used on tons of Suzuki shafties over the last 39 years, so it's not too hard to find good driven splines and rear wheels containing good driven spline units."

Yes, I was looking for a spare rear wheel assembly..and this caught my eye. The spline surface is nicely machined, so I probably lucked out.

[bwringer]

I once bought a rear wheel on fleaBay, then messaged the seller telling him I only wanted the driven spline; I'd pay the same amount, but he was welcome to relist, keep, or scrap the wheel.

He was quite happy to remove the spline and deal with far less crap and expense shipping it to me.

No idea what he did with the wheel. There's not much market for alloy GS wheels. They're incredibly heavy compared to modern motorcycle wheels, but they're also incredibly strong and wearing high-profile tires. So GS wheels very rarely get damaged unless it's in a serious crash where the rest of the bike probably isn't salvageable either.

On most modern bikes like a V-Strom, the wheels get damaged all the time by relatively minor impacts so you'll get top dollar quickly if you have a good wheel to sell.

[kerrfunk]

Old gold, new black is what I did a few years ago. Check out the razorthin edge on the gold (on the right)!

[Redman]

Kerry, the gold one would be the original 82 one that was superseded by the current silver (more machined looking) ones. Good that you changed that out. Razor thin edge remaining, you say, I cant see it, would think is completely stripped out.

But, I think that black looking one would be an older one like 79-80(?)-81(?), like Steve said above.

[wymple]

I keep a spare rear drive, complete, on the shelf, wrapped up in a towel. I'll most likely never need it.

[kerrfunk]

Kerry, the gold one would be the original 82 one that was superseded by the current silver (more machined looking) ones. Good that you changed that out. Razor thin edge remaining, you say, I cant see it, would think is completely stripped out.

But, I think that black looking one would be an older one like 79-80(?)-81(?), like Steve said above.

I harvested the replacement part out of a wheel I bought on ebay for $30, and that included the shipping! Can't beat that!!

Here's the story: https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...e-won-t-engage