Welded crank, factory or not?

[Anonymous]

Started working on the 82 1100E over the weekend as it's my winter project. Anyway I checked if the crank was welded while I had the clutch out and found it was. So I was curious if it's possible to tell if it was a factory job or not. Or probably more likely, rule out that it was a factory job, if the welding does not match the way the factory did it.
Can't reach the previous owner to see if knows.

The only journal I can see is on the third throw. It is welded in two places directly across from each other and covering about 90 degrees around on each. When the journal is visible through the cluch housing the welds are sitting horizontal.

More curious about this because the the sticker on the steering neck shows it was built 3/82 and I thought this mod was added late in 82 (but I guess as they come out before the actual year they are this may be considered late year?).

[Anonymous]

Re: Welded crank, factory or not?

Started working on the 82 1100E over the weekend as it's my winter project. Anyway I checked if the crank was welded while I had the clutch out and found it was. So I was curious if it's possible to tell if it was a factory job or not. Or probably more likely, rule out that it was a factory job, if the welding does not match the way the factory did it.
Can't reach the previous owner to see if knows.

The only journal I can see is on the third throw. It is welded in two places directly across from each other and covering about 90 degrees around on each. When the journal is visible through the cluch housing the welds are sitting horizontal.

More curious about this because the the sticker on the steering neck shows it was built 3/82 and I thought this mod was added late in 82 (but I guess as they come out before the actual year they are this may be considered late year?).

From what i have been told, and read in our departments located on the home page, the factory welds are just partial welds--the falicon and other pro welding shops do a 360 bead. but i just think that is the case--Acording to the articles, the factory started doung the partial welds in the last couple of months of 1982

[Anonymous]

I've read that the problem that caused Suzuki to begin welding cranks was only apparent with extreme use (abuse?) of the engine. If your engine hasn't been hotrodded, I'd suggest this will be a factory job. It's unlikely that the average owner would think it necessary to pull out and weld the crank unless they had suffered a failure.

[Anonymous]

3/82 would be considered a late '82 model. 1982 production started in September 1981.
Axel

[Anonymous]

You could have a factory crank which was replaced under warranty when the orig. crank twisted. I know that when I worked for a Suzuki dealer, we replaced quite a few '82 cranks under warranty.