82 gs550l fork swap questions

[Anonymous]

i recently rescude a gs550l(1982) from what i was sure would be a horrible
desctruction.The former owner thought this bike was cursed due to the fack that everyone who has owned it since 2000 has laid it down. He gave me the usual steering problems rant.
Anyway, while im restoring it I find the front axl is trashed .
The big questions are these,
1. Can i swap the forks from a '82 gs550e? onto the L
2. Is the axl the same

im sure it will work, the only visiable difference i see is the the E forks are set up for dual front discs vs. the 550L's single
Any thoughts :roll:

[Anonymous]

Forks

Don`t see any reason not to.I know that 750 front ends have been put on numerous 550`s for the same reason,twin discs. 8O

[SqDancerLynn1]

Fenders are different axel should be the same dia but very probably different due to the different mounting

[Anonymous]

hi and thanks for the reponses;and forgive my spelling in my first post
yes the fenders are different but the mounts look the same
how do you think it will affet the ride/handeling of the 550?
the last few owners all statethe bike doesnt want to steer,especially in a tight turn.Could this be due to the fact the axl was bent? or the frks out of line,or both :?
anyway wish me luck.

[Anonymous]

forks swap

If you are in any doubt just swap the whole front end from a 750,they are not expensive on e-bay.

[Anonymous]

I think it will effect your handling, the "L" has a leading axle fork the "E" does not. It will change the geometry I believe, may want to check it out.
Just my two bits, Greg

[Anonymous]

what do you mean by the geometry?
im a little ignorant of this.
i would do the 750 but i just got these forks off ebay for 2.25 plus shipping

[Anonymous]

Forks

I tried to post this before so if we end up with two,sorry.Right,to begin with,at the end of the day it`s your neck that could be on the block here so I would like to suggest,(STRONGLY RECOMMEND) you come onto the S.O.C. UK and contact a guy called BigBob,either PM him direct or post on the site for him.He knows everything GS and maybe even Suzuki,he will tell you with certainty what you can and cannot put on your front end.I am sure if you ask him that he will be happy to answer all your worries as he is a top bloke.Like I said, it`s your neck.My necks been on that block too and I absolutely trust his judgement.Drop him a line and you worries are over.Good luck. :? :? 8O

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of guys more qualified here than I but seems when I was rebuilding my front end someone told me about the geometry thing.

If you look at the where the axle is located, the L model axle is out front and all the others mount below. Exactly how Suzuki accounted for this I am not sure, but seems either the neck or the trees must have a little different rake. If the difference lies with the trees, the entire frontend could be swapped. If the frame has different rake, your stuck using an L frontend. In my case I stuck with the L forks just to be sure.

Anybody know for certain where the difference lies?

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of guys more qualified here than I but seems when I was rebuilding my front end someone told me about the geometry thing.

If you look at the where the axle is located, the L model axle is out front and all the others mount below. Exactly how Suzuki accounted for this I am not sure, but seems either the neck or the trees must have a little different rake. If the difference lies with the trees, the entire frontend could be swapped. If the frame has different rake, your stuck using an L frontend. In my case I stuck with the L forks just to be sure.

Anybody know for certain where the difference lies?

if your just replacing the front assembly and not the frame head your geometry will remain the same as what it was from the factory.
as soon as you cut the steering head off the frame and reweld in different angle then your geometry is changed. or if you mix the trees from different bikes can you change geometry as well.

[SqDancerLynn1]

The L model has I think 1 deg more rake. I don't see you having any problems if you replace the complete front end

[Anonymous]

8O boy you guys know it all dont you. your all getting down to the degrees and stuff, this is so cool
im gonna do the swap but now the bike is just a parts bike
i just bought a running 82 gs550l in near perfect condition so ill use this one for parts or sell i havent made up my mind
Also decided to buy the 2004 gs500F with the 100 plastics
so ill post when i get done with the swap. trees and all
Again THANKS TO ALL YOU GUYS ROCK

[Anonymous]

8O boy you guys know it all dont you. your all getting down to the degrees and stuff, this is so cool
im gonna do the swap but now the bike is just a parts bike
i just bought a running 82 gs550l in near perfect condition so ill use this one for parts or sell i havent made up my mind
Also decided to buy the 2004 gs500F with the 1000 plastics
so ill post when i get done with the swap. trees and all
Again THANKS TO ALL YOU GUYS ROCK