1979 suzuki gs425e

[lmrmllr89]

hi i am new to this site...been riding for a little while though....just picked up a 1979 gs425e for $375....so over the next few months as i work on it ...im sure i will have questions and hopefully can find answers on here.....do these bikes have any known common problems....

[pete]

Welcome to the forums! Nice to see another twin being brought back to life

There are definitely some common issues with these and there are also plenty of common maintenance tasks you'll need to do straight off the bat.

Start reading through here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=171846

And BassCliff will be along at some point to give you a mega welcome with tons of extremely useful stuff in it...

[Midwest FZ Rider]

Hey, welcome! I am working on a 1979 GS 425L right now I'm not on here a lot but if you have questions feel free to bounce them off of me too!

[lmrmllr89]

Does anyone know if an exhaust system off a gs 400 or a gs 450 ( even the ones from the automatic bikes) will bolt directly onto my gs 425

[Englishman]

The 400 exhaust will fit for sure.

The only aftermarket system I have seen are by Mac. I believe it's the same part number for the 400, 425 & 450.

Mark

[lmrmllr89]

Thanx for that answer. But will a system off a gs450 fit on the 425

[pete]

The headers are all the same, but I believe there may be some minor differences in the mounting around the footpeg area with the different variations such as E, S, L, and T.

In theory they should all be workable, just some may need some mounting work...

[lmrmllr89]

well i worked on this bike for a few mins the other day and ran into a problem...i put a battery in it and turned the key on..the nuetral light lit up but nothing happens when i pushed the starter button....also i went to check the lights and when i turned on the one turn signal before it starting blinking everything went out and now when i turn the key nothing happens at all.....i havent had any time to look at it but does anyone have any ideas why this happened and what might have caused it.

[pete]

Sounds to me like your clutch safety switch is not letting it start.

Check out the wiring diagram and you should be able to find it and disconnect it. See if that solves the starter issue.

As for losing everything, have you checked your main fuse? If it's still the stock glass type fuse, replace the fuse holder and fuse with a more modern blade type, it will make it a lot less prone to failure.

[lmrmllr89]

Main fuse looks ok . Still need to check the other fuses. I didn't see a clutch safety switch on the diagram. Is it called something else maybe? Could the starter relay be bad?

[lmrmllr89]

So tonight I got a few mins with it....reinstalled the battery and now it cranks....and the lights work.....maybe just a bad battery connection?

[lmrmllr89]

One more question here ....thinking about replacing the chain....don't know a lot about them but what is the pros and cons of an o-ring chain versus a non o-ring chain

[pete]

I'd suggest going back and checking all your ground connections including the big fat one from the crank case.

You'll probably find one of them has corroded which means sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't... could explain why redoing the battery connections made it crank

As to the chain question, the O ring and X ring chains are supposed to last longer than the standard type, but on a 450 it's not going to matter much one way or the other.

I ended up with an O ring chain but that's only because it was the only one they stocked that had the correct 104 links so I didn't have to remove any links.

Don't forget, if you're replacing your chain, replace your sprockets as well.

[lmrmllr89]

the bike only has 6800 miles on it....how critical is to replace the sprockets along with the chain....trying to keep cost down...

[pete]

Depends on how worn they are I guess.

If the chain's worn enough to replace, then the sprockets should be too.

If they look like there's little or no wear then it might be ok to leave them, but definitely keep an eye on them.

If the sprockets are too worn they will make your chain wear a lot faster.