Just purchased an 82 GS850GL

[eil]

I replaced the R/R on my 850GL with the Polaris one per the recommendations here. It was a snap.

Mounting it is pretty easy, if your '82 is the same as my '80. All I did was "expand" the little metal bracket underneath the battery box where the R/R mounts and use longer bolts. You can see how I did this in my rebuild thread below. (My way is a little redneck but works fine, you can probably think of something better.)

Electrically, all you have to do is cut the wires going to the old R/R, as close to the unit as possible, and then crimp on some standard blade terminals. Some people fill in the R/R's connector cavity with silicone after the wires have been plugged into the R/R. Probably a good idea to keep it weather-tight, but I haven't done that yet.

Make sure you bypass the famous "useless headlight loop" that goes up into the harness for one leg of the stator. It's easy, look at the wiring diagram and it's literally plug-and-play. A lot of people prefer to delete the connectors between the stator and R/R and solder them right together, also not a bad solution.

Remember that even though Suzuki color-coded the 3 wires coming from the stator, there's absolutely no difference between them. They just all go to the R/R in any old order.

[JTGS850GL]

Thanks for the input. I decided to go with a "kit" that came with the new r/r and the mating connectors ready to be crimped and assembled. This way I'll just solder and shrink wrap the stator wires directly to the connector going to the new r/r. I've already planned on eliminating the useless loop and wire directly from the stator to the r/r.

On the output side I'm thinking of just wiring the r/r to the existing red wire on the OEM harness. I could connect directly to the battery + teminal using a 30amp fuse, but don't see a reason to right now.

As for mounting, I'll probably slot the new r/r holes to allow a stock bolt up. I'll then tie the ground wire to one of the screw terminals using a ring connector or I may just run the ground wire directly to the battery's negative terminal.

[Steve]

Thanks for the input. I decided to go with a "kit" that came with the new r/r and the mating connectors ready to be crimped and assembled.

What R/R did you get that came with a "kit"?

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[JTGS850GL]

Looks like I got the wrong one... I picked up a FH020AA which is a shunt regulator. I now know I should have purchased the SH755 from Polaris. I'll go ahead and install the shunt r/r to get up and running and then swap it out later for the better SH755.

[Steve]

Looks like I got the wrong one... I picked up a FH020AA which is a shunt regulator.

That's OK. A few years ago, before the series regulators were available, the FH020 was the "hot ticket", as it was better than the stock unit.
Now, we have found that the Polaris (and CompuFire) R/R is even better than that.

It won't outright kill your stator, it just might not let it live as long.

A new Polaris R/R is $63.95 (plus shipping) from Polaris Parts House, so it should not take too long to save up for one.

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[JTGS850GL]

I do appreciate your help and clarification on the regulator issue. I checked that site, but I have problems with the $18 shipping for what should be only $6 at the most. I'd rather deal with my local Polaris dealer then get soaked on trumped up shipping costs just to make the price look lower. At least then I'll be supporting my local business. Just one of those quirky things that ticks me off.

[eil]

Yeah, you do need to shop around when it comes to OEM parts. Might check eBay too. Lots of people use their local dealers to avoid paying shipping. In my case, I purchase online exclusively. Partly for the convenience and partly because all of the dealers around me charge more for their parts alone than what I'd pay an Internet vendor for parts plus shipping.

[JTGS850GL]

Well, after over a month of working on her it's finally at a point where I feel like I have a dependable rider. List of items that have been fixed or maintained as of today:

Replace burnt out R/R with upgraded unit (Thanks Steve)
Adjust valve shims and replace all gaskets (Thanks to Basscliff & Steve)
have carbs rebuilt and rejetted (thanks Chef1366)
Replace air filter and repair air box gaskets
Replace intake O-rings and two intakes
Repair broken left side controls
Replace tack drive and seals
Disassemble and rebuild tach assembly
Disassemble and repair speedo assembly
Fix broken kick stand switch
Replace all instrument bulbs (all but one burnt out)
Repair broken fuel gauge wires (No harness, just switch)
New oil and filter
New intermediate gear oil and final gear oil
Repair loose front fender rivets

It's been a busy month.

My $900 "deal" is now up to almost $1400 total with bike and new parts and tools. I still think I'm doing OK since I feel like I have a known commodity now.

Now on the list of things to do is to de-"L" some of the bike. First stop... New handle bars.