1981 GS850G -- the "pumpkin" and the petcock

[WCL]

1. The "pumpkin" --

I tried the archived tech stuff here and couldn't find the info on this: What, please, were the known bad years for "pumkin" spline failures and what were the good years? I've not had trouble with my '81, and I met a fellow the other day with an '82 who's had the trouble.

2. The petcock --

Last year my '81 just died on me on the road. When I finally got it to my mechanic, he said he could not get the problem to repeat and has no idea what caused it. When I got it home and rode it to the nearest gas station, it died again on me but, as it happened, it did so right at the pump. I tried turning the petcock lever to "prime," and then it started up again. Could this be a failure of sort sort within the vacuum-assist petcock? Or something else?

I'll be most grateful for any and all advice!

-- Bill

[P.S. -- It seems I'm once again a "junior" member, despite having been a member for many years! :-( When I had to sign up again, it wouldn't let me use my previous user name ["Bill"], so now I'm "WCL."]

[Steve]

0. Welcome back.

1. The "pumpkin" is not the problem, it's the splines in the wheel, itself.
The bad ones (gold in color) came in during the '82 model year.
Earlier ones were black, later ones were silver, both of those are good, but still need Moly60 lube to maintain that "goodness".
Your '81 should have the black splines, so you should be OK.

2. Yes, there are parts in the petcock that can fail, but first, determine whether you are turning the lever the correct direction.
The normal ON position is with the lever pointing straight DOWN.
REServe is with the lever pointing FORWARD (rotated clockwise).
PRIme is with the lever pointing BACKWARD (rotated anti-clockwise).

EDIT: I just noticed your location and put your old name and new name together and realized who you are. Hey, Bill.

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[WCL]

Pumpkin and Petcock

Thanks, Steve, for your prompt reply! I had "thought" the spline problem was referred to AS a "pumpkin" problem -- and thanks for the correction -- but in any case thanks for your response! So, in addition to the recommend OIL in there, the splines should ALSO be treated with (coated with?) a moly lube? Woah! Too bad Suzuki did not mention this either in the owner's manual or, as best I can recall, in their shop manual! Ooops.... Does this mean I may have the bad splines in my '82 GS1100G?

As to the petcock, yep, I rode one of these from '82 to '87 and now this one from about seven years ago until now -- I've got the positions of the petcock lever seared into [what passes for] my brain! My mechanic up in Covington actually REPLACED the petcock on this bike some years ago.... I just wanna get the problem solved, as I am nervous about riding the bike with the matter unresolved.

Yup, 'tis I !!! I just yesterday looked into this year's Brown County ride, saw that it has been named in honor of someone named "Tina," looked into THAT, and read all the entries on the lady's death. How incredibly sad. I do not believe that I met either her or her husband. What a bummer. WAS the problem an "overcooking" of a decreasing-radius turn? Anyway, I feel for anyone and everyone here who personally felt this horrible loss.

-- Bill

[Steve]

Yes, I would recommend checking the splines on your 1100. Really not that hard to do. Just remove the wheel, clean away the grime, look at the color of the spline wheel. Of course, you really need to do a little more-detailed inspection, but that will definitely be the first stage. There are several threads on showing the bad splines and how to inspect them, there is probably something saved on BassCliff's site, too. Even a stripped set of splines can look good, if you don't know what you are looking for. The teeth do not mesh completely, so the edges that you can see will never get worn. You have to look past the edges that you can see to inspect the rest of the tooth.

Yes, the BEST lube to use will be found at a Honda shop. It is a cartridge that will fit in a small grease gun, but I just open it and dip out what I need. The product is called Moly 60, because it is 60% moly (molybdenum disulphide). Note that a grease can contain as little as 4 or 5% moly and legally call itself a "moly" grease. They will not do the same job that Moly 60 will, and will be about as bad as using no grease at all. The tube should be at about any Honda (bike) dealer, and is about $12. Good news is that the one tube is pretty much a lifetime supply if you have one or two bikes. We have FIVE GS shafties here, as well as a Yamaha and a Honda, so I go through it a bit more than most of you will. I gave away my second tube last year, so just got my third tube. The first one was purchased about 8 years ago.


Yes, the Brown County Rally was named in honor of Tina Wasserott. Greg and Tina were on their way home from Josh and Rose's wedding at the Red River Rally a couple years ago, and slid out on an exit ramp, while stopping to refuel, I believe. I had just met both of them at the rally, and it is, indeed, a sad loss.

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