Just purchased an 82 GS850GL

[JTGS850GL]

Yep, found a new daily driver/project bike off of Craigs List. I paid $900 for her. She has 20K on the clock and starts right up. Compression checks out at 125 to 130 across the board Two issues though. First is an electrical charging problem and I'll have to dig into her to find the source. Assuming it's either a stator or rectifier/regulator problem. The good news is he just purchased a new AGM battery so at least that's done.

The second problem is he dropped her and busted the tach and dented the speedo. Now I'm in search for a 1992 tach or gauge cluster for an 850. Anyone know if the 750 gauge assembly will work on the 850? I can find similar gauges that look the same all day long for the 750, but can't seem to find any 850 gauges. Any other models or years that have compatible gauges?

Any tips on replacing the strange handlebar arrangement with a more conventional setup? Just can't seem to get use to the swept back feel of the stock GL bars.

 

[Good Times]

Sounds like my story. You'll like the bike. Search the threads for L handle bar swaps. There's lots of options. You will have to do something with your cables though. I just got used to my buckhorns and stuck with them.

You can search ebay for a cluster. They come up from time to time. If your not concerned about stock gauges, there are plenty of aftermarket options as well.

Feel free to read through my thread and learn from my mistakes and have fun with your bike.

Oh, and post up some pictures of the bike.

You'll want to check the valves sometime soon as well. That needs to be done one these bikes regularly.

 

[eil]

To find out which gauges swap, you'll have to go and have a look at the parts numbers for various years and models. I like this one: http://www.suzukipartshouse.com/oemparts/c/suzuki_motorcycle/parts

If the parts numbers are the same, they're interchangeable. If they look the same but the part numbers are not the same, they may be interchangeable at the cost of need some modifications. (Or putting up with loss of some feature.)

As Good Time said, swapping the handlebars is often the first thing one does to an L model. I don't know what kind of bars are on mine, they're somewhere between 850G bars and Daytonas, but they work fine. You may have to reroute the clutch and throttle cables a bit (or buy shorter cables), though.

 

[JTGS850GL]

Wow Good Time... That's spooky because mine is exactly the same year and color. I'll post pics once I get her. Right now it's at the PO house and waiting for a day without rain to ride her home.

 

[JTGS850GL]

Got her home today. Here are some pics of my new $900 (and soon growing) ride:

Starting the short list:

Clean carbs
Sync carbs
Adjust valves
Repair no charge issue
Replace gauges (tach and speedo)

 

[Good Times]

Good looking bike. Mine had a rack on it as well.

You're on the right track.

 

[eil]

Not a bad ride for the money. I'm sure you're going to love it.

Your headers are rather blue, probably due to the aftermarket exhaust. This means you'll want to richen up the mixture at the midrange and WOT. I'm not the carb adjustment expert so can't offer any specific tips, but perhaps you search the forums and hang out in the airbox/carb/fuel systems forum.

The charging issues are probablydue to a faulty R/R, but you should test the stator too to make sure. If you replace the R/R, there's a Polaris one that works just great for our bikes and doesn't require much effort to mount and wire in.

 

[JTGS850GL]

Yep, I checked the plugs and they look to be running pretty lean on 3 and 4 and there is a little slight vagueness and searching when riding at a steady 45-50 mph. My guess is the pilot circuit needs to be adjusted or cleaned. I haven't tried to balance the carbs yet. I need to go through the carbs anyway. I don't intend to ride her much until I get the valves adjusted and the carbs rebuilt.

I'll be checking the stator output with the R/R disconnected first. If the stator checks out fine and I don't see any wiring issues then I'll order a new R/R from Electrosport. I've seen the Electrosport R/R's on ebay for the GS850 delivered for under $90. Hoping it’s just the R/R and not the stator as well.

 

[Good Times]

Those V&H pipes blue pretty easily. Mine were VERY blue when I got the bike, but it was due to a rich condition. VERY rich. You want to be sure your jetting is correct for that pipe. If you still have the stock jetting you will need to change them out for the 4-into-1 pipe. I have pods and that same pipe so I went with a DynoJet Stage 3 kit. Worked like a charm. You'll want to check your intake boots and o-rings as well.

 

[Guest]

I had the rear rack, as well, on my 850. My 1000 is clean shaven but I can still strap a duffle bag on the passenger seat.

The first thing I did with my 1000 was to replace the starter clutch.
Because I read the Stator Papers, I was skeert into buying a new R&R setup and installed it at the same time.

Good luck!

 

[Steve]

I'll be checking the stator output with the R/R disconnected first. If the stator checks out fine and I don't see any wiring issues then I'll order a new R/R from Electrosport. I've seen the Electrosport R/R's on ebay for the GS850 delivered for under $90. Hoping it?s just the R/R and not the stator as well.

First, congrats on the 'new' bike. We have one of them here, too, you can see pictures by clicking on the links in my sig.

Don't bother with an R/R from Electrosport. Yeah, it's an OK unit, but a better one comes from Polaris. It is for the 2011 and up 800 Razr. You can get one shipped for about $75 or so. I don't have the links handy right now, but the description on the parts fiche says "Series R/R, 35-amp" or something like that. The series regulators are SO much better than the stock shunt-style regulators.

.

 

[jsandidge]

R/r

R/r

First, congrats on the 'new' bike. We have one of them here, too, you can see pictures by clicking on the links in my sig.

Don't bother with an R/R from Electrosport. Yeah, it's an OK unit, but a better one comes from Polaris. It is for the 2011 and up 800 Razr. You can get one shipped for about $75 or so. I don't have the links handy right now, but the description on the parts fiche says "Series R/R, 35-amp" or something like that. The series regulators are SO much better than the stock shunt-style regulators.

.

Does this unit bolt right on, or are any mods necessary?

 

[Good Times]

First, congrats on the 'new' bike. We have one of them here, too, you can see pictures by clicking on the links in my sig.

Don't bother with an R/R from Electrosport. Yeah, it's an OK unit, but a better one comes from Polaris. It is for the 2011 and up 800 Razr. You can get one shipped for about $75 or so. I don't have the links handy right now, but the description on the parts fiche says "Series R/R, 35-amp" or something like that. The series regulators are SO much better than the stock shunt-style regulators.

.

Excellent. I didn't know this. Thanks for the info Steve. When my new R/R goes out I'll replace it with this.

 

[JTGS850GL]

From what I understand about the Polaris R/R it's not just a drop in replacement. It's larger then the stock unit and requires connector modifications. Am I wrong about this?

 

[JTGS850GL]

Just did some preliminary testing of the charging system and believe that the stator is good. Disconnected the three wires and tested each of the three legs. I found 80+ volts AC between any two at ~5k RPMs. About 45V at low idle. Resistance between each leg was .8ohms and resistance to ground from each leg was open. Output from the regulator is 0v. Conclusion... The regulator is dead. Going to look for a new R/R today.

Edit: Further testing shows a shorted diode on the white/blue wire of the R/R to ground. I guess that confirms the source of my charging issues. I've read some on alternatives to the stock R/R but not a definitive consensus on which is "THE BEST". Cost is important but reliability is the main concern. No stock replacement in mind at this time. Looks to me like someone has already replaced it once.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[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"? :-k

.

 

[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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