Suzuki GS fork and swingarm swap questions

CALfeRacer

CALfeRacer

Fat man on a little bike
Hey all, working on swapping a gs550 front end on to my gs450 to get 35mm forks instead of 33, but noticed air caps on the 450 forks. They're stamped "goki" and fittings are all standard. Are these aftermarket, and should I stick with these over the standard 35mms from the 550?
cb3d3f01e3dad5ba33374921555a26ca.jpg
930ce116ff2208c5bc6013c2a0b18e09.jpg
 
Re: Suzuki GS fork swap question

They're not standard looking to me (blue anodising is a give away).


Do you have other caps? I'd be inclined to use the air caps and see if they make a difference for the better.
 
Re: Suzuki GS fork swap question

By standard I meant not metric, should've said that better. And no, I don't have other caps. These are what came on the bike. Just curious if it would be better to use 33mm with the air assist or 35 mm w/out. I read some period reviews of the 450 that said the suspension was soft for a sporty bike, and read some people saying the air conversion stiffened the front end up a bit.
 
Re: Suzuki GS fork swap question and Swingarm Bearing Question

Also, I'm curious about replacing the swingarm bearings, since the 550 swingarm I want to swap on is about 3/4" too wide for the 450 frame. I was planning on just taking 3/8 off either side of the swingarm, but the bearings sit flush to the outside and I'm assuming have a lip that they're pressed against. Can I get narrower bearings for a decent price, or should I just stick with the 450 swingarm and drum brake?
 
Re: Suzuki GS fork swap question

I meant they're not stock fork caps for the 450. Not sure what you mean by not metric, but the threads will be if they fit into 450 forks.


All other things being equal you'd be best off with the thicker forks. Air assist is only for pre-load which you can change by getting better springs or cutting out some coils from the springs and adding spacers.
 
I'd stick with the 450 swing arm and drum - the drum will be strong enough to lock the rear wheel if it's adjusted properly and you don't want any more than that.
 
Alright, sounds good. Neck bearings and lengths are the same size between the two, so it'll be a simple swap. The threads to go in to the tube were metric, but the fittings on the crossover pipe were standard, at least I'm pretty sure. weren't 10mm or 12mm which seems to be the norm. Could have been 11mm, but I don't have an 11mm wrench ::)
 
hillsy said:
I'd stick with the 450 swing arm and drum - the drum will be strong enough to lock the rear wheel if it's adjusted properly and you don't want any more than that.
Click to expand...
Alright. A big part of it was bumping the rear wheel up from the 1.85 to the 2.15 on the 550, not as much the disc. Although, rear disc would look cool, right? ;D
 
You could probably slot the 550 wheel into the 450 swing arm, although you'd have to check the axle diameter, chain alignment, etc. You'd need to make a mount for the calliper torque arm....and work out how to mount the master cylinder.....but it's not really an easy job if you don't have a welder.


Another option is lacing the 550 rim to the 450 hub (I assume they're both spoke wheels?). Are the rim diameters the same? You might be able to use the spokes off the 450 wheel if you're lucky.
 
They're cast wheels. And I tried slotting the 550 in to the 450 swingarm, but there isn't clearance for both the sprocket and the chain. I just figured machining the swingarm would be easier than machining the cush drive hub. I do have access to a machine shop with welding equipment btw.
 
Get a GS500 twin rear wheel then - the bottom ends of the 500 and 450 motor are the same so the sprockets will line up (I think you need the 1st gen 500 - 1989 to 1994?). Pretty sure the axles are the same diameter and you get a disc brake.
 
Alright. Was just interested in doing the 550 swap cuz the wheel design was matching the front and I already had it on hand. Jeezus, typing drunk is hard. :eek:
 
you would be far better off lacing in some allow rims to the gs450 hubs, the mag wheels are a serious performance downgrade :'(
you can allways add shrader valves to the 35mm fork caps if you want to
the goki's were quite popular american made aftermarket, still are
 
The 450 rims are mags too. Is the air adjustment a significant improvement? Before tapping something in to the 550 caps.
 
air allows for some adjustability but if you are putting 35's off a heavier bike on the lighter 450 you will proly be looking for lighter springs,but if you go with lighter springs and then find you want a lil more progressive spring action then a few lbs of air sometimes fits the bill
 
I wasn't too worried about the springs being too heavy cuz a couple period reviews I read were saying the 450 suspension was soft, so I figured the thicker forks and being sprung for a heavier bike would remedy that. If I were to get softer springs for the 550 forks how would I go about doing that?
 
Thought on the swingarm: could I turn a set of bronze bushings like what's on older Hondas to replace the roller bearings? I have access to mills and lathes, and I've taken a machining course. Besides, I don't think turning a couple cylinders with a lip would be too tough...
 
yes you could turn some bronze bushings,they can be a slip fit on the OD with loctite... but is does take some skills to get an accurate straight smooth bore... the needle bearings are a much better lashup why not keep them ?
 
If I narrow the 550 swinger they won't fit. So either need new ones or a different setup.
Just as a disclaimer, this is all hypothetical stuff. I'm not completely sold one way or another, I just got a 550 roller for free along with the 450 that would be way too expensive to bring back to life. So, I figured it would be nice to try to make the swap work, but if it really isn't worth it I'll run the stock rear end. I did like the idea of a wider rear wheel and getting a rear disc, even though the drum is adequate for braking. Don't know why but I've always liked the look of the rear disc, especially on cast wheels.
 
Got a couple hours to play around with this today...
It looks like I can make the 550 wheel fit on the 450 swinger. Need to go to a 110 tire from a 120, it was REALLY tight with the wheel full forward. Like 1mm clearance. Also, need to take a few mm off the face of the sprocket holder. the 450 sprocket carrier is shorter than the 550, but not the correct diameter to fit on the 550 hub. Looks like with the sprocket set to match the depth of the 450 carrier chain alignment will be spot on, with plenty of room for the disc brake on the other side.
Did the front end swap, easiest it gets I think haha. Both had roller bearings which looked like new, in the same size, with the same length stem. So, I made sure they were greased up and slid the 550 front end on. With the bump to a 19" wheel and the slightly longer forks, the front end got raised 1.5" or so. I'm going to push the forks up a bit in the trees for now, but in the future they will be properly lowered with the cut spring and internal spacer method.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom