SuzukiSavage.com - Gs550 rear wheel swap questions.

Bebop12

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Gs550 rear wheel swap questions.
03/17/21 at 11:20:36

Done a fair amount of searching for all of the answers. But cant find them all. A gs550 rear wheel from 1980 ish should fit the savage axle and the drum brake. But what about the belt drive? Will the sprocket still bolt up to the gs550 wheel? Or do i have to swap to chain drive? Bike is getting a mad max/post apocalyptic makeover so not concerned about mismatched wheels.

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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18099 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #1 - 03/17/21 at 12:18:48 I just did this. The wheel I bought was a 1985 GS550, the wheel was a 16x2.50. Everything went on just like the spoked wheel. Brake, pulley hub, axle, spacers.....everything worked the same.
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #2 - 03/17/21 at 13:01:40 I have to suspect that a lot of the problems people are having with this is a lot of sellers don't really know what they are selling. Take a good hard look at what you are buying and if it don't look right don't buy it. Trusting the seller to know won't get the job done.
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Bebop12 YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 4	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #3 - 03/17/21 at 18:21:52 Dave wrote on 03/17/21 at 12:18:48: I just did this. The wheel I bought was a 1985 GS550, the wheel was a 16x2.50. Everything went on just like the spoked wheel. Brake, pulley hub, axle, spacers.....everything worked the same. Did you keep the belt drive or swap to chain? possible to keep belt drive?
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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2772	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #4 - 03/17/21 at 18:27:24 The belt drive pulley assembly fits in place of the chain drive sprocket assembly. The rubber spacers should be the same if you get the right wheel.
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Bebop12 YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 4	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #5 - 03/17/21 at 20:13:17 Previous answer said 1985 wheel. I ve read about 81 and 83s as well. So other than 85 what year wheel would work?
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zipidachimp Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 1417 surrey, b.c. Gender:	Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions. Reply #6 - 03/18/21 at 01:05:50 Easypeasy. 10 minutes at most, using 120/90-16 tire ! Now for the front.......... Cheers!
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Dave

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Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions.
Reply #7 - 03/18/21 at 03:45:31

Bebop12 wrote on 03/17/21 at 18:21:52:

Dave wrote on 03/17/21 at 12:18:48:

I just did this. The wheel I bought was a 1985 GS550, the wheel was a 16x2.50.

Everything went on just like the spoked wheel. Brake, pulley hub, axle, spacers.....everything worked the same.

Did you keep the belt drive or swap to chain? possible to keep belt drive?

Sorry I wasn't clear......when I said the "Pulley Hub" went on just like the spoked wheel - that meant the pulley for the belt went on as well.

The pulley hub inserts into the rear wheel hub - then you have your choice of using the belt.....or switching to a chain. I like the clean and tidy belt - I don't want no stinky,greasy,messy chain!

I used a 1985 wheel.....other wheels will work. Just be sure it is a drum brake.

When I was looking for a wheel on eBay, I looked to see that is had a drum brake that had the 160.7 mm size listed, that it was the correct size 2.50x16 rim, and I looked to see the rim said it was "TUBELESS TIRE APPLICABLE" on both wheels.....and finally I looked to see the lowest price and a wheel that was in good condition. These wheels are nearly 40 years old and can be in pretty poor condition if they spent a lot of time sitting outside.

You can search for a GS450, GS550 for rear and front - just be sure to get the "Tubeless Applicable" and a drum brake on the rear.....and a 19" front wheel. The GS850 front wheel can also work - it appears some are black and others appear to be a gray color (so I avoided looking at them to be sure the front/rear color matched).

This is add is for a wheel that has been painted and is not in great shape - but it has all the stuff I looked for shown in the photos he posted.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-Suzuki-GS550L-GS-550-S175-1-rear-wheel-rim-hub-...

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Bebop12

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Re: Gs550 rear wheel swap questions.
Reply #8 - 03/18/21 at 09:23:34

Greatly appreciate it. Happy to know i can keep the belt drive. Currently waiting on a couple of sellers to get back with me because i found a wheel for 40 bucks shipped. But cant see the stamped diameter in the drum. But the link you provided for the one on ebay looks pretty good to me. As for it being painted, thats fine by me. And I would rather have the mismatched wheels so i ll leave my front spoked wheel as it is. Going for the mad max/put together with whatever was laying around look. But gotta have a knobby tire. I know belt drive isnt preferred for off road but it will see limited off road riding and not in any rock quarries so I'm not worried about it. Mostly going for looks. These bikes arent set up right for off road anyways. Riding position would make it hard to stand up as opposed to a tru dirt bike it even sport bike.

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