07 RM-Z250 Clutch Fix From Suzuki?

[Chili]

Has anyone else heard mention of a fix for the 07 broken clutch plate issues coming from Suzuki?

After we found broken plates in my sons I advised one of his buddies to check his and his brothers bikes and sure enough the same two plates were broken in all three bikes. His Dad got on the phone to the dealer to ask for contact info for the Suzuki rep and they stated they would follow up on his behalf. A short while later the dealer called back and stated Suzuki had an official fix coming and that Suzuki would supply the needed parts for the "fix" but would not cover/replace broken clutch plates.

Well his parts arrived today and the dealer stated Suzuki refused to cover the parts but the dealer was eating the cost for all his riders. Our dealer has yet to hear a word about any fix but has a call in to Suzuki.

Included in the fix are three parts:

Suzuki part # 21471-40F00 (Seat, Wave Washer from 2001 GSX-R1000)
Suzuki part # 21472-10H00 ( Not in any Fiche but it is a Washer, Clutch Plate Wave)
Suzuki part # 21452-10H00 (Not in any Fiche but it is a replacement for the first driven clutch plate)

The two washers are completely new to the RM-Z250 clutch and it will now be similar in configuration to the RM-Z450 which already has these two washers in the clutch setup.

I was more curious if this was just a local dealer trying to come up with a workable solution for his riders but the fact two of the three part numbers are not yet in the Suzuki fiche system leads me to believe this is an update to the 07 clutch that Suzuki wants to slip in without popping for some parts for current owners.

Anyone else hearing anything?

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Chili,do you have any dealings with Jeremy Wilkey? He is a smiling new owner himself,and do not get me going on his suspension! And Brandon is doing engine work!

 

[Chili]

Ive never had Jeremy do any of our suspension, we've always had it done by a local tuner who has helped my son for several years. Should that relationship change Jer is at the top of the list :cool:

 

[Chili]

Hmmm I thought this would be a much hotter topic, guess there is a lot less peple concerned about this than I thought there would be.

After some more digging the Suzuki rep informed my dealer that this was not a Suzuki fix and that the other dealer was simply supplying the parts to update the 07 clutch to the 08 configuration. End of story right? nope when my dealer went to check the fiche for the 07 clutch it has been changed and now includes the three part numbers listed above, so as I suspected Suzuki is changing the clutch to deal with this issue but is not planning to take care of us owners who have had to deal with their mistake. The dealer has another call into the Suzuki rep to ask him about the changed fiche now.

Been long time Suzuki faithful here but something like this could make a guy change colors. Yamaha has a bad batch of valves, what do they do? they recall them and take care of all owners, not secretly change the parts and hope no one notices.

 

[mideastrider]

I have been considering getting a rmz250 for my son to race harescrambles with next year just because of the contingencie money they pay. I've been reading on here about the transmissions giving trouble jumping out of gear. So now it seems they have clutch problems too. What's your though's Chili, on the 08 rmz250 will these problems be sorted out or should I steer away from the suzuki.

 

[Chili]

Personally I think the transmission issue was blown out of proportion, I know over a dozen guys racing these bikes locally and none have had tranny issues. All but one has broken the same two clutch plates however, usually in less than 20 hours seat time. It has been a great bike other than two broken clutch plates and if this fix corrects that I would have no issue with the bike whatsoever.

I do however have issue with Suzuki changing the configuration of the clutch to match the 08 without doing some sort of recall/service bulletin and taking care of the people dealing with a manufacturing issue in the 07's. This has become a bit of a hot button topic for me so I'm not sure if this is a realistic outlook or if I'm being unreasonable. Overall its not a $$$ isssue as we are talking about less than $40 worth of parts.

 

[Martin Cole]

My son's RMZ 250 seemed to have avoided the bulk of the problems everyone has been suffering - despite the fact we've used it hard since we bought it in January. It has been a bit difficlt to select neutral sometimes and at odd times it has jumped out of gear.
However, two weeks ago it broke one clutch plate and completely destroyed another - more than two thirds of it had completely vanished. There was so much aluminium and fibre in the bottom of the gearbox it wedged the strainer gauze in pretty tight and it was a real job to remove it.
We've put a new set of good quality plates in and heavy duty duty springs to see if it will stand up this time.
I was reading on Thumper Talk that the cush drive rubbers in the original basket are not resilient enough and that fitting a Hinson basket is the real answer. Apparently the UK-based Suzuki teams are running a Hinson basket, RM 125 friction plates and standard springs and they reckon they now have reliability.
The newly listed parts may well be sufficient. If it makes the clutch identical to the RMZ 450 it should stand up. I haven't heard of similar problems affecting this model. I think I'll put them on order because it will be cheaper than running a Hinson. I doubt our dealer will stand for any replacement because he still maintains aboslute ignorance of any problems related to anything with a Suzuki badge. He even reckons the 04 RMZ's are sound.
I fully agree that manufacturers who do admit a fault and stand by their customers should be applauded, but don't forget Yamaha denied all knowledge of a faulty gear selector spring and atuator mechanism on 05 and 06 YZ 125s - but they quietly changed the part number on the 07s and I don't know anyone who got their wrecked gearbox replaced for free - except one and his bike was only two days old.
KTM have also had a disasterous year with their SX 125. Engines seizing up after abou three or four hours running and clutches exploding, generally taking the gearbox along with them, but the local KTM dealers have dutifully replaced the parts. One owner had about three or four blow-ups and so they took the bike back and did him a real good deal on an SXF 250. It would be nice to see all dealers/manufacturers backing up their products properly.
Martin Cole.