This past weekend a friend and I drove to St. Paul and bought a LT230 for $400. For $400 it is obviously a project bike but it does run so I do you a few questions for you guys.

First of all, It loves to smoke. It looks like a Doobie Brothers concert while riding it around the yard. Is this a valve problem? Would just a valve adjustment do the trick? Is it a ring problem? Or could it be a combination? I was considering a top end rebuild anyways but we were just trying to figure out how big of a problem this is in the shortrun.

Second: The previous owner had said that the chain came off and cracked the stator case and he JB welded it. After having it, we noticed that it was leaking quite a bit of oil so we looked into it deeper and saw that the case was cracked as well and the guys JB weld just wasn't what the doctor had ordered. After reading on here it seems that this tends to be a frequent problem. Do i need to replace the case half or is there a better fix to this?

Third: Tires, The front tires are shot, and lose air very quickly. At this point in the project there are other concerns that I need to spend my money on rather than tires so do any of you know where I could find some stock 21x7x10 that they can part away with?

Thanks for all the help in advance

 

You got a good enough deal it sounds. There are some common issues you are going to need to address to make sure the chain throwing doesn't cause anymore issues. The swing arm bearings are the likely problem along with the rear axle bearings. As for the smoke its most likely ring blow by. New piston fresh bore you should be good. Seldom does the valve guides cause that amount of smoke. The tires are readily available and many newer models use the same size just be patient and keep your eyes open. Good luck and only expect as much out of it as you are willing to put in it.

 

smoking is either a valve seal problem or it needs a rebuild. more than likely its a rebuild and the oil rings are leaking if its smoking real bad. and just pull the engine out of the frame and take it to a machine shop that can weld aluminum and they can repair it for usually about 50 bucks and as far as the tires go since they are fronts if they still have tread just tube them. but dont tube the backs because when you take off it will tear the valve out of the tube and go flat