Hi , My EX USA 1973 DT250 has adjacent to the gearbox oil drain plug a bolt with spring and plunger   I cannot see this in perts books 






Hi all,
I have an ex USA 1973 DT250.   When I drained the gearbox oil  I saw another bolt adjacent with an internal spring and plunger . I assume this is a pressure release valve. I cant see any reference to it in parts books and wonder what the function is and if it is common on other DTmodels. Could someone enlighten me please.
Aubs from Wales.







 

Hi, it's the plunger & spring that controls gearchanging as plunger runs in a sort of cam plate that is driven by the selector drum. All good & still empties the gearbox oil, just don't loose the plunger or spring. By the way if you need parts be sure to go by DT3 as DT250 started the next year.
No 19 & parts www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/1973/dt3/shifter-a

+1

Common fitment to many Yamahas of that era.

As RT325 says, DON'T lose that cam stopper and spring! 

Thanks RT325.  Its kind of obvious now you have pointed it out.  Interesting that you say its a DT3  as I was not sure, for a Certtificate of Title in OHIO state model as DT2 , model description DT250 and year 1973 ..The UK  registration Certificate  only state DT250, however the owner before me sold it as a DT3. Another anomoly is that the engine number is DT1F164253  the same as the Chassis /frame number where in the UK all or most vehicles have 2 different numbers..
Aubs from Wales.

Hi Aubs .
The biggest difference between the two models is the paint job .
The DT 2 is plain candy paint of one colour or another and the DT3 has a stripe decal on the tank and front mudguard . That's the same throughout the range pretty much , AT2 &3 CT 2&3 ,RT 2&3.
Just do a search and pull images up on google and you will see them.
You could get a 72 bike registered in 73 but it would still identify on the numbers it's a 72 model
It's not unusual to find vehicles with the same or containing the same numbers and letters within the makeup of the chassis and engine numbers. Production runs are done in batches. From memory it would be May and October with our models. You can see that on the white sticker on the head stock. You will also find that out from Richard Proudman from the VJMC.He provides dating certs in the UK.

What is unusual especially with mid 80s Yamaha imports is they have no engine number at all. Just an engine type. TZR & TDR just have a designation number such as 2YK and that's it.

Out of interest i have included a link to Micou Meekoo youtube channel.Check it out.

Regards Ted

Yamahas from that era would have had matching engine and frame numbers Aubs - that's why UK RDs with matching numbers fetch a slight premium.

Yep i probably only said DT3 as you said "73. DT2 is "72 but they're all the same for parts. It's only "74 when 'everything' changed--motor & frame. All good. Hope ya have a good runner. Motor & frame numbers always run together from the factory. Can't be easy to keep it like that unless they stamp them after assembly. Good way do discover if you've had a motor change though.

JDM models (Japanese Domestic Market models) did not have a full engine number stamped even on the early bikes.

Only the export bikes have the "matching numbers". 

1973 DT3 should have come with a steering lock...

And yes, you can't rely on US DMV paperwork to accurately identify year and model.  I think I have three bikes that are titled as the wrong year...  most of this happened as motorcycles were just transitioning into having "new models" every year.  In the 1960's, the same exact bike might have been sold for several years.  So the DMV motorcycle titles often used "year first sold" rather than "model year".  As time went on, this changed but many of the early bikes still have the "year first sold" on the title/registration...  and you could buy a DT3 in 1972.

 

Thanks Ted for an in depth reply. Very much appreciated.     Aubs.