Ask the Editors: LTZ & KFX 400 Suspension Adjustment
Legendary sport quad.
The Kawasaki KFX400 (and Suzuki LTZ400 on which it is based) did indeed start coming standard with fully adjustable suspension (compression, rebound, preload and remote reservoir shocks) all around but sadly not until 2005.
The 2003 (first year) and 2004s came with simpler suspension components that were spring preload-adjust only up front. The shock,however, did have some more customizable options.
Let’s start with preload. If this means nothing to you – preload determines how much pressure is placed on the shock spring and is actually quite simple to adjust (we’ll give you the steps below). The bad news, though, is that while removing some of the pressure from your shock spring can compensate a bit for plushness, to see real big changes you would either have to replace the stock spring with a softer one or have a professional revalve your shock’s compression circuit for a more supple ride.
That being said, you should be able to locate a threaded area of your machine’s rear shock that contains a pair of collars (with the top of the shock spring pushing against the bottom one of these).
The pair of collars work to lock against each other/ hold the spring in the position of your choosing. Simply use an adjustable wrench, spanner, hand pressure or in some hard to reach cases, a punch and a mallet, to loosen the rings. If you’re looking to reduce the spring tension turn the top ring first then the bottom one until it mates up with the top.
The front shocks make it even easier yet with preset positions on the bottom of each shock that you twist the collar so that the tab locks into the desired slot.
We mentioned your rear shock has more setting options than the front and to access control over the compression adjuster, grab a flat blade screwdriver and locate this little slot near the reservoir with the letters S and H above. As you may have guessed – S stands for soft and H hard as in turn toward the H to stiffen it up and the S to soften it in your case)
This will be a trial and error situation – one in which you make your adjustments, take a spin on the machine to see if it’s getting closer to the ride you seek.
And a final reminder – sport quad suspension is designed to run stiff compared to trail and utility machines as increased speed demands suspension that doesn’t wallow. You have some degree of control over this but unless you have the components rebuilt to your specific needs, they’ll never feel like a stack of marshmallows.
