Over this past holiday weekend, I mangled the left (clutch-side) upper a-arm and tie rod. After talking with a few ebayers I can get both sets of stock a-arms and tie rods in decent condition for around $200. Half of me wants to just pay this and be done, but the other half has me thinking about using this as an excuse to get extended a-arms. I don't have the money for shocks right now, so I am wondering if I could use stock shocks for the Ricky Stator Raptor Arms +2/+1. Has anyone used these? Ricky Stator also makes cromoly upper replacements for $200. My concern w/ them is if my a-arm mounts will crack next time since they are aluminum.

Can someone please talk some sense into me? Thanks in advance.

 

If you can find the money, a wider front end is some of the best money you can spend on a Raptor. There is a saying in racing, "When it breaks, fix it faster." Don't put stock back on your machine if you can find/afford an upgrade, you'll only cry once. I hope I talked some sense into you:-)

 

Yea budd go aftermarket deffanatley!!!!! shocks can come later but you will notice a difference if you go wider!!!!!!!!

 

You need to take into account what type of riding you do most. I had stock shocks and arms, stock arms w/Elka shocks, and +2/+1 arms with Elka shocks.

For MX and dunes, the wider arms are the best. But they are just too wide for the woods and XC trails or racing here in MI. I would think that NY trails are pretty tight too. I just bought a brand new set of stock a-arms off ebay and I will be using them most of the time on my setup. I will only switch to the +2 when I do a MX race or go to the dunes.

In my opinion, if you do much trail riding. I would keep the stock a-arms, and get a good set of "zero preload" shocks. Elka makes the E36 model that is a triple rate, adjustable ride height shock. Only around $525 for the fronts. This will lower you quad 2-4 inches and make it about 3 inches wider. When you lower the height it pushes the tires out wider.

This is an awesome setup for all-around type riding. It will do ok in MX, great on trails, good in dunes. With the shocks and replacement a-arm off ebay you will only be looking at less than $600, especially if you shop around.

Best thing, the shock can be re-tuned to work with wider a-arms if you choose to get them in the future.

RR1

 

A raptor upper a-arms are aluminum any wany, you put enough stress on them and yeah they will crack. Put a lot of stress on the chromoly a-arm and will stress also. I wouldnt worry about bending the a-arm unless you flip your raptor. Riding isnt going to bend them, the crashing will.

 

Yeah what happened was I was practicing wheelies and went to far. Cracked back grab bar and fell off so my raptor buckled and flipped. Pancaked the upper left a-arm in the meantime.

 

I don't have a Raptor but I think the best move you can make is to get +1 a-arms. I race XC and the +2 would have been too wide for my riding so I got the +1's and I love them! You will notice a huge difference in control but your front end will not be so wide that you can't fit through the trails. Hope this helps!