Installing ASR upper a-arms
Sep 1, 2004 | 11:58 PM
#1
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Extreme Pro Rider
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Installing ASR upper a-arms
Bought a pair of American Star Racing uppers off e-bay new off the Quadpartsguy for $169.
They were manufactured perfect, both are perfectly simetrical, i was pleasantly surprised. the heims seem to be pretty good quality too, definitely heavier and more durable than some I've seen from other comanies. I just hope they don't corrode.
Disassembly of old ones was very easy, one good blow with a deadblow hammer freed the spindle from the tapered shafts on the stock ball joints while holding the a-arm in hand.
Assembly of the ASR's was easy, although they have no instructions or recommendations of camber/caster/toe settings.
If a guy really wanted alot of camber and screws the pivot heims all the way in, the bottom of the threaded ball joint mount will hit the shock at full droop and dent it. You must take care to leave the pivots out far enough to get clearance here, 4 turns out from all the way in was all it took to get 1/4" clearance at full shock extension.I set camber to match factory camber setting, screwing the ball joint out 5 turns from all the way in while having the pivots set as stated above accomplished this.
Then on to caster - caster from factory is 4 to 5 degrees I'm told, mine was right at 4 with 22" tires on the rear. I set caster at 8 degrees, which was easily accomplished having both pivots screwed out the exact same amount, there was no individual adjustment needed to my surprise. Its as though the factory purposefully manufactured the geometry of the a-arm to be 8 degrees caster without having to adjust the pivots independently - just setting them both the same on both sides got me the caster I wanted with no trial and error.
I adjusted toe to 1/4" toe-in, from the neutral toe I used to run. That's the reason I bought the a-arms, running neutral and sometimes even a little bit of toe-out to tame the highspeed wander is a bandaid that hinders turning radius in tight trails. With corrected caster I can now run toe-in like all the jap bikes for better woods handling.
But I haven't ridden yet, just assembled it today. Time will tell where toe and caster end up, but I think its gonna be very close to where I am. One added plus i did not expect was bump steer is dramatically reduced. After I finsihed one side, I put the tires back on both and did a little kick test. One good kick to the old factory geometry side yanked the bars right over, but one good kick to the newly adjusted side barely moved them. Like I said I have not ridden yet, but it looks like I'm gonna really like it. Hooking a front tire on a rock or root is not gonna be jerking the wrists quite like it used to. Steering stabilizer may be coming off the wish list.
They were manufactured perfect, both are perfectly simetrical, i was pleasantly surprised. the heims seem to be pretty good quality too, definitely heavier and more durable than some I've seen from other comanies. I just hope they don't corrode.
Disassembly of old ones was very easy, one good blow with a deadblow hammer freed the spindle from the tapered shafts on the stock ball joints while holding the a-arm in hand.
Assembly of the ASR's was easy, although they have no instructions or recommendations of camber/caster/toe settings.
If a guy really wanted alot of camber and screws the pivot heims all the way in, the bottom of the threaded ball joint mount will hit the shock at full droop and dent it. You must take care to leave the pivots out far enough to get clearance here, 4 turns out from all the way in was all it took to get 1/4" clearance at full shock extension.I set camber to match factory camber setting, screwing the ball joint out 5 turns from all the way in while having the pivots set as stated above accomplished this.
Then on to caster - caster from factory is 4 to 5 degrees I'm told, mine was right at 4 with 22" tires on the rear. I set caster at 8 degrees, which was easily accomplished having both pivots screwed out the exact same amount, there was no individual adjustment needed to my surprise. Its as though the factory purposefully manufactured the geometry of the a-arm to be 8 degrees caster without having to adjust the pivots independently - just setting them both the same on both sides got me the caster I wanted with no trial and error.
I adjusted toe to 1/4" toe-in, from the neutral toe I used to run. That's the reason I bought the a-arms, running neutral and sometimes even a little bit of toe-out to tame the highspeed wander is a bandaid that hinders turning radius in tight trails. With corrected caster I can now run toe-in like all the jap bikes for better woods handling.
But I haven't ridden yet, just assembled it today. Time will tell where toe and caster end up, but I think its gonna be very close to where I am. One added plus i did not expect was bump steer is dramatically reduced. After I finsihed one side, I put the tires back on both and did a little kick test. One good kick to the old factory geometry side yanked the bars right over, but one good kick to the newly adjusted side barely moved them. Like I said I have not ridden yet, but it looks like I'm gonna really like it. Hooking a front tire on a rock or root is not gonna be jerking the wrists quite like it used to. Steering stabilizer may be coming off the wish list.
Sep 2, 2004 | 01:45 AM
#3
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Installing ASR upper a-arms
I will take some and put them up on my webpage, and post a link tomorrow or maybe friday.
I'll take several angles, maybe convert to mspaint and put some pointers on stuff....
I'll take several angles, maybe convert to mspaint and put some pointers on stuff....
Sep 2, 2004 | 10:13 PM
#6
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Installing ASR upper a-arms
I didn't get to it today, but pics will be up by the end of the weekend, check back on this post sunday.
I road around today, not sure yet but the 8 degrees caster may be a little much, might tweek back to 7 degrees. the steering is definitely tighter, it may just be because I'm so used to how overly sensitive it was stock, so I'm gonna give a full days ride before I move it to see how I feel at the end of it.
1/4" toe-in was perfect, I tried everything today from neutral to 3/4" toe-in and like the 1/4" toe-in the best by far. very good and tight turning radius, with decent stability at high speed in gravel. you know how your front end kinda wanders under full throttle at high speed (60-70mph) in loose terrain as the front tires are barely touching the ground? too much toe-in enhances it.
as supected, bump steer is reduced quite a bit. a day on the trail will decide whether or not I still want a steering stabilizer, I'm thinking I probably won't.
I road around today, not sure yet but the 8 degrees caster may be a little much, might tweek back to 7 degrees. the steering is definitely tighter, it may just be because I'm so used to how overly sensitive it was stock, so I'm gonna give a full days ride before I move it to see how I feel at the end of it.
1/4" toe-in was perfect, I tried everything today from neutral to 3/4" toe-in and like the 1/4" toe-in the best by far. very good and tight turning radius, with decent stability at high speed in gravel. you know how your front end kinda wanders under full throttle at high speed (60-70mph) in loose terrain as the front tires are barely touching the ground? too much toe-in enhances it.
as supected, bump steer is reduced quite a bit. a day on the trail will decide whether or not I still want a steering stabilizer, I'm thinking I probably won't.