Hey guys, i just bought a 2001 DS for a project and im havin a hard time with the a-arms since they changed from my '02 and '03 setups. When i pick the quad up from the front bumper the left side retracts a lot and my right side stops and the tire comes off the ground, i've got a good few inches of difference before my left side tire comes off the ground, i took the shocks off and have the DS up on crates and (left side from the front, right side when sittin on the quad) it hangs lower for some reason, i dunno if its the ball joints or what, the a-arms dont have any marks on them and they look good and straight so im stuck lol... man i wish i didnt sell my '03 left side a-arms! any thoughts?

 

nobody has any ideas?

 

sounds like the a-arm pivot ears that are welded to the frame that the pivot bolt goes through is tweeked on one side or the other, possible front end frame twist even. something must be bent or tweeked somewhere, since you ruled out shock travel and shock mount positioning by removing and still having one side drop farther than the other. subtle twists and bends in the frame tubing can be very hard to distinguish, and variances in suspension travel from one side to the other usually trigger the noticing of it. when the bike is sitting on the ground, is one wheel cambered more than the other? by camber I mean when you squat down and look at the front of the bike, is one tire angled in more at the top than the other? if so, it would help reinforce the theory.
how much lower does one hang over the other?

 

its possible that the lower a-arm may be bent, they are straight as an arrow from factory so check them along the bottom endge with a straight edge and see if one differs from the other, but they are built like a brick **** house with a big gusset at the shock mount so its kinda unlikely, but possible. if you got a couple inches difference between the two sides, then a bent arm otta be very noticable and you probably would have already noticed that

 

The bottom of the shock mount, the lip with the bolt hole that slides into the a-arm, does have a bend to it like the lower a-arm was hit. I took a level to find out how much of a difference there is and the one side hangs bout 1 - 1.5" lower than the other side, and the black ring around the ball joint hits the a-arm on my left side lower a-arm and does not on the right side
Thanx Hightower, appreciate it

 

Im looking for some plus 2" wide 1 " forward a arms, whos making them??

 

I cant tell of any bends in anything besides the bottom shock mount, so that would suggest lower a-arm to me, but im still confused at why it would drop past its normal stopping point. if the frame was tweaked a lil bit how would that effect the travel of the a-arm up and down? yea i could see if the camber is off cause thats side to side not up and down... what makes the a-arms stop at a certain point when u lift the front of the quad?