I went riding this weekend and bent the right lower ball joint on my '88 warrior. This was the first time I went trail riding after flipping the front wheels around to widen out the front stance. I was crossing a trail and when I went over the first rut, the right front tire got bent back 90 degrees! In other words if I was riding due North, my right front tire was pointing due East!! I looked down and said "holy sh*t"...wtf just happened!!?"

I think what caused it was that with the wheels flipped, there is too much leverage can be applied to front suspension due to the wheels being farther out/apart then what the design calls for. So when I hit that rut, the resistance force of me trying to ride over it just 'pushed' my front wheel back 90 degrees like the tie rod was made of rubber. And I wasn't even going that fast. I just felt a little jolt, looked down and saw the carnage!

Anyway...a replacement ball joint is on its way. So if you are considering the classic 'warrior front wheel flip' to widen out the front stance and you find this thread...consider yourself warned!

 

While flipping the rims does cause increased leverage and possibly added to the stress on that joint, chances are it was already weakened from years of use and abuse. I would bet it would have let go soon anyway. Still, you bring up a good point, widening your quaqd with rims or spacers does lead to premature failure on some front end parts.

 

lol, guess im lucky....or something, i know that offset rims and spacers cause more strain but usually its not enough to cause damage unless you do something big, and i ride in real rough a$$ Wv terrain.

 

My machine is no doubt 21 years old, but it has very low hours on it for its age. I doubt it has even seen a fraction of the hard riding other warriors half its age has seen. What surprises me is how slow I was going when it happened. Oh well...the new ball joint s/b here today!

 

Sorry bro - I don't mean to "hijack" your thread - but you just made me remember something that's been bothering me about my quad quite a bit lately (I have a '95 Warrior)...

The 'camber' on the front left wheel is definitely NOT the same as the camber on the front right wheel... Not only is this causing the quad to pull to the left, it's also wearing out the tread on the left tire really quickly...

By "CAMBER", I mean the angle the tire makes with the ground when the quad is in a normal, upright position, with the wheels pointed STRAIGHT AHEAD...

Theoretically, I'm pretty sure the camber should be 90 degrees - in other words, the flat surface of the ground and the wheel/rim would form a 90 degree angle... On MY quad, the camber on the RIGHT front wheel is a bit LESS than 90 degrees (in other words, the wheel is tilted slightly "inwards", towards the center of the quad). I'm almost positive this is 'normal'...

HOWEVER - on the LEFT front wheel, it's the exact opposite... The camber is, let's say, 95 degrees (the wheel is slanted a bit OUTWARDS, away from the center of the quad). I've rarely (if ever) seen this on any other quad - in other words, I highly doubt it should be this way...

So here's the million-dollar question: Is there any way to adjust the camber on a 1995 Yamaha Warrior? Either through the tie-rod(s), suspension, or wheel(s) itself?

Also, can anyone confirm that this IS in fact the case (that both front tires should be angled slightly INWARD, just by a few degrees)?

By "inward", I DON'T mean "horizontally" (like when you turn your tires with your handlebar), I mean "vertically", as in straight up and down.

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions!

-Mike

 

There's no stock camber adjustment. Tuning your tie rod ens is just going to so "toe-in or out" . Sounds like the frame or one of the control arms is bent. I know one of the aftermarket arms kit does have a camber link on the ball joint mount that alows you to make a small amount of adjustments.

 

I agree Scooter. I bet it was already going bad. I have an old warrior that I had to replace the joint on. While I was looking for it a guy I work with walked in and asked if I could find him one too because his was bad. Seems to be common.

 

good to know. i was considering doing this to my 87 but doubt i will now.

 

I don't think I'd let it stop me. Just check your frontend over real well. If it's all solid I'd go for it. I have a blaster that had the front wheels flipped before I bought it and my cousin bought it from me and did things on that thing I didn't know it was capable of doing. It hasn't shown any wear. (On the front end)

However, do make sure that the valve stem's don't stick out to far. Mine had tubes. I flipped the rims and quickly obtained 2 big flats.

 

No worries about a thread hijack bro....that's what this forum is all about. Helping fellow riders.

I replaced my ball joint a couple weeks ago and its all good now. My camber has always been 90 degress (based on the calibrated eye ball). So I have not had any issues there.

I got lucky with the toe adjustment when I put the new ball joint in the tie rod. Before I installed it, I put it beside the old one and turned the jamb nut so it was in approx. the same spot as the old one. Then I installed the new ball joint into the tie rod. Next, I put the ball joint back into the spindle. Then I turned the steering wheel staight forward and measured the distance between the front-side and the rear-side of the front tires (using a common reference point). The front measurement was slightly less, so that meant I had a very slight toe in....which is what I wanted! I guess I was due for some good luck for a change! I hit it on the first try! So I locked down the jamb nut, re-measured to confirm, and then rode it for the past two weekends. I can scream down a blacktop and it drives true with no 'pull' at all.