Ok I went out and was looking at my DS and I picked up the back and realised it was sagging about two inches without me even sitting on it. When I had my ten hour service last year they adjusted the rear spring then because they said you dont want to have sagg without a rider. So I tightend the rear spring till there was none. I also adjusted the front shocks from being neer the bottom to the middle. I took it for a very short ride and it seemed to handle much better. The front end didn't dive into the corners like it did before. Also when in a power slide it didnt lean to the outside near as bad. Tomorrow I hope to be able to hit some rougher terain to see how it affected the jumping and stuff. I'll let you all know what I find. Ohh did I do the right thing on the rear adjustment?

Demon

 

I setup my rear shock with 4 1/2 inches sag. I measured from the grab bar to the ground without me on the quad and then measured the same with me on the quad. I did this until the difference was 4 1/2 inches. Seems to work very well for me. Now the stock front shocks are another story! You can either tighten up the pre-load and stop some of the front-end diving then get beaten to death in the rough stuff, or loosen the pre-load, do alittle bit better in the rough stuff,but put up with the front end-diving. There seems to be no middle ground with the front stockers! I think setting up the pre-load/sag for the rear shock, really helped the handling of my machine. I am still tweaking the dampning and compression settings on the rear shock. My rear doesn't sag at all without a rider on it.

 

You're supposed to have sag in the rear shock when there is a rider on the quad. You should be using up 1/3 of your travel when you're on it. Reason being? I don't know but thats just how it's supposed to be. My guess is so you don't top out the suspension when you hit something and your rear tires stay in contact with the ground longer giving you a smoother ride.

 

I do have sag on the quad when I am on it just not when I am not on it anymore. I am thinking that the shock spring had softend over the year and I just adjusted the slack out of it per say.

 

Demon, mine is setup pretty much like buttfungus's.

I think it is closer to 4" on mine. I do think I need to adjust the chain a little though. I need to get out there and check it and maybe do a little adjustment.

Bat

 

My preload on the rear is set to sag 4" when I get on, just like it should be, and I also have a little sag with no rider as well. I'm not sure I've ever seen a bike with no sag at all. There is no amount of tightening that can be done to completely remove all my sag, because the red second rate spring on top is almost totally collapsed from the weight of the bike with no rider. It will always be this way, regardless of preload setting. If you guys have no sag at all (with no rider), then your upper spring must be fully extended. If its fully extended then mine has been faulty since it was new. Is this the case?

 

Well I was back at it again and I can tell you that there is no, none, zilch of sag at rest with my DS. With rider off of course. I think I have about 3 inches of sag with me on. Maybe not enough but I will determin that tomorrow. I was adjusting the tow this time with the help of my Dad. I stayed on it and he adjusted it. I set it dead on at 0 tow. The way we did it was to first set the tires to be exactly the same with the relationship to the frame. So as to make sure one tire was not causing it to be off while the other is streight. Then we went on to check the tow and get this, it was a full inch off. No wonder why it was so hard to steer. It is now corrected and I took it for a quick spin around the yard and the street. It felt a ton better. I will find out tomorrow how well all these adjustments affect the quad.

 

Good job on the toe Demon, you're gonna love the new handling, guaranteed.

About your top red spring - is it fully extended? It must be to have no sag, I don'y get why mine isn't though...

 

As far as I can tell it is fully extended. I still have about 3/4 inch of adjusment on the raer shock as well. I could even go stiffer at that but I dont want it to beat me to death. When I rode it earlier it was still pleasant to ride in the front and the back felt very controled and suported, Before it was very cushy and was very nice riding but felt kinda squirly. I am trying to acheive that feel I had that day when my shock was cold from the snow. Some of you may recall that post. One thing I noticed it sits higher both front and back now for sure.

 

Well I just got back from riding and it was interesting. The steering was definatly improved and the front shocks i think are about perfect for what they are. It was smooth yet didnt have any diving and felt much better on jumps even though i didn't really get to launch it. It looks like winter wore down my favorite jump [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] As for the back shock I think it could be tad to tight. The traction seemed improved at take off. It was alot easier to lift the front tires but when I got into the top of third and on up it would break loose very easily and get a bit squirly. So I think I may adjust it back about 1/4" and try it again. Amazing how little adjustments can make such a big difference. Ohhh and man was it running. I think the jetting was perfect for today because I dont think that it has ever pulled as hard as it did today. Man I love this thing!!!!