I have a 07 400 would like to know what are the best shock settings, I ride mostly on smoother trails. Seems to be better with shocks set at or near their lowest setting. What does everyone think?--Thanks--MIke

 

really depends on what is comfy to you. i ride mine with the rear as high as they go. the reason is b/c i always pull a trailer with wood. the fronts are 3/4 stiff b/c i put deer,gear,and other stuff up there,not to mention my front shocks arent the geatest anymore. getting weak.

 

I used to have them set softer in the rear than the front so I could lift the front tires over obstacles in the trail like logs and big rocks easier. When you goose the throttle the back would sink and raise the front end slightly. However, after a whole bunch of riding experience I figured out other ways to do the same thing with the shocks at a heavier setting.

Now front and rear are at the highest setting and I have replaced the factory springs with some HD springs from highlifter. They are a whole lot stronger than the stock. I did this because I am always towing stuff around. Latest load was probably 1500 pounds total between bike and trailer. Makes for a slightly bumpy ride with no weight but when you add weight it smooth it out nicely.

SJ

 

I have an 03 so my gas tank is in a different location so you have a lower center of gravity. However, I made many, many, many adjustments to both the preloads and tire pressures. What I ended up with when I had the stock 4 ply tires on is as follows.

Front tires 8 lbs or 9 lbs of air
Rear tires 5 lbs of air (6 lbs for a tad more slide)
Front shocks on the lowest settings
Rear shocks on the second lowest or middle (both were ok)

What was happening was the front tires were rolling under (because of soft sidewalls) with hard fast turns and lifting the inside rear almost like doing a nose dive over the outside front wheel (scarry feeling to say the least. By putting more air in the front eliminated that considerably. With the shocks set low allows the front to squat now and put some camber into the outside front wheel (without having the tire roll under) during a turn, and without lifting the inside rear. By not being over stiff on the rear the rear doesn't throw the weight onto the front so fast, but becomes a little light, and will slide a tad, then when they hook up the rear preload is soft enough to squat the rear and on exit from a turn I can frequently lift the inside front tire off the ground. Fun, fun, fun... Gives you the feeling of dirt-tracking.

The above is when everything was stock, since then I have added 1 inch wheel spacers on each wheel (now have 50 inch wide stance - very stable), and also have gone with 6 ply tires and more agressive tread on both front and rear. (Guess the process starts all over again for me - but I now know what kind of handling I am working toward - just need to get the combination set right).

The biggest thing is to keep your front tires hard enough so that the side walls won't roll under.

 

Is it allright to more air then what the tires are rated at (front 8 0r 9lbs of air)?--thanks--Mike

 

If you look on your tires you will see a max pressure of around 30-35 psi. This means that the tire can safely operate at these pressures. 5 lbs is so that the tire will absorb some small bumps and yield a softer ride and the second reason is that if your tire has a crown profile you will put more tread on the ground. More air more bounce. Just like a basketball.
The only problem with low tire pressure with 2 and 4 ply tires is that the sidewalls are not stiff enough and will roll under and give you unpredictable handling.
AC has a good suspension so running 8 or 9 in the front you will still get a decent ride, especially if you have the preloads turned down to a soft setting.

 

I have 6 ply tires now and I am running 6 lbs in the front and 4 lbs in the rear. So far it seems to be working ok but more testing later in the season will sort things out. When I had 4 ply's on I ran either 8 or 9 in the front and either 5 or 6 in the rear. And I always had the front preloads set on the softest (I tried all settings), on the rear I ran mostly second to softest or the middle position with the preloads.

For fast riding and faster trails I ran 9 lbs on front 6 lbs on rear for air and I upped the rear preload to middle setting.

 

My tires say maximun of 6.5lbs of air, what do you think?--Mike

 

The 35psi is ONLY to seat and mount the tire, i believe. Not to ride on for the normal operating. If your tires say 6.5, i wouldnt go much higher than that. I ride with 4.5 lbs of pressure and its a good feel.

 

If your tires say 6.5 max then I would not go much higher than that. If you had 6 ply tires then you can run lower air and still keep the side walls stiff.

If you find that even at 6.5 lbs your tires are still rolling under then I would put tubes in them, this will also stiffen the sidewalls. The whole thing here is to get the AC to handle a little better in the corners at faster speeds. Since the AC doesn't use a sway bar on the rear what happens is, in a turn the outside front gets all the weight transfer and the inside rear is pushing more weight to the outside front. With a swaybar the inside rear can't push as much weight because as the outside rear squats it also tries to compress the inside rear by lifting that tire not allowing it to rebound/expand and lessens the weight transfer to the outside front. So without a swaybar you need to have the sidewalls on the outside front tire stiff enough so as not to roll under from the added weight transfer. I don't like the design of the AC swaybar (had one), the way is bolts up under the machine. It should have been designed like Polaris to bolt on to the back someplace, out of the way and they could have designed it for a quick disconnect in the event that you wanted the full travel of the suspension for articulated situations. They could have even designed a 'cross' linkage on the back that would have the same results as a swaybar but still allow full travel of the suspension and no need for a quick disconnect feature. And actually as one tire would rise from a bump (compressing that spring) it would put more downforce on the opposite tire for greater traction. 'Cross' linkage principal is like a pair of sissors - when one end spreads the other also spreads, when one end gets closer together the other end also gets closer, and it is actually better than a sway bar because it has a dual action of weight transfer, where any body roll is transfered back to the opposite side with the reverse effect (takes the body roll out - by having it work against itself). So unlike a swaybar that stickly works with suspension components the 'cross' linkage one end is attached to the framework (body) and the other end is attached to the suspension on the opposite side of the machine. Whew!!! I'm done - lol