hey buck, tried out your advice on the 650, works great now. much more confident through the turns, i lowered my fronts to 3 and my rears are set to 4 or 5, cant remember, but now i like that the front grips and lets the rear end slide out a bit more in the turns.

regarding the ac's not liking radials, i cant stand how the stock mtr's handle on my 650, too much rollover, really soft sidewall,

goodyear mtr's (26 inch) set to 9psi all around
front preload-3
rear preload-5

 

Glad things are working for you. Play around with the settings some more and see what results you can get.

Just for giggles try this and see if it helps any.
Drop the rear tires pressure to 5 or 6
and drop your preloads two clicks on both front and rear.

Hey - just a thought - for about $5.00 per tire you could put some tubes in the front tires that may help the radials stiffen a tad. With regard to flats on the trail - I think someone said that "green slime" or something like that would seal a tube until proper repair could be done.

 

JUst to post an update .. I am still working on the setting as I have little time these days with work and all ..
Anyway I started with 6psi all around and the 01' ac 400 felt very tippy to the out side when I turned. I rasied the preasure all around to 12psi went around ( mind you this is on pavement) and still felt tippy . Not as bad but still there. I noticed the the fronts still had roll under even with 12 pounds of air in them .. did not want to put any more air in with fear they may pop.
Lowered the preasure to 10 in the rear and think 8 or 6 in the fronts still tippy .. I guess radials are not cat's best friend. I am still playing with the preasure and thinking about getting some tubes for the front.

Well keep you posted as I go along.


Just to touch on the slime subject that was mentioned. I have it in all my tires not and one in the rear had three plus and a small leak .. All gone after the slime. I love the way the stuff works I would recommend it to all.

 

i heard that the slime stuff freezes though. i do ride quite a bit in the winter and was worried about that.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: AC4LIFE

i heard that the slime stuff freezes though. i do ride quite a bit in the winter and was worried about that.</end quote></div>

Well it would probably at least get you out of the woods and home until you could get a new tube put in.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: buckaroo50

I failed to mention but it is interesting to note that with in addition of the obvious benefits that wheel spacers offer they also will increase your ground clearance (GC).

Your axles are set in about a 35-40 degree angle if you increase the distance (which you are doing with wheel spacers) then you basically get the same degree of lift. For example if you increase the distance one inch then at 35-40 degrees you would get about 40 percent of the width of the spacer in height gain (close to 1/2 inch). A spacer on each side will get you close to an inch more GC. It is actually more close to 1/2 - 3/4 inch because I don't want to measure the angle of the axle and do the math tonight for exact figures. I only wanted to introduce the principle and geometrics of it.

Want more GC, more stability, more wheel travel and a host of other benefits just add wheel spacers.

This is how I got about 13 inches of GC from a 12 inch machine. Actually when I am sitting on my machine I have about 13.5 inches on both front and rear. I think from the factory I had over 12 inches to start with. I also have over 11.5 inches of wheel travel as apposed to 10 inches (wheel spacers did that too)...</end quote></div>

While extended A-arms would indeed provide the extra GC mentioned above, wheel spacers have no effect. By extending the A-arms, you are moving the wheel OUT and DOWN parallel to the axel at the 35-40 degree angle you mentioned. Spacers will only move the wheel OUT further, parallel to the ground, gaining you track width but not ground clearance. Still a excellent handling improvement.

Great post too!

 

Curiously, even though your moving the tires parallel to the ground you should still gain some GC. The only time you wouldn't would be if your suspension was at 90 or at a 180 degrees to your axle (which of course would be useless), the most you'd achieve is if you suspension was at 45 degrees. In relation to the suspension your not moving out at a 90 deg angle, more so, therefore will gain a GC increase. Depending on the machine this might be minor, but it will still be something.

Due to the fact that english is my 3rd language (it is also my 1st and 2nd, but that is besides the point..LOL) and I haven't made myself clear feel free to post or PM and I'll use a fancy program like Paint to give an illustration.

Cheers

 

I think depending on how your suspension is set will depend on if you get some or not. The top and bottom A-arms move differently that is why as your tire moves up and down the top tips out and the bottom tips in. So at any time the top of the wheel tips out that is aligning the center of the wheel closer to the angle of the axle there for longer distance, and also more GC. It may or may not be measurable. If your hub sits perfectly vertical to the ground then no you would not get any GC as Honeyduck mentioned. You would just be extending the width of your wheel base. Almost all ATV's the hub tips out at the top a little. The wheel as it moves up and down moves in an arc like ')' except for Can-Am which move straight up and down, theirs still arcs but front to rear (longer and shorter wheel base) instead of left to right. I don't know what they call it trailing link, swing arm or what but it connects to the frame in front of the rear tires, more like the setup on a motorcycle.
I am almost certain that I got close to 1/4" more clearance from the spacers - one on each side gave close to 3/8" to 1/2" total lift. Someday I will have to take them off and do the measurements to make sure. I am positive that I got more wheel travel - how could I get more wheel travel from the arc ')' if the GC didn't go up also. Oh well, maybe I am wrong (wouldn't be the first time -lol) who knows for sure. All I know is, that I do have more GC. than before.
http://mysite.verizon.net/buck...ovie/750-p1050208.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/buck...ovie/750-p1050209.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/buck...ovie/750-p1050212.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/buck...movie/750-p1050213.jpg

 

Let me retract what I said about gaining GC with spacers so that this doesn't turn into a big debate. Let me just say it this way - you might be able to get some if your suspension is set up a certain way. Honeyduck is right in that if you extend the hub you are only making your wheel base wider. That is true.

 

Okay since I am terrible at explaining things I'll just say that on my quad the axles are not parallel to the ground but pointing downward a little bit. Thus I'll gain a little GC by adding spacers because I am pushing them down and out. Depending on your machine and its axle angle will determine whether or not you'll gain anything. Too keep things simple (KISS) SRA bikes will not gain GC with this reasoning.

As well, your suspension (IRS) will come into play a little here. Having too soft a suspension in the back will push it down causing the axles to come upwards and thus loose GC, regardless of spacers or not. Too stiff will maintain GC but will not ride well.

I am going to forget about the geometry of it all since there are so many machines, producing so many different angles, that it would be impossible to have a 'one fits all' solution.