Well The_law came back with my rear shocks today after his attempt to mount them on the front of his Insano 355 failed.(stock= 13" long-- Ac500 rears= 16" long-- That would have been 3 times the lift of a High Lifter kit)

Well he brought them back and I decieded to go ahead and try to out the spring spacer kit on it. So I compressed the first shock just enought for him to get the spring retainer out of the way and that allowed me to remove the spring. Well that took like 5 min and I didn't feel like doing the other one that way. So I told him to get the hell out of yard(hehe) and I went see what I could do about the next shock.

I started looking around and tried about 2 thinks that didn't work(ask if you want to know) then I started looking for a jack. Well as you know I don't have a jack most of the time(not the BobCat 328 Mini-excovator-- my custom jack). Then I saw my dad's trailer that carries the Mini-excovator. It has a very heavy duty trailer jack on it. So I started thinking of ways I could use it. Well I came up with this.

I put a center block under the military style pintle hitch and placed the shock(which me and law dissassemabled) under the hitch. I then lowered the jack, it compressed the spring and let the head of the shock poke out enough that I could replace the retainer and I jacked the trailer back up. It was PERFECT the retainer JUST fit in side and the spring was just barely too big. I then repeated the procedure useing the trailer's touge weight to compress the spring and remove/replace the retainer after i installed the spring spacers.

OH yea, forgot to say what I used as spring spacers. Well when you take apart the shock you have a washer and a grey collar kinda of thing on top of the washer, inside of the spring. All I did was flip this(putting the grey collar under the washer) and place the spring back then used the trailer to compress it so I could put the retainer in.

All and all I'd say it took me 10-15 minutes total. Thats removeing the shocks, compressing them, flipping the collar/washer, putting them back together, and reinstalling them back on the rear of my ATV. So in 30 min you can stiffen up your suspension and get better handleing, less body roll, more lift, and more rack capacity.

Well I have not gotten my parts in yet to ride my cat with the new double lift(HL lift and Spring spacer lift) on the rear but will get back with you guys asap.

I plan on mounting my mounting my Tri-Claws that are now mounted on 12x8" rear Arctic Cat wheels all around(thanks The_Retreaver and Mean_Mudder) with my new lift kit and taking pictures asap. I think it will be awsome. Now all i have to do is decided if I want to put the spring spacer kit up front.

HMMMMM what you guys think?? Maybe I should do it and start trimming them down untill I get the ride I want out of them.

 

how much additional lift did you get out of the rear?

 

I'll find out when I get if off of the blocks.

 

Well with the double lifts the front end is at it's max. It can not go down any father than it is. I'm gonna get my cat fixed, put the claws on it, and take some pictures of it then remove one of the lift kits. I might consider running this set up for mud competitions or marengo, but not for joy riding. It's just way too much. I am considering leaving on the rear, but I'll probaly reduce it alittle to soften up the ride alittle more than it is.

 

Well I FINIALLY got my parts in today. I ordered them the first time with Mid South on 2/17/01. When 3/2/01 came around and still no parts I went to another dealer. I'll stick with them.

Well I got the knuckle assembaly together(bearing and seals), I also got the ball joint in, but need a clip to hold the ball joint in.

It doesn't come with this and I bent the other one getting it off. I also needed a small wheel puller to press the old balljoint out of the a-arm, but that was pretty easy.

To get the bearing in I almost screwed my self. I put a peice of wood on the bearing and hit it in, but the inner race poped out. So I used the outer race from my old bearing and pounded it in (after I putt the bearing back together). Well when I did that the old race got stuck in there. So I used a vise to clamp the outer race and I was gonna turn it out. But as I was tightening it part of the race shattered. and it got stuck in there. SO I had to break the old race all around to get it out. Then I installed the seals(after FILLING IT with alot of grease.

I then took the ball-joint out and found that it felt like there was hardly any grease in there, so I took the c-clip out (??) and filled it with grease. Then my needle nose pliers broke so I could not get it back on.

Gonna have to get a tool (tomorrow to remove those rings/clips), my tires(come on dad, it's 5 minutes away), and that retaining rings/C-clip.

Well, I guess I'll tell you guys what happens next.

 

Well I came home today and started working on the cat again. Today I decided to try and get my tie-rods ready for the alinement. Since my jamb nuts were so tight on there and the mud prevented me from loosening them I removed them from the bike completely. I unscrewed the inner fenders but that realy wasn't helping so I screwed them back on and worked a ratchet with the 17mm socket for the nut from the inside(reached from the right side) and I put a 14mm opened end wrench on the bottom side of the tie rod for a back up. I used a tie down to secure the wrench do the a-arm so it would not slip off of the tie rod while I beared down on the nut.

After getting them both off I went to a vice and camped them down, sprayed the with WD-40, then took the 14mm wrench to the jamb nuts. They came off easier than I expected in the vice. Maybe I could have done it on the quad-- but I think I did a better service with them off. I completely removed the tie rod ends and sprayed Wd-40 all over. Inside the threads, on them, and in the nuts. Then I put the tie rods back together and reinstalled them with the same way took them off, but with them fully closed to where you could see no threads on the rods.

I did this because I will just adjust them later when I reinstall the left knuckle assembaly.

I also TRIED to put the tie rods in the same position(both under the mounting end) but with this much lift, I could not get it to go in the knuckle. Maybe when I put it on the ground they will fit. But right now there is too much angle on the a-arms for the tie-rods.

All I need now is my dang balljoint mounting clip, a few cotter pins, and my tires. Just gotta wait till me dad feels like getting them I guess.

 

Well I got my tires today. When I went to pick them up they had one tire backwards so I had them turn it around. They did it for very cheap if you ask me. I had broken the bead on the ITP wheels and they removed 3 of the wheels(I removed on by myself before bending the 2nd wheel-- so I let them do it.) then mounted the 4 Arctic Cat 500 rear offset 12x8" wheels on the claws. They did all of that for 21.50. Other place wanted 10 per tire.

When I got home I pumped them up to 35 psi, thats good for 29" tall and about 11.25" wide on the 12x8" wheel. When I went to put one of the tires on my right front(the side that is not taken apart) I could barely get it on. The front of my cat is supported with 2 centerblocks stacked on top of each other, but with 29" tires and double lifts-- the claws rub the ground.

After I put that tire on I reinstalled the front brush guard(my dad still didn't get the damn winch mount welded to it) and put the prototype lift kit in the back(installed the right front yesterday). I also tigthened down my rear shocks(ok ok-- I just remebered I have to finish that).

All I need now is to finish tighting the the rear shocks down, get the retaining clip for the ball joint(lets see if my dad brings me tomorrow), then I'll put the knuckle assebaly on, put my left front shock on, bolt the tie rod on the knuckle, put my 29" claws on, realine it, take pictures, then maybe remove one of the lift kits and try to change my oil. NOt sure if I'll have time to do that. I still have to finish the finial draft on my English III paper-- Doing it on Arctic Cat 500's.

BTW= Anyone have sugestion for a title??

 

Well I got my cat put together saturday afternoon and I tested it saturday and sunday.

Well, first I went to the local store and got the "jesus" clip as my dad calls it and a few cotter pins. Then I came home and spend about 5 hours(8am-1pm) changing the gas tank on one of the work trucks(removed the tank from one of the extra trucks). After that I got to work on my cat. I made sure the bearing was FULL of grease then installed the ball joint and knuckle on my a-arms. I then put the hub on and tightened the castle nut. I used 2 36" pipe wrenches for this. one around the bolt pattern(on the part between the disc brake and the surface of where the wheel goes) and one on the nut it self. I Didn't have a socket large enough for the nut so I didn't use my torque wrench. I just tightened it a fairly good bit.

After that decieded to mount my lift kit, but I needed to mount my left front shock first. So I grab my shock and when I look at it I can't believe my eyes. NO upper shock bushing. After looking for it for about 30 min and only finding half of the rubber I decided to make one. I used 3/4" soft copper pipe and cut it the width of the shock eye, then I slid a 1/2" copper coupling in side of this, cutting it the width of the shock mount on the frame, then I hammered in a peice of 1/2" hard copper pipe. This allowed alot of pay in the bolt and shock so I found some o-rings and they fit alittle tight on the bolt and loose in the 1/2" copper but they were all I had. So I glued the o-rings to the inside of the copper pipe and after it dried I put it back the top of the shock back on the cat.

I then installed the left side of the prototype lift kit. I find it's much easier to install. There are NO washer at all to confuse you(17 listed in the parts list of the old one-- yet only 10 are mentioned). The support bracket is also bent to the contore of the a-arm for a PERFECT fit. I didn't realy read the directions much(because it was so easy to install) but I think it says to put the support on the lift kit before you bolt it to the a-arm. I found it ALOT easier to mount it loosely on the a-arm then put it on the lift kit. All you have to do is push down on the end with the larger hole alittle and it slides on.

Then I eyeball adjusted my tie rods to where I wanted them(I think it was 3 turns out on each side).

After that I mounted my claws with the spacers on the back. I took some pictures, you guys will probaly be impressed. The massive lift makes the 29" claws look kinda small. I'd say I have about 9" from the top of the claws to the fenders. Even with my now 400 lb cousin on the back rack I still have about 6" of clearance between the rear tires and fenders.

I also took a picture of my cat flexing. With out me on it it doesn't flex half as good as it used to cause of the super stiff suspension. The rear claw came about 6" off the ground, where the stocker would keep all 4 on the ground.

As for clearance numbers, I have 10 at the rear diff, 15 at the floorboards, and 13.5 at the rear of the frame, 42.25 at the top of the rear rack, and I was getting 14.5 at the very front, but I was on very uneven ground. So not sure if those will be the same when I get it on pavement for a measurement.

Well this is getting kinda long and I'm sure Andy and Cowboy have put there head on the keyborad and shorted it out with drool so I'll continue this in a later post.

 

Well Saturday, after I got it all together and pictures taken, I went on the asphalt to test it out. First thing I notice is that my Uncle's 350 Foreman with a straight axle swing arm front AND REAR WITH 26x11x11 Bi-CLaws rides better than my cat now. I mean it's ROUGH.

Well I get to the end of the road, cross it, turn around in a feild, then head back home. I decided to see how much spunk it had, well when I crossed the road I hit it then shifted to 2nd gear then got on it again. I don't know if it was my messed up alinement or the psi, or whatever. But my cat's rear end kinda kicked sideways to the right when I got on the power. After that it accelerated to a top speed of 52 mph according to the speed ometer. With my ITP wheels, front spacers, and a bad bearing it would go 49 on the speedo, but got there alittle faster. I think the 29" tire height has to do with this.

At 52 mph, it's not safe. Again, not sure if it was the alinement or psi, but the front end kind bounces alittle and didn't fell like it was on the ground AT ALL.

Well after that ride I parked it for the night and didn't ride till around 3 pm after I finished up my English report-- The ATV that gives you the most for your money, The Arctic Cat 500?
Note: If you want me to send you the Mircosoft Word file that it is in just ask me and I'll e-mail it to you. I must warn you though, the teacher limited me big time so It came out to only 5 pages typed (total was 9 pages with title page, bibliography, and pictures) and I was required to use all kinda quotations. So, it's not one of my better works, but I think it will get me and above average grade.

Well Sunday I was gonna go to the crawfish ponds down my road, but the crawfisherman was fishing it and I didn't want to bother him. So I went to the old mud hole near the gas station to play in. I noticed that it has gotten alot worse, I mean alot. I even had the claws spin a tire a couple times going threw it. I used to make it with stock tires no problem.

Either way it was very easy. First I tried it in 1st gear low range. I crawled threw it and about half way threw it I felt the claws slip alittle and it just kept going. So I turned around and hit it in 2nd gear low range. I got on the gas kinda hard and it spun more, but made it threw faster. Then I went threw it in 1st gear a few more times then got tired of it. I tried crossing it sideways and stuff. At one point I almost fliped sideways in it. Was trying to cross it going north east(it runs north and south) and my front tires climbed out then my rears got alittle stuck in the ruts. Then the stiff suspension and 3wd made me stop. When i would give the gas it would roar up and just about flip. But what happen next was the the left front(grounded front) slid in and I thought it was going over. Some how it didn't and I backe out of it. I then tried crossing it going southeast. It 3wd again but was not indanger of flipping so I taped the brakes and it would get the front to bike but not for long. So I reved it up to about 1/4 throttle(was being SUPER gentle cause of fear or CV breakage-- not fun) then hit the brakes twice on and off. This got me out of the hole. So with new brake pads the "handle bar locker" works even with large, high traction, after market tires.

When I climbed out I noticed that my cat was overheating, even tho I had the fan on the entire time and never got about half throttle.(low speed jetting must be lean-- NEED TO FIX THAT)

Well I headed home but decided to take a detour in this ditch that holes water alot of the time. I got in it and backed up in it. I did this because it is normally super soft and easy to get stuck in. Last time with my stock tires I barely got in the soft stuff with my fronts and had to spin to get out. This time, I went about15 ft before a tree got hooked on my rear rack and hit me, so I pulled up. I didn't want to blow a CV boot-- removed my ox-lites-- thats the main reason tho. Even going this far in the wet area, it never spun a tire.

I noticed that it was overheating again, so I stoped and was gonna let it cool down. As soon as I put it in neutral it dies out on me. Not good. So I decided to head back home asap.

On my way down the road to my house the people down my street are giving me that "DAMNNNNNNN" look as I go down the street.

I also noticed that I was going down the street with my handle bars cocked half turn to the left to go straight. And my tires were big time toe in. I knew that my tie rods had came loose right away. I pulled up in the back of my house and jumped off to confirm that my tie rods were way loose. And the tires were cocked to a right turning position with the bars straight ahead. This is probaly why it would darn right on the head rows when I got on it realy hard.

Well I washed it and came in to get on the Internet. I Wrote my previous post last night, and I talked with Billy to see if my hypothesis about the jetting was right and he agreed with me. I think I need to adjust the pilot mixture screw to make it richer.

Well Monday after school, I tired to do this, but the damn screw is SOLID. Will not budge at all. If I Didn't know better I would say the mechanic tightened it down like it was some kind screw to hold the bike together instead of an adjustment screw. Feels like the idiot put red threadlock on it.

I also called Works performance, High Lifter, Brandon(he was the guy with the 454 that was gonna put EFI and a turbo), Wyotech(considering there Diesel mechanics course), and my local dealer.

I got prices on the washers that support the spring(actually called spring adjustment washers on the rear-- So I think they are ment to be added to adjust preload), the bushings and sleeve that I lost(remeber the copper bushing??), and the rear shocks and springs.

I'm gonna get some shock bushings for sure to replace my copper one. Then when I remove one of the lift kits(considering keeping it on for a couple weeks till Duhon's opens back up) then replace that bushing and removeing cowboy's spring spacer lift kit. I'll also glue the bushings($2.19--sounds high, might be the wrong thing) to the steel inner sleeve(95 Cents) so I don't lose them again(elmers glue should hole it and still be easy to disasmble).

I'm also gonna order a BUNCH of "sping adjustment washers"(89 cents each) so I can add and remove them as I please to get the perfect ride to my likings. I might just pull one of the washers off and see if I can find a normal washer with the same inner and outer diameter. Will probaly be cheaper.

I'm also gonna experiment with rear shocks($40 each) with rear springs($16 each) up front with a spring spacer lift(since the rears are lot softer than the fronts) to stiffen it up enough and still allow a good ride with alot of lift.

Well I'm writing like Cowboy again(just joking), so I'll let you guys go and post the info about my phone calls in another post.

 

YES! FINALLY! I think somebody actually beat me in post length! Heh heh heh, just joking Boner! Seriously though, good post, liked the detail there. Glad to hear you got most of it figured out and at least running again. Not sure what to say about that adjustment screw in the carb-I'd hate to strip the head on that, or even break it off in there, that would really turn into a pain. You gonna drop tire pressure back down to the 28" size, or keep it at 35 psi for a while still? Could you tell a difference at all going through the mud with that tall of a tire?

It's late, better get my butt to bed, have a long day of fence building tomorrow.

Best of luck, and good luck with that paper, hopefully the teacher will give you an A on that one!

Mike