I just bought a black/red Tri-Z and the rear shock is busted and I want an extended axle for it. I'm not having any luck finding a +4 axle, so I thought I could take a Warrior swingarm and modify it to fit the Tri-Z frame. That would give me the capability to go ahead and extend the swingarm +4" while I'm cutting & welding on it, I could easily get a Durablue +4" axle, a billet aluminum axle bearing carrier, 9" rear rims & hubs, Warrior rear shock, and switch over to the easy-to-find Warrior disk brake pad setup. Has anybody ever done this mod or a similar one, and if so, would the Warrior setup be the best way to go?

 

After many hours of research, I found that the Banshee axle is exactly the same as the Tri-Z, so I can get a +3" Lonestar or +4" Durablue Banshee axle that will drop right into the Tri-Z carrier. Also I decided not to extend the swingarm because, so far, it doesn't wheelie nearly as bad as I thought it would. Also the Warrior/Banshee/Raptor/450 hubs will slide right onto the Tri-Z axle, so I already switched out the 8" hubs and rims for the Warrior 9" hubs & rims. The Warrior rear shock is a direct bolt-on, but the resi is a little smaller, so what I'm going to do is put the Tri-Z resi on the Warrior shock so that I can mount the resi back in the factory location. I took the Tri-Z shock to a guy that would rebuild it for $140, but he said the shaft was worn out, so my best option is to use the hybrid Warrior shock with the Tri-Z resi.

 

I hope this info is valuable to someone out there! Let me know if it helps you.

For the shock I ended up going with a '01 Raptor 660 shock. It's longer and has a short rez hose on it, but it's much better than a Warrior shock. The '02-05 Raptor shocks have a piggyback rezzy that might not clear and the Raptor 700 shock is way to long. To get the 660 shock to fit, I had to use a Warrior shock linkage shackle, because the longer Raptor shock jacked the rear up, and the Warrior shackle will lower it back down to stock height. You can also use the Warrior shackle to lower the rear on a stock Tri-Z. I can still switch the stock Tri-Z rezzy to the Raptor shock if I want to for a stock look. I'm also running a '86 Tri-Z swingarm, with a '85 shock linkage. This setup gives more clearance in the front. I'm not sure this setup will work with a '85 swingarm and a '86 linkage.