Why would it handle differently than the 330? Other than the fact you have one more cylinder and a little more weight. Both the 330 and 500 have strut front ends. Would it have been the weight that she might have been noticing and not the struts?

What seems to be the problem with the struts? Granted if you are racing you'll notice the difference but I doubt you'll notice them on the trail. The front end on all Outlanders are soft, not just on the strut models.

When you say it handled differently, what do you mean by different? Please elaborate.

 

The front end is mushy, it would rock back, and forth. It would dive going into corners. The rebound was real slow, and when going over a searies of moguls, they would not recover quick enough, she would bounce all over the place. I think they call it packing up. The 330's was stiffer, and were more stable. If you could adjust the spring tension on the front of the 500 it would be better. Maybe these struts a bad, but the Elka kit made a big difference.
By the way she had 1700 miles put on it in less than 6 months, and she is 65 years old, and will put the throttle down, and let it rip. Most people think she is 45 - 50

 

I am surprised that you find the struts softer than the a-arms on the 650+, most ppl seem to say the oposite. BUT, you found a cure, the spring kit works great, it was still cheaper than taking the hit trading to the larger machine, and the Outlander 500 is still a great machine I am sure. BRP said they went with the struts to save costs, since this is supposed to be cheaper than the 650 and the struts are the only difference in mfg price.

Anyways...

 

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

The front end is mushy, it would rock back, and forth. It would dive going into corners. The rebound was real slow, and when going over a searies of moguls, they would not recover quick enough, she would bounce all over the place. I think they call it packing up. The 330's was stiffer, and were more stable. If you could adjust the spring tension on the front of the 500 it would be better. Maybe these struts a bad, but the Elka kit made a big difference.

By the way she had 1700 miles put on it in less than 6 months, and she is 65 years old, and will put the throttle down, and let it rip. Most people think she is 45 - 50</end quote></div>

Sounds like too much dampening and not enough spring on the front of the 500. Good to hear you took care of it.