Yesterday, I read an article that stated that a steering stabilizer would take care of the "twichy" steering on the '01 DS. It seems to me that you would certainly also have to upgrade at least the upper A-arms..... Has anyone tried the stabilizer alone, and did it make a noticable difference?

Thanks.... SD

 

I have'nt tried it yet, But first I'm going to adjust my front end to the right spec's. I thing the way they come from the dealer is all wrong. And I've had plenty of poeple on this forum tell me that it make a difference in the way the quad handles. And also I'm going to adjust my Shocks properly, I think with these adjustments my bike will be more stable at speed. Their is alot of great information on this forum for these proceedures. Good Luck.

Biggerisbetter.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll go check out some of the old threads and try to find out some more.

 

You may want to setup your suspension first for your weight, then adjust the front-end which on the stock ds a-arms the "toe" setting is the only adjustment you can set. You can set the toe setting as in the paragraph below. The suspension and toe settings will make a big difference in the handling. For ultimate perfomance and handling you may want to upgrade to aftermarket upper a-arms or the upper/lower sets. Search on the forum and you will find some of these a-arms. The in-expensive way is to adjust your supsension and front end.


your adjustment should be approximately 1/8" toe out. measure the distance from the center of the tread in front of the tire, then measure the distance from the center of the tread of the back side of the front tires. the front side measurement should be 1/8" longer. make the adjustments using the tie rods(making sure to evenly adjust on both sides)

BTW, you can order a toe guage just for the ds from these folks :

Toe Guage The guage was around 50 bucks or so, just let them know which quad you have and they make one for your quad. I bought one and it is very easy to use. There are other ways of measuring and adjusting your toe by searching through the forum. It was just easier for me to get the toe guage...

Later

 

SoonerDuner,
I have just the Alba stabilizer and I have absolutely no twitch or instability at any speed. I have, however, set up the toe to 1/8 out and set-up the front shock preload to match my weight. If, as your name implies, you are a duner then this set-up works great. It is alot cheaper and easier than A-arms. I ride mostly in the dunes with some open desert and I am very happy with this set-up.

 

buttfungus is correct with the 1/8 inch toe out. I have mine set up this way and the "twitchyness" is gone.

 

I've had my suspension set up properly from day one, and tried all the combinations, this is what I've found-

First I tried the stearing stabilizer[PEP]. It did eliminate the twitchy feel[for the most part] but it slowed down the stearing and made the quad feel "heavier" than befor[as far as the stearing goes].

Then I added upper adjustable a-arms. I set them up with 3 degrees of added castor. The combination of arms and the stabilizer were great for strait line, the quad was rock solid, but felt slightly truck like while turning. This wasn't a big problem for me because I was not racing[so I didn't need lightning quick stearing] and I'm a good sized guy anyway, so I had no problem muscling it.

Then the seal went out on the dampner, and it was later damaged in an accident[Dirt Wheels photo shoot], so I simply removed the dampner. The stearing remained stable, but I got a much lighter feel and responce was quick enough to make it feel like a sport quad again. I've never felt the need to replace the dampner, but I could see the need if desert racing or woods racing were your primary focus. The dampner does do a better job of soaking up rock hits of root hit that may want to rip the bars from your hands, but without it, it's easier to avoid those hits by stearing around them anyway.

For sand, I definately recomend the adjustable arms over the dampner. For desert racing or agressive cross country in very rough terrain, the dampner may be a better choice. You can use both, but I hope your strong and you don't need to turn really quickly.

Setting the adjustments properly with the stock set up will make things better than nothing, but untill you get used to both, and swap back and forth, you can't really apreciate the advantage of corrected geometry. I take it for granted, untill I ride a customers bike that isn't set up as well.

1/8th inch toe out is a help for stock geometry, but zero toe works better[and causes less drag] once the castor has been added

 

Also the zero toe will help in the really soft sand. But the bars can still be ripped from you hands but roots because the extended a arms on the DS.

 

I know that some of you are really pleased with the TimmyBoy A-arms, but I was wondering if anyone knew anything of the Alba uppers? Also, I was wondering if anyone can explain or direct me to a site that would explain what camber is. I'm sorry if this is a question that has been asked a million times already.

Thanks for all of the info guys. SD

 

SD,
Camber is the adjustment of the spindle angle as you are looking at the tire and it's relative position to straight up and down. In other words, if you were looking at your quad while sitting on the ground in front of it and you put a protractor or level on the sidewall of the tire, if the bubble is at 0 you would have neutral camber. If it was slanted at the top towards the frame you would have negative camber.

Castor is the measurement of the forward to back angle of the spindle as you are looking at the quad from the side.