I am new to this forum but have been lurking over the past week or so. I got my 2001 DS650 in December and have been having a blast ever since. I am located in southwest Florida and here you all talk a lot about dunes. Down here we have mostly tight woods trails and a ton of good mud. My question arises from the fact that on our trails the DS gives me one heck of a work out. I notice quite a few other makes of 4 wheelers have their front ends set up with toe in while the DS is set up with toe out
Does anyone have any comments on this observationor any experience with various toe settings? My DS is bone stock.

 

yes, i've played with all kinds of toe settings and suspension setups. i like neutral toe the best on my DS, but it benefits from 1/8" toe-out for highspeed riding, especially in sand. the reason is because of the caster angle - 5 degrees. with a greater caster angle as most other bikes have, the steering is less sensitive so toe-in can be used. on the low caster angle of the DS, toe-in makes for very sensitive and twitchy steering at higher speeds. so toe-out is used to compensate. its partially due to the long travel suspension too - toe changes as suspension height changes, with the toe coming in as the shocks extend. when compressed, the toe moves out. so, at high speed when the suspension is mostly extended, its gets toed in contributing to the twitch.

with toe at neutral, or toe-out, bump steer (hitting objects that jerk the bars) becomes more of an issue. its easier for the wheels to hook and tree or rock and cause the bump steer, so stabilizers are a great item to help here.


http://home.swbell.net/tharthun/home...nsionsetup.htm

Welcome to the forums!

 

i agree with hightower i run mine about zero as well, but one thing i did was to install a steering dampner. it seemed to help the wondering and kept the handle bars from jerking when you hit stuff.

 

Thank you for the tips I will be busy for a while in the garage. Other than the slight steering difficulties, the DS is fantastic. My buddy rides a quadzilla and my greatest entertainment comes from pressing that electric start while he jumps up and down trying to turn his beast over.

 

How much harder is it to steer with a steering dampner on?

 

Get rid of the stock kenda's if you haven't already!
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

After reviewing Hightower's advice I did some checking and discovered I had 4" of sag in my front shocks compared to the 2" that was suggested I haven't gotten a chance to ride with my new adjustments but I am hoping that tightening my preload and correcting my toe will doe the trick. 2 weeks ago I dumped the stock Kenda's and replaced them w/ Razors and the difference was incredible. Does anyone have any suggestions for A-arm replacements as this was one of Hightower's suggestions? If so should I replace just the uppers or both(As I said before our location has more wooded trails and muddy areas than dunes)

 

I will be hammered for saying this. I have been a mechanic for 20 years and at least on cars toe out make for twitchy steering. I set up my DS with 1/8th tow in with me on it. I think it really helped the Twitchy feeling.

 

Air,

Let them hammer away. I go as far as to bolt a 6 foot length of tubing to each front hub to help me visualizize toe in. For every day riding, I set up for a little toe in for stable feeling turns. If I get on a fast, tight, track then I set the bike for some toe out so it turns faster.....

jbt

 

its all about what works for you, your style, and your weight, and nobody's settings are gonna be perfect for everybody. but most DS owners who know and understand toe settings will agree that high speed riding tracks straighter with no toe-in.
any way you look at it, the steering can be made to be quite good if you play with the settings and find what suits you, and purchasing aftermarket a-arms isn't always necesary to achieve what you like. just keep in mind that any time you adjust your shock preload up front, you gotta re-adress toe.