well my project is finally done. The suspension seems good riding around on my property but I haven't gotten it to the track yet. It is only a mojave but it is unlike any mojave you have ever seen. I made the a arms, swing arm, steering stem, tie rods, etc. and redesigned the whole frt of the frame, all myself. Engine is full of goodies too and is very stout. check it out at my link below. be sure to look in the super mojave albums, especially the finished one.

 

026, Mojave? Ya'll still out there? Just wanted to see if 026 had any forward advancement in your quest for better suspension. Mojave, I'm glad to see you have your quad finished. Is it working out good for you? An update on mine is as follows. I got a steering damper in the last month, and my bumper steer problems have disappeared, so I'm estatic! From now on this and aftermarket suspension will be my first mods to any quad I buy. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

We recently took a trip up to the wagon wheel in W.Va(Hatfield-McCoy trails) and had a great time. I got to toy around with my suspension some, and was getting a bad bouncing effect from some stutter bumps near the top of a hill climb. But slowing down the rebound cured the problem. The front seemed to be kind of harsh(but there were LOTS of rocky areas), so I'm going to toy around with the preload again on the front. As for the rear it seemed to be bottoming out through some of the places we went, so I increased my preload with good results. I think it may be time for a rebuild though as my clickers don't seem to be providing much of an improvement in adjustment for compression.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

My major question though is I'm toying around with purchasing a triple rate front/double rear setup with zps, and was hoping that this would improve my initial stroke plushness? Could either of you guys comment on this? Hopefully you guys still have this thread as a subscription. If nothing else this has been a great thread to learn from, I hope ya'll are doing well.

 

Wouldnt give up this thread for nothing, and its great to hear some are getting help from it as I know I have.

One thought on your findings at Hatfields is that the comp adjusters will do little to help bottoming since they are having their main effect on the slow speed of the stroke and not where it would help on bottoming. If you want to be able to better adjust on that part you need to get the hi/lo adjusters and though sweet they add a lot to the $$$$ of purchasing them and also can add to the confusion to those who either dont understand (most of us sadly [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ) or are not willing to learn how to work them properly.

I had looked into the hi/lo and reb adjustment when I had got my elkas, and decided that they were not worth the extra $$$ for my use, and also was concerned about setting up the rebound correctly on the fronts due to their being very sensitive to rebound (remember rebound also is what pushes the tires into the ground to give better traction during cornering etc) So In my head atleast this was something that made more sense to the highly competitive racer who could benefit from them more etc.

It actually sounded like you were on top of everything when explaining what you did to the rear etc and dont forget that there are some really tough and technical areas on those trails there. If I remember correctly I had reduced the comp in the fronts to reduce the amount of feedback from all the large stuff we were running across, and it worked well.

So the comp adjusters on most shocks will effect the way smaller to mid size stuff causes the suspension to deflect and transfer the shock load to the frame, but will have little effect on bottoming.

Hope that helped some.

And wheres that mojave addict????????

 

AN UPDATE

I know this thread had been dormant for a while and I have been really busy with work and doing a frame off on the Honda, but things are slowing a little and I had been able to make some changes and check out some of the limiting points in the suspension (as discussed earlier in the thread) and wanted to update everyone.

First let me start by saying that though the quad looks excelent with the new candy apple red w/red flake frame it was a whole lot of work due to doing it all in stages (dont forget the time problems) and fighting with a damn stubborn swing arm bolt that was rusted or frozen solid to all the sleeves and bearings. What a total biotch that part was lol.

Anyhow part of the rebuild included some new springs from Elka. Again these guys have been great with working with me on getting this set up 100% right and they sent in new main springs for both the fronts and also the rear.

Their theory was that my real problem was having too stiff a main spring for my set up that wouldnt allow enough preload without causing the ride to become too harsh. I think there is a chance they may have been right since it was better on the first ride without really setting up anything beyond initial ride height than it was ever before.

Did make one other change in swapping the lower crossover on the fronts to transfer to the main spring later in the stroke, and I cant be sure what % this has to do with the positive change, but it seems like it helped keep the front a little more plush over the really rough stuff so I am liking it.

I hope to have the actual measurements soon but with the garage still being in total caos only time will tell when I will actually find them, but I can say that both the front and rear suspension will allow travel well beyond that of the shocks, and the front is not wasting any travel beyond that would allow it to bury the frame etc.

One thing that I do know the measurements of is the ride height and that has increased to an acceptable level both front and rear (currently 8-5/8 and 8-1/2) and seem to be that it wount change much in dialing it in achieve a desired ride height, height bias, and ride quality.

The rear kicking was greatly reduced (cant be sure if the rusted and almost bearingless swing arm pivot point had a major effect on this) and seems that traction was increased from the better ride height front to rear.

The only issue I have to work on is (besides getting the kick to reduce even more) that the fronts may actualy need slighly more (slower) reboud to work better with the added preload, but its realy too early to be sure.

As soon as I get a chance to put some serious hard rides in the rocky hills of PA on it I will follow up and advise to the findings, and also how any changes effect the various componets and overall ride etc.


Got to love when things work out right [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hey Thomez, have you modified the suspension on your wolverine?
I'm trying to improve the rear suspension on my '96 wolverine. I bought an aftermarket rear shock(emulsion type) with
rebound/compression adj ****. The ride didn' t improve much for 500 dollars.
I think the problem is the angle of the shock.
Any comments or sugestion?

 

What Shock did you buy because it really suks to spend all that cash and not see any improvment.

I know that isnt a model that see's all the attention but I had a warrior that responded very well to just a rebuild and an adjustment to the valving so its possible to make them do better etc.

 

It's a shock made by "Stadium Suspension" the so-called suspension experts.
I specifically told them I wanted a smoother ride with my wolverine.
A few weeks after I bought it, I went back and told them I wasn't impressed
with the improvment it made.
They redid the valving and sold me different spring for 100.00$
Once again, no improvment.
I should have bought it somewhere else.

 

Well sorry that I dont know much about that brand of shock, but I do know that when something isnt working like it should and the vendor asks for more $$ that something is seriously wrong.

I wont tell you how many springs I have received from Elka "no charge" in trying to get mine set up correctly, and I would be personally insulted if asked for more $$$ for something that was expensive and supposed to be right the first time.

I would suggest trying to get a refund and return the shock and then find a company that will be able to provide a quality shock for your application.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i was wondering for some fast paced trail riding, and light motocross would tripple rate works, w. rezzies and +2 arms, be a ok cheap alternative to elkas, or other high priced shocks like axis. this is on a 400ex.

v581