we have a little 100cc chinese utillity. the same as all the rest of them i geuse.

it has dual A arms up front "upper and lower A arms" and a mono shock on the rear with a swing arm.

the rear shocks preload is set as low as it goes. and the front's are non adjustable.

the shocks are stiff WAY WAY WAY STIFF !. i can ride it around no problem i weigh 230 pounds. my little kid gets on it and it is way to stiff he weighs 35 pounds. i think that when i sit on it it sould bottom out. the bike should be on the ground,it is a youth ATV after all. i dont need to ride it around like a shriner car in a parade.

the only shocks i found on ebay are way to stiff worse that what i have now. they have nice looking piggy back and remote resivoir works style shocks ,but they a super stiff, they are for 250 pound retard pit bike riders. no ofence. i am retarded myself ,i can use that word. very nice looking shocks though just to thick of springs. do a ebay search on pit bike shocks and you will see them.

what i am wondering is if any one has cut a few coils off of the stock springs on there mini quads to soften them up?

are there any tricks to soften them up? i dont want to heat them , but i might if some one has a sneaky way of doing it without messing up the shock.

any aftermarket coilovers that have been made to work" or are made for it ? any cheap alternatives? cheap tricks? expensive options?

my kid is bouncing all over the place.

 

carlw,

I am thinking of cutting a coil or two off my 150. What did you ever do to end the stiffness?

 

Hi there!
Maybe this will help...
First lube all the bushes & linkages, tie-rods & balljoints. Check that there is sufficient free movement in system.
Also check if shock tower or mount points are loose when shocks are fitted.
My lad's 110 shocks were over-tightened to the frame & A-arms, hence being sticky.
If this has been checked and 100%, try mounting shocks closer to frame on the A-arm. This will affect leverage & geometry, ride will soften if mounting on A-arm is moved inwards towards frame.
Or fit spacers...
Fitting spacers will impede (increase) turning circle & accelerate wear on bearings, yet give good stability straight-line. Looks good too! (Try flipping wheel around on hub, valve on inside).
If all else fails, find a coilspring manufacturer near you.
They'll check compression rate of what you have and wind new ones for less than you think. Ask for "progressive" damping. They'll get stiffer as your son gets heavier, yet maintain a good ride.
Hope I could help!
Benjamin.

 

My biggest problem with cutting the coil springs is it lowers the already sparse ground clearance.

-d3

 

Cutting coils out of a spring will make the spring stiffer.

 

Depends on which end you cut off, mine appear to be progressively wound...

 

i havent done nothing to the springs . and i am nott going to.

i let allot of air out of the tires i got teh tires realy mushy. that helped the ride and the traction improved allot to.

 

It might get less stiff, but a shorter spring is a stiffer spring. I would check and see how much preload is on the spring and try to change that.

 

All that you need to do is blow (ruin) the shocks themselves. 1 out of 3 on my Sunl 90 is bad (From the factory). It has no damping - neither compression nor rebound. It is WAAAAAAAAAY easier to compress than the other 2.