All,

My cuz had a few difficulties today on
what to use to adjust the rear shocks
on his 06' Hawkeyes, it wouldn't budge.
Any ideas?

Secondly, I would like to make similar
adjustments to my SP800 (08) trying
to raise it a notch to see if I like the
feel better? Do we need a spanner wrench
like the Repair/Maint. guides recommend or
what other tool do you use?

Thanks for all the info.!

R'

 

RticKwad, your cousin should have received a spanner wrench in his tool kit with the Hawkeye, the easiest way to adjust them is with some sort of spring compresser to take the load off the adjusting cam...with only the spanner, it works easier to jack the machine up and remove the tires to get a bit more room, I use a length of pipe on the end of the spanner to get more leverage... you can also use a large channel lock wrench to get a good grip.
Good Luck!!!

 

I wouldn't use channel-locks but I do like to jack it up and take the tires off on the 500s I've had. Spray WD-40 in and around the collar first and turn it while all the weight is resting on the frame. You can get generic motorcycle spanners cheap.

 

I had to adjust mine rdickwad a week ago with no proper wrench. I used a brake tool wrench, the one used to stretch brake springs. I would say though that I kinda slashed the metal in a sense that I ended up rounding off the holes made for the proper wrench. My advice is get the right wrench, if not, make sure not to screw up the holes , spray some lubricant as he said, even give it a day to soak in . I tried one evening, didn't wanna budge, next evening after soaking they turned like nothing.

Just jack up the ***-end a wee bit to take the weight off.

BTW I never recieved a spanner wrench neither!

 

you need to jack it up off the ground(eqs. the 800) and most likely use a spanner wrench to turn them and they still move hard. make sure to keep them clean and maybe even lube w/ some wd-40 so they turn easier.

 

It tends to collect dirt behind the collar so spraying lube in flushes a lot of dirt out. If I don't take the wheels off mine it's hard to turn it far enough to lock into the notch. One of my friends broke the collar on one of his polaris shocks. I'm not sure how, but I think it would be easy to do if you're squeezing it with channel-locks instead of using a spanner. With the wheels off you have room enough use a pipe for leverage like jokout said. I pounded a piece of conduit over a wrench handle so it was on there permanently. I could use one hand to steady the quad, sitting with the rear frame on a concrete block, and have plenty of leverage to turn the wrench one-handed. On a new quad I usually leave it in the first notch then end up maybe adding a click each year when it gets older.

 

Good info. I appreciate the responses.
So if I don't have those snazzy "spring
compressors" what do I use? Seems like
abit of a pain to adjust these things?

I just need to get more rear clearance
and with my weight I am bottoming
them abit (SP800). So if going one notch helps
then I will do, IF NOT, then I just may
leave as is. -- OPINIONS?

Regards,

R'

 

i used a big set of channle locks on my 06' becaue i didnt have a spanner wrench and now that i do its still not that easy. you want to have all the weight off it if you can for sure. if you had away to compress the springs it would be even easier. beleave it or not im already thinking about putting my homemade spacers in this 08' as it already has a little sag.

 

You may have an antilock suspension. you have to move the top left and the bottom right. you can do this with a hammer and screwdriver.

 

I couldnt get my to budge at first using just the spanner wrench, I had to get a 1 foot cheater pipe, jack it up, pull the wheels and using the spanner and Pipe as a cheater, I have used a Pipe Wrench as well, they are hard to move, the hawkeye has very stiff springs.