I am looking for help setting up the suspension on my 04 gas gas 450. I weight 180 lbs ride the sand in Oregon 3-4 times a yearand tight trails. Does anyone have any experience with this particular machine, if so, I would really like to hear about your set-up advice:

 

Stiffen it.

 

get the LTR jet kit. it saves you time of trying to sort it all out. the '04 already has the aluminum water pump impeller, so unless you race, you don't need the LTR impeller.

I race mine and occasionally(more rare lately) ride dunes, all i do is change the tires & put on the whip mount i made from angle aluminum.
most of my mods were taking parts off, changing the handlebars & throttle, and having the suspension re-sprung & re-valved.
what kind of mods do you want to do?

for tight trails you're probly going to want narrower A-arms, rebel riders and world class ATV make them for the gasgas. for now to take a little width off you can get some wheels with a 4+1 offset to take about 2" off the width on the front. douglas ultimate wheels have this offset available, and the bolt pattern for the wheels is the same as a honda. on the back you can change the spacers on the axle to narrow it if you want.

 

What did you have done to your suspension and where did you send it to have it done? My 450 came with 4+1 front wheels so I can't narrow it up any more without A-arms. Have you narrowed up your quad? I don't know what you mean about Jet kit, the 450 is fuel injected. Please reply

 

oh yeah.... injection... i forgot! musta had a brainfart! my 300 is a carbed 2-stroke.

i have only put on 4+1 wheels and had the shocks worked on... if you want to narrow it more get A-arms from www.worldclassatv.com or www.rebelriders.com both are adjustable and good quality.
i sent my shocks out to MX-tech(out in PA), (they'd been doing the shocks for mickey dunlap's GNCC gasgas quads) and had them revalved and re-sprung w/ zero preload springs. as part of the package, they lengthened the shafts giving it some more travel too.
other options are to send the shocks to custom axis, TCS, or PEP & have them set up to fit your riding. if you're getting A_arms, then shock work is in order. the main reason i sent mine off was i was bottoming the rear shock out really bad even on small jumps... now i don't have a problem.

 

I think that I will narrow up the front A-arms, world class seems to make competitive A-arms. At that time I will send both front and rear suspension off to be re-valved, the rear is way to stiff internatlly. Very odd that your 300 was too soft and my 450 is way to stiff?! I have been talking to noleen, and they seem pretty knowledgable.