I have a 86 lt230s and I have already turned my rims around, so spacers are out for me. That would be too much stress on the bearings. Plus I think spacers add rotational torque and are a lot of weight at the end of the a-arm acting like a hammer bouncing up n down.

So, my plan is to cut my a-arms and add 2 or 3 inches of tube and weld it back up. That would give my arms a more flat angle and the extra mass I add will be spread more evenly thru the arm and not concentrated at the end. My question now is how wide should I go? I'm at 41 inches now and I get on 3 wheels pretty easy in turns. I did some research on the new 450's and they are all 46 inches wide except for the suzuki,,, its 49. If I add 3 per side I will be at 47. Wider than every sport quad except the suzuki 450. But my wheelbase is 6 inches shorter... What do you guys think? I don't care about fitting in trails n that.

 

what about ur shocks????? im planning similar mod to my 230,but my shocks suck and not much fits the 230 frame

 

My buddy has the 250 version and his arms are longer and the shocks just lay flatter. It works good on his, the ride is much better. But if the shocks dont work after I get done with the mod I'll just move the top mounts outward to siffen them up.

 

Another thought is what to do with the brake lines. With 3 inches on each side they will not be long enough. So,,, the brake line runs down to a splitter. From the splitter it uses regular metal brake lines that I can get at any auto parts store. From there they just attach to the rubber lines at a tab welded to the frame. I'll just move the tab out and use longer metal lines.

Another thought about the shocks is that as I move the shock in a more vertical postion, the wheel travel will decrease. Maybe a bracket with a few holes for different shock positions would be a good idea. At least until I figure out which position works best, then cut off the rest.

I can't wait to see all the problems I'll run into when I decide to lengthen the frame, lol.

 

as for the frame get a spare to mod,i got 3 cant u just put 250 s shocks and a arms or maybe even 250 r stuff

 

I suppose you could put the arms from the 250 on the 230, but I think you will still have to mod the frame. The 250 ones look like they have longer bearings. And I don't know if they line up right either. (Can check bikebandit or alphasports and see if the bearings have the same part numbers). The shocks look the same, but I will have to have my buddy come back over so I cam measure to be sure. And then there is the cost of buying the 250 arms and they still aint as long as I'm wanting to go.

I have a spare frame and it came with extra arms too. Those are the ones I'm going to hack on, lol. Making the frame longer is a job that is going on the back burner for now. Lots of things to think about with that, like how will the plastic go back on? What about the seat? Steering??? I do think the frame mod is a better idea than a longer swingarm tho. The longer swingarm makes more stress on already weak swingarm bearings and puts more weight on the front end. I would rather move the front end forward and have the engine still in the back. I nose dive too much as it is if I dont have time or power to gun it before a jump, lol.

 

I measured the arms on the 250 and they are about 1.5 inches longer and the bearing that mounts to the frame is about 5/8 longer than the 230. I forgot to measure the shocks, lol. Oops. I'll look into those on Sunday and maybe post some pics.

 

good to know id just shave off the 5/8 off

 

The bearing itself is a different style too. And there may be diameter issues. Check the schematics at bikebandit. My buddy left his quad with me for the week so I can get pics and measure whatever. I can already see the shocks are different. His has more coils and looks longer. The ride compared to mine is like comparing a hovercraft with a wagon.

 

lol amen im on the wagon too [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]]