I'm not gonna lie. I LOVE this thread! I just stumbled on it while looking for information to customize our lt80. I'mso happy to see Jack (LT80) chime in as well. I have learned so much from all his old posts on various sites. Keep up the great work, gentlemen! 🤓

 

You said it! Could not have done this without you guys
LT80's kick butt and I have never even rode one yet.
Shes rolling
almost running

spent 3 hours trying to seat the bead on front tires. Nothing worked, ether just kept making hot flaming tires. Ratchet straps came close but always collapsed one side. Eventually bit the bullet and took them to a local tire shop. Luckily that took 5 minutes and there was no charge. I am now building a bead seater from an old portable air tank and a 2" ball valve.

So she sits on all 4 tires!
Bad news is I need to re do the rear shock mount...whoops! I missed the mark, shock is waaaaaay to vertical and wont cycle hardly at all. So a revisit there.
The front suspension is working awesome!! Camber is dang near perfect, if I added 1" of lift (shock mount.extension) it would be 0 degrees.

Putting the ductwork in the bike looks like I am missing just a couple of pieces.

Questions:
1. does the throttle body boot get a clamp?
2. what do the screws look like that attach the bottom of the air box?
3. 2 Screws that hold the two plastic ducts together?
4. I could use some pictures of the wiring/relay mounting under the seat?

waiting on 26T rear sprocket
Will do some heat cycles today make sure all is well.
I have adjusted the timing "slightly" and set plug gap to 0.028"

Time for plastics! Thinking about a custom shave to show off more of the bike underneath

Also gonna chop up the factory foot pegs and make some baskets.
I picked up some 1" round DOM for making front and rear bumpers

 

I can probably help you out on the pics you need, although I'm not real sure how to post them. It might be easier for me to email them or text them to you. Send me a PM if you're interested.

 

Thanks!

I found the clamps I need at bikebandit, also needed a new seal for rear brake housing and a new "cap" (rubber drain plug)

So basically this bike was missing:
couple of clamps, couple of screws
starter relay
belt
one wheel bad(folded beyond repair)
4 bad tires

Everything else is just a bonus!
not bad for a parts bike..
Ill send a pm
This website is really easy to post pictures, you just click the insert pic button, browse your device and insert

 

Rear shock angle - I used the factory carrier mount as a template to drill the carrier mounting plates to keep the shock angle the same...that was before removing it, of course...if you don't want to mess with your completed carrier brackets you could move the top mount forward a bit...you may need to modify the battery box on the rear fender a bit, but if I recall there was some wiggle room there...

 

I understand your thinking. I was also looking at the Teiratech plates (sp?) and I see where they have their lower mount, advertising a 12.5" shock and 5" of travel. I also see they deleted the front mount bolt for the rear carrier and offer adjustable upper and lower points for chain tension. Very nice and well thought out

To make room for my shock and get near 4-5" of travel, I may need to modify my stock pipe. I need to make my 2.5" of shock travel work with the usable travel the bike has with mechanical advantage. This will locate the lower mount for me.

The stock upper will stay in place (hopefully) I may have to dent the pipe for frame clearance and notch it for shock clearance. removing the spring will make this possible
(if I can take apart a factory POO mini shock which should actually be called a strut since it includes the spring!) so I can clean cycle full droop and full stuff = properly measure for shock

Dang, not sure what I was thinking the other day during plate "fab" whoops! Same late nights in on this sucker

 

"Dang, not sure what I was thinking the other day during plate "fab" whoops!"

And there lies my issue...I think too much!!! My build is going considerably slower because I'm always second-guessing my initial thinking!!!


Good & Bad...the process is much slower, but I guess having less re-work can be a good thing...


I'm starting to pick up the pace as Fall is coming and it's the best time to ride IMHO...


I'm kinda doing parallel projects...building the boy's toy and building a PC oven 4'x4'x7'...need the oven done to do the frame/steering stem/wheels/axle...so what little time I have is split between the 2...

 

It happens!
I under think, overspend, and drill too many holes
Its hands on in the shop for me, my job has me engineering solutions all the time in virtual space so when I can chop cut and weld its on

For example, I went hands on with the Polaris Predator 90 rear shock = waste of time and $$$
I took it apart, after messing with my 20 ton press and some rigging, I finally settled on using two screwdrivers and the shock in my lap, prying with screwdrivers worked fine to remove the spring retainer

the Polaris shock has a whopping 2" of shaft travel
The stock lt80 shock has 2" of shaft travel

The polaris shock has an adjustable preload collar on the bottom
The polaris spring is WAAAAAAY TOOOOO STIFF for a Lt80. Im 190# and I can barely move it.

2" of shock travel is NOT ENOUGH to take advantage of the full suspension cycle of the lt80 even stock!! The stock shock is limiting our travel I don't care where you mount it.
I know this is not news to many

So I started looking at some shocks around here
Guess what you have to go to a 12-14" atv shock in order to get 3" of shaft travel or more
No wonder the upgrade for the Tieratech plates is a 12.5" shock, this is how you get 5" of wheel travel on a lt80
requires total re location of the lower mount and maybe mods to the top, not gonna happen without stock pipe chop and weld

I settled (for today) on the polaris shock body and the stock lt80 spring.
Made my own lower shock mount and its cycling well, about 3.5" of travel
There is another 1-1.5" of stuff travel to be had on this bike. I will need a 12.5 shock

At least I have adjustable pre load and a non clevis mount shock this way.

If anyone knows of a stock small atv rear shock that is about 12-13" long with 3.5" of travel please let me know the make and model
I can use a chinese 12.5" nitrogen filled and re spring it if needed, but before I buy one I want to know the dang shock travel

 

 

Heat the pipe up and stretch it to clear the shock.
I'm not talking to you anymore. Your garage is toooo clean.