I notice most of the time that tire setups differ by one inch as far as tire height goes from rear to front. Usually the rear is an inch shorter than the front. I would like to get a set of 18's in the rear but I havent seen many 19" tires offered for the front, just 20" mostly....WTF. I am attempting to lower the raptor with these tire sizes. Need some educated guesses here....Thanks

 

Delta, just check into some holeshot MX fronts or the radials. 20" tires will work fine with the 18" rears. I have 18" turf tamers for mine on beadlocks, but haven't changed the front yet. The rear tires will lower it a bit, and really help out when cornering. The best bet for lowering the quad all together would be to put some zero-preload shocks (PEP, TCS, or Elka's), but that's quite a bit of money.
Are you planning on running MX with you Raptor? Just curious. I noticed you're from Lafayette. I'm from New Iberia, give me a yell sometime and let's make a ride to the track in New Iberia or Breaux Bridge.

 

Actually I am from New Iberia and I ride quite a bit at the trax, funny how we never x paths . oh well, later

 

Dawg - Unless you are prepared to spend cubic money and then wrestle your creation around the track, you may want to look at the YFZ. I've poured a ton of money into my Raptor to get it "C class" competitive, more than enough to buy a YFZ. When I see a little fat kid on a piped YFZ scream out of a turn without moving his butt, I understand all the hype. YFZs are easier to ride fast. If you want to beat those guys, I believe a Raptor can do it but it takes lots of cash and more body english during the race. Taken to their respective max potential, the Raptor can beat them power/weight but the YFZ suspension is much better for MX.

There are lots of used Raptor MX parts on this forum and others. A lot of racers gave up on their Raptor when they couldn't catch the little fat kids. If you really want to build a MX Raptor, buy used top shelf a-arms and shocks for 50% of retail and have them freshened.

I use Holeshot MX front and rear, 19" in the front and 18" in the rear. I have them mounted on 9" Hiper beadlocks. If you are upgrading wheels, save a little longer and get the best, Hiper carbon fiber beadlocks. They aren't much more than aluminum beadlocks and they are much lighter, your Raptor will appreciate the unsprung weight reduction.