I need some help understanding how and what to adjust on my rear shock. To me, it feels really stiff. I weigh about 175 and the best ride I have had on it was with my wife on the back. She is only 100 lbs so I might be a bit light for the stock shock. I am looking for the best performance over the smaller, choppier stuff. I have spent some time playing with the adjustments by have not seen much improvement. Maybe I am not going in the right direction. That is where I need your help.

If I adjust the compression dampening all the way out, shouldn't this make the shock feel softer? I have tried both ways and not noticed a difference. This leads me to think it is a stiff spring problem.

How far can I back off the spring preload? Right now, I have about 4-5 inches of sag from 0 load to me on the seat. Is that too much? But this ride feels better than before.

Rebound? This is just a mistery. If I am looking for performance on little stuff, I would think I want this fairly fast. But no matter where I put it, I keep getting bucked hard when I go over larger sharp bumps.

So how do I take the "hard" feel out of the ride? Softer spring? Longer swingarm? Revalving? New Shock?

I know this is really vague and open ended. Sorry about that. Any thoughts, experiences, or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Well I can tell you the Stock Raptor shocks sucks. My back shock blow up in the first month. I went with a whole new suspension. Elka Quad Rated with +3 janssen A-Arms and +2 LoneStar axle. You wouldn't believe the difference. It's a pretty penny. It's dropped my quad about 3 to 4 inches. Anymore questions just ask.