Viper ER Suspension setup

woolyviper

woolyviper

New member
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
525
Age
60
Location
NE MN
I have a new 03 Viper ER and I am pleased with the sled except the suspension. I'm about 260 lbs and the thing is beating me on the trails. I have not adjusted the suspension, but it seems I either need to stiffen it up or get heavier springs. Can anyone give me a rundown on some of the adjustments available to me.
 

when sitting on sled in riding gear your transfer rods should have equal spacing on the top and on the bottom, with transfer rods at standard setting. If this is not the case then you'll need to adjust your FRA most likely you being 260 you'll put it on the hard setting, after that again check your transfer rods. This is setting your ride height, which your dealer should have done in my opinion.
 
I will give that a try - I hope it works out as my kid's zr600 rides better than my Viper does right now.
 
Yamaha issued a service bullitin with a different setup to help soften the ride. Maybe check with your dealer for the exact specs. All I remember about it is to set the gap on your transfer rods to that 3/4 of the gap is on the top. Get the specs....it worked out great for my wifes 02' Viper.
Tom
 
service bulliten

Does anyone know what that service bulliten says? My dealer won't know anything about. Trust me.
 
I adjusted the FRA to the hardest "C" position and it still rides like junk. I found a service bulletin that suggests 3/16" to 1/4" on the bottom of the rod. I believe they suggested adjusting the rear shock tighter by 10mm.

Does this sound correct?
 
wooly, when you have the fra in the middle and sitting on the sled was there equal spacing on the top and bottom. You said in your original post that you thought you needed heavier springs, lets see if you can get ride height first . If you can get even spacing on the transfer rods when sitting then we have ride height , when adjusting the fra you change spring rates and dampening . By getting the transfer rod spacing make sure there in there standard setting and go from there, you do not want the space on the top to be to small you suspension will couple too early and result in a harsh ride. The shocks that you have should have been the same valving that was offered to 02 viper riders as a upgrade were supposed to offer more compliance in the small stuff but sacrificed some bigger bump characteristic ex, easier too compress and no rebound dampening which makes it feel like your being thrown up when traveling over some bumps, shocks were more towards the easier riding crowd. Sorry to ramble .
 
I found the service bulletins and also found some other info offerred in this post and it sounds like I need .5-3mm gap on the top of the transfer rod - this is to be achieved by adjusting the rear shock spring (no more than 10mm) and also by adjusting the middle shock the same percentage. My dealer said it is important not to adjust the shocks too much. If I can't achieve the proper gap, the dealer suggested a heavier spring due to my weight. He suggested (and I agree) that perhaps the suspension is compressing the shocks past some of their useful range (preload) and causing my harsh ride. They just had a similiar experience on an RX Warrior with a 300# rider. He said if I install a heavier spring and achieve the correct ride height with less compression I can move the FRA to the softest setting and smooth the ride out even more. I will be riding most likely on Thursday evening and plan on making the adjustments tomorrow night. We will see.
 
I adjusted the rear shock up about 1/2 inch and that smoothed out my ride considerably much better. I will move the FRA back to the middle position next trip out to see if that makes it even better.
 
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