setting up your suspension

Wait which bolt is the fra? is that the very front mounting bolt? or the front of the rear shock?
 
fra is the(usually) gold shaft in the middle that the rear shock and side arms bolt to and has a set of small idlers. It has a slot for adjusting the rate of speed and amount of travel the shock has compared to the vertical travel of the rear of the rail. If you have the shock bolted in the upper part of the slot, the shock speed and travel is lessened acting like a softer spring and valving setting. The lower end of the slot uses all the travel in the shock and spring making it as stiff as it can be. Neither of these settings will always translate to softer or stiffer feel of ride though.
 
tait89 said:
No my problem is I just wan the sled to sit higher and also stop it from hitting the tunnel when I rail a huge bump. Ya I definitely need some better skis for floatation but that is a summer project. I'm just trying to keep things minimal and cheap at the moment.
Click to expand...


I don't think the brackets are going to accomplish what your looking to do and is going to cause alot of other effects you'll have to correct to use them.
 
betheviper I am going to intall my extra long travel spare shocks from an SXR into my SRX for next season.I will set front skid shock basically at zero preload which is at 203 mm spring length,the rear skid shock maybe at standard setting or should I go minimum setting?? I will have to change my w-arm to the SXR one also,it has a lower mounting where the limiter strap bolts go.Should I just set limiters to standard setting oe looser? I have the ohlins on the front..I can take off the upper shock mount and flip it to gain some height,already have a set made.And I still will be using them USI skis in the rear mounting position.Now the saddles are lower then the stock ones which will drop the front end some.Will it be ok like that because I can build up the height of the saddles with 3 layers of 1/4"rubber that I have cut to get the height the same as original..A lot of questions I know..or do I just let the front end stay lower??? You stated the lower the front the better the steering effort..them USI are sure hard to figure out sometimes...thanks
 
Hi scott,
Working on setting up these 144" skids. I do know that they will not be perfect as the geometry has changed but im looking to get as close as i can. They were both rebuilt, reshimed, bushing were good and greased. My wifes kyb's were rebuilt and revalved by pioneer for her riding style and weight. Im still running my RX-1 ohlins in the rear, rebuilt and revalved before last season. The tracks seem to sit level on the ground all the way to the tip ups so feel pretty good about that. I have set them up the same way i did last year per your write up. Does this still apply now that they are 144"? Pioneer sent me some starting settings for their shocks and they are way different they what i come up with doing it your way. So for comparison i set my wifes up pioneer way and the rear seems smooth and travels nice and does not bottom out on the transfer rods. But mine seems to bottom out the transfer rods right away and very stiff from there. I have it set up for 50/50 gap with me on but once the gap is gone seems stiff. Just seems like i have limited travel. Is this an effect of the messed up geometry of the skid or is it just improper settings by me. More background both sleds have minimal preload on front ski shocks. Center at 0 preload and back for my wifes sled to get 3/16 - 1/4 gap on bottom when sitting. My rear preload set for 50/50 gap. Sorry so long but do ya have any suggestions? I really had them dialed in last year at 121 but whole new game now. Looking to get close before i hit the trail. Thanks chris
 
Hi scott, Did some more research and thinking (which is usually my biggest problem). Now that the geometry has changed the transfer rods are a hair short now and im guessing this is compressing the shock as it sits? Would making the rods longer with spacers help? I also noticed on my 04 the bottom spacer is a 5MM not the 2.5 and 2.5 the other year vipers have. This is stock on an 04s per manual. Would that effect things as well as not letting the skid come all the way up at rest? I am sure im going to have to increase spring preload in the rear also. I originally set this up when it was warm with no gear on just a dumb bell for weight. It is now also all loaded down with my riding tools ect in the seat. Do i want to set this up for more or less transfer also? Im slowly sorting this out, it will work just have to get it working all together. Thanks for any help. chris
 
first question, is your track loose???

if not, your track can bind causing the suspension to feel stiff.

second, what is your total gaps? 14-16 is somewhere to start, 60-40 gap is what I like to end up at, 50/50 would be with a full tank of gas, all gear and a meal. and yes, once you jump on it and the rod engages, it will get real stiff because your now instantly using both shocks with no transition between. I would guess pending more info that that rear shock preload needs to increase.

either lower spacer will work to some degree, I don't think that is the issue.

the long track extension should not in any way change your settings on the floor.
out in the trail, you may find you dont want that much transfer, stock viper with a 144 is alot of hookup,

When you sit on the one with the pioneer setup, what happens with the front of the sled? my guess is, they set preload higher than I like to start with on the center shock. This will cause the front end to lift when you sit on it. Not bad, just different ways to go. I am a flatlander and will always er on the side of lower. what did they recomend for transfer gap?

Need more information.
 
Thanks scott. I do run my tracks on the tight side, and now that you mention that i did not notice this problem till after i set my tracks, i do 1" sag with 22lbs of hanging weight at center. Should i just go to 1" sag with no weight? Dont want to rachet, still running 9 tooth drivers.


Dont know the totall gap as im at work and sleds up north will have to measure but they are stock and no gap on bottom when sitting with no weight. The pioneer set up wants a 60/40 gap and transfer rods at 2. I did remove all the preload from the center shock even though they wanted preload. That could explain why it seems better cause my set up was 50/50 with summer close, empty tank and a dumbell for weight. Now its making sence. Im thinking i need a lot more preload in the rear shock. I will loosen tracks a bit and increase rear shock preload and see wht happens.

My FRA is a center should i move it to the bottom for my weight. Im a little over 230 with all my gear and a sandwich. I run the other one high position for the wife.

Thanks for the help so far. I am going to work on them this weekend and report back. Let me know on recommended track tension please.
 
I leave the track loose for adjusting, then set it to a 1in sag to start.
then do hole shots till it ratchets, then tighten it a turn. Then go to a lake where you can hold it and watch the speedo. Tighten the track a turn inbetween top speed runs untill you see the top speed drop. This will give the the correct tension for your sled, your track, your drivers and your power. All these things effect track tension.
 
You were right scott, i was way off on both sleds. Not sure what happened the first time but?? I had to add a bunch of preload to the rear shock on both and i loosened the tracks to 1" hang. No snow to test from there. The skids seem to work much better. I did go to standard preload on both fronts and no preload in center shock. Now i just need snow to test from here. Thanks for all the help. Chris
 
just reading threw this for the first time am i would like to offer some advice ..........something that i found on my personal sled years ago and many customer's sleds they typical broken "W" arm after breaking mine for the 2nd time i looked for a reason and found this it was the stupid bump stops in the arm that where causing the arm to crack since removing them 6 years ago i have not broke another "W" arm and the same goes for every one of my customers

i had spent 3 years plauing with my rear skid to get the sled to handle and ride just right and i love it corners like it is on rails has all the weight tranfer inthe world and rides nice and plush even after the shock up grades
 
I been riding my 02 viper for years with way to tight on preload. The dealer did NOT set up my suspension when I bought it. My transfer rods would not even move when I sat on the sled. Since I did some adjustments it rides like a new machine.
 
so on my sxr as far as control rod spacers go, i have a thick one on top and bottom,should i start out with a thin one on the bottom?
 
I used a thinner on the bottom and thicker on top.Got about 18 to 19 mm total.With 50/50 my space is 9-10 on top and 9-10 bottom..
I put about 200 lbs of weight on my seat to act as if I were on it.This is what I ended up with.
 
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