Help!!! 95 V-Max Rear Suspension Question.

[95 V-Max600]

I am new to the whole sledding scene and had a question about the spring preload on my 1995 V-Max 600. When I got the sled the rear suspension was completlly frozen and had no travel at all thanks to 2 siezed shocks and just about every collar. I disassembled the whole thing and replaced both shocks and every collar that was questionable... greased it and put everything back together. Everything works great now and it has travel but I am concerned about the spring preload as I set it up exactlly the way it was when I got it.

The center shock adjuster was in the middle and the limiter straps were all the way out. I had to push down on the arm to bolt up the straps.
The rear shock was closer to zero preload... maybe an 1" down from the top with the limiter strap all the way out. The limiter strap is loose.

My concern is that I can bottom out the rear by jumping on it. Does this seem right? I'm only 155 lbs and was wondering if anyone could recomend a good starting point for me. I haven't rode her yet but I just want to make sure it's not going to hurt anything the way it is. I looked in the tech pages but couldn't find any info that applied to my sled. Any help would be appreciated as I'm a Noob when it comes to sleds!!!

 

[daman]

settings are as follows,,,


front skid shock measured from center eyelet to top flat spot on spring-Max(harder) 85.5mm to Min(softer)70.5mm.

Rear main skid shock measure from eyelet to top of flat spot on spring-Max(harder)85mm to Min(soft)69mm.

standard is 77.5 front and 77mm rear.

 

[yammy]

Ill tell how I start is this: sitting on the sled, I want the snow flap in the rear to be about an inch off the ground, assuming a flat hard surface. You can fine tune it from there depending on your riding style!

 

[gbic1]

How much time did you spend on that skid to make it look that good?

Heres mine

 

[blk04700]

im was gonna say those are some pretty shiney rails you got there..

 

[95 V-Max600]

Thanks for all the help guys! I will get out in the garage this weekend and take some measurments. Unfortunatlly I do not have a shop manual yet for referance...

I also neglected the fact that I made and installed 3 1/2" drop brackets for the rear. Upon reviewing the drop bracket thread I noticed that many people recomend dropping the idler wheel axle down half the distace to maintain the correct geometry. I did not do that yet so that may also be part of my problem.

I spent quite a bit of time on the rear skid... I'd say about two weeks of putsing around with it after work. I wet sanded, polished and selaed the rails then sandblasted and painted everything else. It came out great though and matches the rest of the sled now. Hopefully this weekend it will be complete... I've been restoring it since I got it early last summer. Thanks for the compliments!!!

 

[braindead1684]

Nice work that looks awsome