2009 Polaris RZR RockCrawler...

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woody

eternal noobie
Staff member
Oct 12, 2010
1,847
56
Toquerville UT
Working with FOA http://www.f-o-a.com on RZR shocks...have their 'first ever' 5" body front shock installed (6" rears), got some trail time in today.

All four are set with medium compression and light rebound. Front shocks run 12" 250# QA1 coils and rears run 12" 300# QA1 coils. (ordered myself thru Jegs http://www.jegs.com )

Rear is a bit stiff, and didn't use all the available stroke, but handled great. Believe I'll keep the valving and swap in some 275# coils for a smoother ride and more movement in the suspension.

Fronts ride excellent, but bottomed on some 12" divots (at 40mph)...thinking a switch to the med/heavy valving makes sense.

Current ride height is 1" too tall....planning to drop things down, don't really want 12" of belly clearance

Thots or comments? First time 'tweaking' the setup, for me and for FOA, at least on a RZR...want to be sure I'm making changes in the right direction and not making it worse.

TIA for any advice.
 
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How do you plan to lower the height? different rate coils or do you have the ability to turn the screw down?

if the rebound valving is working fine, then just adjust the compression damping.

We'll talk more when you are here.
 
New rear coils delivering to your house on Wed or Thurs from Summit (not in stock at Jegs).

I 'guessed' at the screw position for the coils, fronts and rears have over an inch to back down without unloading the coil on extension.
 
Time to upgrade the RZR cage...the stocker design and material just isn't up to par...

Plan is something simple...side hoops, simple cross bracing and angles, keeping the ATR dash bar/brace, and eventually adding a similar clamp-on bed bar too for more aggressive/racing venues.

Started with two sticks of 1-3/4" .095 DOM tubing and the Baileigh bender. Cut to 100" (tho I could have started with 90") for each side tube...

- first bend is 55 degrees and starts 21" past the tube end
- second bend is 85 degrees in the same plane, 20" past the first bend
- third bend is 30 degrees, angled inwards 30 degrees, and 14" past the 2nd

RZR-Roll-Cage_001.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_002.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_003.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_004.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_005.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_006.JPG
 
more pics....cause they tell more than words...haha

B-pillar ended up 2-1/2" shorter that the OEM cage...still about 5" of head room, so plenty for clearance, even with a helmet on...

RZR-Roll-Cage_013.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_017.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_019.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_015.JPG
 
i guess theres a pretty big market of the sidexside stuff that I havent really tapped into... Maybe I should look more into those guys...

Yeah post up some more pics when you get a chance...

JOSH
 
photos...at least it's relatively warm outside...

Honestly, the RZR has eliminated my desire for a buggy...never thought it would, but it's a big market now, and growing rapidly...

RZR-Roll-Cage_026.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_027.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_028.JPG RZR-Roll-Cage_029.JPG
 
Seems I'm mastering breakage, at least in the past couple months...two 4340 Summers Brothers rear axle shafts, and most recently an OEM rear hub. I've been unable to find any other manuf's for +3 shafts, but billet hubs are out there.

Research found a few options for hubs. One was DFR...their's are machined from 7075 billet aluminum and are REALLY sharp pieces...strong and light. Another option was UTV Inc. Theirs are machined from 6061 billet and are bulkier. However, at $600 delivered versus $900 delivered, I opted for the savings.

7075 and 6061 are similar in cost. 7075 is stronger. UTV Inc. makes up for the strength difference by removing less material. The big savings is likely in the machine time required to make each one.

So, the pics....first the busted rear hub, next to the replacement billet pieces...plus a couple of the OEM hub installed and removed.

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And more pics...including a few of the front hubs on the scale...OEM stuff weighed about 2-1/4 pounds...the UTV Inc Billet's came in around 4-1/4 pounds...lotta additional strength for less than 10# of total additional weight!

Tools are simple...brass mallet to drive out studs, 15mm for the front brake caliper, 1/2" for the rear brake caliper, and I believe it was a 1-1/8" combo for the hub nut...add in a needlenose to pull the cotter pins and a lug wrench and yer set.
 

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I've been running QA-1 single rate 12" coils over FOA shocks on my RZR for 6+ months...ride has been pretty good but firm, and the RZR gets some rear "kick" on washboards...some additional shock valving work is on the list, but dual-rate coils have been on the wish list for some time...however, fitting dual-rates on a short bodied shock isn't easy, especially when you have 12-14" total coil length to work with.

So, plan B has been some progressive rate coils from King Springworks, ordered thru Makin Trax Suspension out of Southern California. A few emails with Steve from MakinTrax and I finally convinced myself to spend the $360ish for a set of four...225# for the front, 250# for the rear.

(The QA-1's were 250# front and 275# rear...I had also experimented with 300# rear)

No trail time as of yet...but initial "bounce" testing actually showed some rear suspension movement and softer front movement. Based on coil wind and diameter, the initial smaller thickness and tighter wound coils should offer a smoother ride, and as those compress, the full diameter and looser wound coils come into plan and help control the hard hits.

Looking forward to some trail time, updates pending :)

now, the pics...

First, four coils in a row...in order, from left to right:
QA-1 300#, QA-1 250#, King 250#, King 225# (no pic of the QA-1 275#)
Note the progressive coils, lighter towards the bottom...

2011_MakinTraxProgressiveCoils_DSC_0412.JPG


Makin Trax markings...
2011_MakinTraxProgressiveCoils_DSC_0413.JPG


QA-1 markings...
2011_MakinTraxProgressiveCoils_DSC_0414.JPG


Rear coils installed...lighter coils on the shock body (really, it shouldn't make a lick of difference)
2011_MakinTraxProgressiveCoils_DSC_0416.JPG


Front coils installed...again....
2011_MakinTraxProgressiveCoils_DSC_0418.JPG


Some notes:

Front frame-to-floor measurements were 11-1/2" with the 250# QA-1's...with the new slightly longer 225# King's, the measurement jumped to nearly 12-1/2"...some adjustment was required, and I settled on about 11-3/4" of frame-to-floor.

Rear frame-to-floor started at 11-3/8" and ended at 11-3/4"...not enough to adjust at this point, will wait to see if they settle in some after a few trips.
 
Guessing these cute plastic birdcages in the front diff are up for the rocks....suspect it's been broke for a while ...yes, it's supposed to all be ONE piece!

ForumRunner_20120806_154215.png

Installed an aftermarket aluminum one...wonder what breaks next...
 

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