Worked on the bike all day today... photos inside

[Adam @ GTP Off Road]

Did the install on the Arms and shocks today. Took me a while, 8 hours, including setting the toe, ride height, and bleeding the damn brakes. That was a pain. My back is killing me now reminding me how old and decrepid i really am. Had to run to Home depot for tubing to bleed the brakes in there to (autozone didn't have any). I was so frustrated with the brakes, pure clean lines since i had to go with longer ones.

I had no instructions so i was trying to figure out how all the parts went as the arms came all in peices. There is a full photo album on my FB if you want to see some more photos. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4261744015881.2162232.1054354861&type=3

[TIFFNAUB]

Looks good

[SAND~~SNAKE]

Looks great, Good job Adam! What are you going to do with your old parts?

Edited December 3, 2012 by SAND~~SNAKE

[Jakster884]

You will love it. Whole new level of riding. Your gonna have to try it out this weekend!

[Foxysandchick]

What was the width across the front before and after?

Congrats, I can't wait till I can do shocks on my quad.

[Adam @ GTP Off Road]

Thanks all. i am freaking excited for this weekend for sure.

@ Jim...all the old parts are for sale. I have stock axle, A-arms, shocks and some other Misc. stuff

@foxy... i'm not sure what the stock width was i think around 43 to 44" based on my math skills. i have douglas wheels that are +2" each side. and the Arms are +2.25" each side. for a total of +8.5". The full front is now is 52" with the side wall on the tires being a little fat. I put on a Tusk extended rear axle (thanks Mike) that adds 6" total to the rear. The back is just over 49" total. I am thinking about getting a different set of front wheels to make them +1" instead of +2" but i plan on a VERY good test ride this weekend to find out. I would like the front and rear to be a little closer and i dont really want to go wider in the back.

[Jakster884]

Did you do the rear Shock. If I remember right that is the most important from What I have been told. But I guess the front two is a start. Should make a difference.

[dunefreak]

Badass, Adam. Looks great and it's going to handle amazing. I'm super jealous.

[Adam @ GTP Off Road]

right now i only did the front... i am sure i need the back as it doesn't sound very good already and i think the whoops would be much better with it. i was having direct issues with the fronts bottoming out and stability so i am hoping the fronts will help along with the wider axle. I don't care much about the whoops anyway. I also hope the fronts will help the ride when the dunes get ripped up more.

Maybe by next season.. for the rear. it's only another $1000. lol

[ItsWeeks]

You can depending on the rear shock send it to a company like gt thunder and they will revalve and respring a stock shock for half the price of a new one. Check it out.

[dunefreak]

Yeah Chadwick just had his rear revalved and it works great.

[Jakster884]

Every new upgrade is awesome. I am sure the ride will be night and day. Let'sdune this weekend

[mineurbiz]

Adam it think there is a place local Racers Edge I believe that will revalve it, someone correct me if I am remembering wrong.

[Adam @ GTP Off Road]

I might try the revalve just depends on how money goes. i can try talking to the places that do it and get a good price for dual springs and a revalve.

I am fine with spending the $1000 for the rear. the Elka shocks are much easier to use and there is much more of an adjustment range for compression and rebound. But, if money gets too tight and i want to get it done i can try the stocker. I am the type of guy that if i get the stocker done, i will always still want the Elka rear. lol.

[flavtfan]

i rode mine with my new elkas and could notice a big difference in how the front felt and the rear. i'm in the market now for a rear stage 4 LT elka

[raspadoo]

I had the exact same Houser / Elka set up on a raptor 700, night and day difference especially when the dunes are hammered

[andydew]

Adam, when I upgraded mt wife's raptor, I put the stock stuff on craigslist. It got a lot of attention. I wasn't sure what they were worth, so I advertised them at $150. That might have been too cheap based on the quick response I got, but I was stoked to get $150 for what I didn't want anymore!

I did a 3+1 with elkas on the front, and holy cow, it's a complketely different bike You're gonna love it!

[Adam @ GTP Off Road]

The Bike did really good. The wide A-Arms and rear axle were noticeable with much better stability. It felt much more planted in the on the turns for sure. I did have to practice my transitions again, as the wide stance made the flow different. I almost stuffed the front in one razor and tossed myself over the bars... little more wheel and a little more throttle seemed to work.

The shocks were also much better then stock. It takes going 2nd gear plus for sure to really get the feel, but in the sweeping rutted turns and crossing lines it was much nicer. I had an issue with bottoming out on some G-outs and the jump we hit today (sunday.) I needed some more ground clearance (it was set at about 8 1/4") and with the bottoming out i kept turning up the preload, then gave it a couple clicks on the high speed compression. Toward the end of the day i got the G-outs working but it felt like that made the ride rough. I guess you can't have it all. I already got an email into Elka to see if i am on the right track, and since i screwed up and set the weight 15-20lbs too low that might be part of the problems. Still need to find a jump i really like and see how that does, but that won't be till January sometime.

I have to figure out how to remount my front bumper a little higher so it doesn't hang down below the skid plate and shovel sand up in my face when it bottoms.

[chris1223]

I have a rear triple rate motowiz if your interested with remote rezzie....