got my new shocks

[sampleez]

yesterday i got my E36 elka's(tripple rate, zps, no rezzy), and i took the springs off today and checked the travel. got some pretty sweet #'s, i think. here's a link to a little review of the shocks that i did. http://www.yfzcentral.com/invision/index.php?showtopic=31757

i'm gonna try and get some pics up today or tomorrow.

here's a link to the thread that shows how to check travel.
http://www.yfztech.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2075


Standard Travel +2 houser aarms and the E36 elka's

Frame Measurements (measured at top of front bumper)
lifted------------------------------------28 1/4
compressed(bump stops squished)--15 3/4

so that's 12.5" frame travel !!!!!!!!!! :clap:

Wheel Measurements i was doing this be my self, so i used a different method. i got a little cart that was about a foot or 1.5 feet tall, and sat on tire on it. then i got a jack and lifted the frame until the rear wheels and the rest of the quad was level. i thought this worked pretty good, and it compressed the bumper. i then measured the height of the two spindles. tell me tho if you think this wouldn't be accurate. and i'll try and get some pics of how i got the wheel travel, if that'll help.

but here's the #'s i got
wheel with shock extended------12 1/4
wheel with shock compressed---22 1/4

so i got 10" wheel travel

[TBD]

True travel is measured metal to metal. That means without the bumper. To get a accurate wheel travel measurment you need to measure at the spindle where the center of your tire would be. Your last measurement sounds more like it.

[sampleez]

what about the frame travel? did you look at the thread off yfztech, that tells how to measure the two travels? if so, are those methods right or not?

and on the wheel travel, i did measure at the spindle.

[TBD]

Measuring from the spindle is the only way I would measure wheel travel. If that is what you did then you did it correctly. I've never heard of measuring it from the bumper like you described. It allows for too many variables.

[sampleez]

what kinda of travel is yamaha using in the yfz specs? cause when i measured wheel travel with my houser aarms and stock shocks, i got about 7.5 inches of wheel travel. and someone with a fully stock yfz said he got about 6.5 inches of wheel travel.

i know that the frame travel wouldn't be really acurate because of the tire squishing down and other stuff, but i think it gives me a good idea of how much better my new stuff is. because before with my aarms and stock shocks, i got 10.5 frame travel, and now i have 2 inches more with the elkas

[TBD]

I just read the thread and I wouldn't suggest that method. Most shock manufactures do not use the same bumper so by measuring with the bumper on the shock you will not get accurate results. Also he mentions measuring from the outside edge of the rim. That way is definently in accurate. You would have to take into account the amount that the camber changes plus the outside of the tire is not centered. If you really want to know your true wheel travel then measure the length of your shock fully extended and write that measurement down. Now move the bumper so that you can measure from the bottom of the shock body to the bottom of the shock below the bumper. That would be your shaft travel. Now subtract the shaft travel from the extended length and that is your compressed length( metal to metal ). Now with your shock removed place something under your spindle like a jack or something. Measure from the center of the top shock mount to the center of the arm shock mount and place it at the length of your shock extended. Now jack up the arm until it reaches the lcompressed length of the shock measuring it in the same way as the extended measurement. I forgot to tell you to measure the spindle hieght at the extended shock length position and write that done. After jacking up the arm to the compressed length measure the spindle again. Subtract that from your first spindle measurement and you have your actual wheel travel.

[TBD]

Most manufactures measure wheel travel using some sort of design program. The problem with that is that it measures wheel travel on a arc. Meaning that when the wheel travels it's traveling on a radius and the arc of that line will be longer then measuring straight up and down. It also makes there suspension travel numbers look better. I hope this makes sense.

[sampleez]

here's a pic of how i checked the wheel travel. both the rear tires were on the floor, and the quad was pretty level, but not perfect.

sorry about the shop bein so messy :ermm:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1397/wheeltravel1ef.jpg