300ex Aftermarket A arms

[Sjorge450R]

I raced my first race on my 300 and relized that I need extended A arms. Now I already have Elka rec series shocks that are set for stock arms and I know that I am going to have to buy the other springs for them. Now my question is I race XC would +2 arms put me at the stock width of a 400ex. Also what brand should I look into. I already know that not many companys make them for the 300 so can someone help me out and tell me the companys that do make them.

Also if I were to get +2 LT arms would I have to get new shocks or would I still be able to use the ones I have now.

Thanks
Steve

[300exOH]

+2 would put you very close to the width of a stock 400ex. Burgard, LSR, ASR and others all make arms for the 300. You will have to have your shocks revalved/resprung for the +2's. If you went with LT's you would need a longer shock.

[300ex73]

Actually, several companies, such as Lonestar, Laegers, Burgard, and American Star, as well as a few others, make +2 length arms for the 300. On a budget, I'd recommend the Burgards, however the Laegers or Lonestar would prolly be my top pick. And yes, they should put you at roughly the width of a stock 400.

As far as the long travels, yes you would need new shocks. Unless of course you run one of those relocation brackets, and 400EX length shocks. Then you'd just simply remove the bracket and bolt the shocks to the frame.

I'd also take the time, and spend the money to have your shocks professionally set up for new arms. Respringing them is not going to get you the result you're looking for. The spring does help control the speed at which the shaft moves through it's travel. But, it does it in conjunction with the valving inside of the shock. Both work together to control the speed and the amount of travel of the shaft. Therefore, just putting on a new spring, with a higher spring rate is not going to give you the ride and resistance to bottoming you're looking for if running shocks set up for stock arms on +2 arms.

[Sjorge450R]

when i talked to Sebastion from Elka on the phone he said that all i would need to do is change the lenght of my main spring. I really dont want to have to get these revaled because i just bought them and they have 3 rides on them. But how about ASR im really starting to lean towards them.

[Sjorge450R]

i didnt mean to say length of my main spring I meant to say the stiffness of the spring. I just got done talking to Sebastion and he said that since the A arms are going to be standard travel he said the stiffer spring is all that I need. It looks like I'm going to be getting the ASR arms too, because they are just like all there others and everything is covered on them except for the heims and the bushings, with no questions asked.

[300exOH]

If the guys at Elka say the stiffer main spring will work you should be okay. I would be careful about dealing with ASR. I have caught a few posts saying guys have had trouble with slow shipping and also with warranty claims. Also the heim joints are slightly higher maintenence then a standard ball joint. I would check into the burgards. Just make sure you get them through a dealer and not directly from burgard. I think pappy sells them but I'm not positive. They have a new beefier balljoint design too which seems to be stronger than the old ones. The only downfall with the burgards is there is no warranty but I've heard of folks getting them replaced when they have broken.

[Cody_300ex]

I say go on ahead with +3's that will put you at about 46.5 inches, which is idea for xc, and more stabilty if you ever want to do a MX race. I would look into ASR, they seem to be getting better and better. Ive been hearing some things lately that would steer ME away from bugard. JMO

[Sjorge450R]

like I said, i think that i am leaning towards ASR. Can someone tell me what a heim joint is. Thats seems to be the only difference between Burgard and ASR.

[300exOH]

Here is a post on heim joints
http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=174565&highlight=heim+joint

[Cody_300ex]

Originally posted by Sjorge300EX
like I said, i think that i am leaning towards ASR. Can someone tell me what a heim joint is. Thats seems to be the only difference between Burgard and ASR.

Keep in mind that Walsh Racing (arguably the best non-protrax a-arms made) also uses heim joints.

[hardkoratvmxr]

Get GDH a-arms they are +3 longtravel and use a 400ex length shock without a relocator bracket

[Cody_300ex]

Originally posted by hardkoratvmxr
Get GDH a-arms they are +3 longtravel and use a 400ex length shock without a relocator bracket

I was going to reccomend that but since he already has std. travel elkas I'd say keep them and just go with a-arms instead of changing out the whole front end. Best economically wise. Plus you don't really need all that much extra travel for XC racing.

[300ex73]

I agree, that him getting standard travels would be better economically. But the LT's would be better for racing. It's not just about the amount of wheel travel. Long travel arms do add some wheel travel, but they're actually meant more for giving a better handling ride by utilizing a longer shock. The longer shock can be better tuned to the rider's needs than a standard travel setup.

I definitely wouldn't recommend getting the ASR frontend unless you have some good experience with setting up suspension. The fact that they use a Heim joint at each pivot point, makes them slightly more difficult to set up. If you want LT, get the GDH arms. They'll put you roughly 2 inches wider than a 400EX, as long as you make sure to run 4-1 offset rims. This would be a very ideal width.

To be honest, I would recommend going with the GDH LT setup, and getting a set of some kind of dual adjustable shocks. However, to be slightly more budget minded, the a-arms and a set of 450R stock front shocks would work very well. I'd recommend getting a triple rate ZPL respring kit for them. Then, look around for the 01 Raptor rear shock, and have it converted to ZPL as well. This would keep your ride height low, to provide good stability at high speed, and provide a very smooth ride.

Keep in mind, that if you do run a set of +3 arms, the overall width of the front end is going to be about 45.5" unloaded, with stock rims. Maybe slightly more. Therefore, you're going to be between 43.5" and 45" unloaded with 4-1 front rims. Getting an extended axle would be a good idea. Since the rear is about 43.5 inches stock, running it extended about 2 inches total would get the rear of the quad up to the width of the front.

All of these mods can be done fairly at a fairly reasonable cost. The only other thing I would recommend doing is to have the swingarm extended. Hope all that info helped in some way. Good luck.

[Cody_300ex]

Originally posted by 300ex73
I agree, that him getting standard travels would be better economically. But the LT's would be better for racing. It's not just about the amount of wheel travel. Long travel arms do add some wheel travel, but they're actually meant more for giving a better handling ride by utilizing a longer shock. The longer shock can be better tuned to the rider's needs than a standard travel setup.

I definitely wouldn't recommend getting the ASR frontend unless you have some good experience with setting up suspension. The fact that they use a Heim joint at each pivot point, makes them slightly more difficult to set up. If you want LT, get the GDH arms. They'll put you roughly 2 inches wider than a 400EX, as long as you make sure to run 4-1 offset rims. This would be a very ideal width.

To be honest, I would recommend going with the GDH LT setup, and getting a set of some kind of dual adjustable shocks. However, to be slightly more budget minded, the a-arms and a set of 450R stock front shocks would work very well. I'd recommend getting a triple rate ZPL respring kit for them. Then, look around for the 01 Raptor rear shock, and have it converted to ZPL as well. This would keep your ride height low, to provide good stability at high speed, and provide a very smooth ride.

Keep in mind, that if you do run a set of +3 arms, the overall width of the front end is going to be about 45.5" unloaded, with stock rims. Maybe slightly more. Therefore, you're going to be between 43.5" and 45" unloaded with 4-1 front rims. Getting an extended axle would be a good idea. Since the rear is about 43.5 inches stock, running it extended about 2 inches total would get the rear of the quad up to the width of the front.

All of these mods can be done fairly at a fairly reasonable cost. The only other thing I would recommend doing is to have the swingarm extended. Hope all that info helped in some way. Good luck.

450r shocks are a quater of an inch too long, and if you hit a jump real hard the ressivior will hit the top a-arm. I just bought those and used them so I could ride on them in the mean time and use them as a trading tool(got them for $150). But Stock Yfz shocks will work. Just as long as the shock is 16.25 inches long, It will fit, and work properly. But if has the money, and feels like spending it I'd deffinatly say GDH due to there price only being $550 dollars roughly 100 dollars less than ASR LT's and about 200 less than burguards. If you are for sure your going to get them, I would go on ahead and send john a 75 dollar deposit and have him start making the a-arms beacause he is swapped being a single parent, running all of there auctions on eBay, Constantly making trips to Indy buying used 300exs, ect.

[Sjorge450R]

i wanna keep my standerd lenghth shocks. Long travel is out of the question. (i just moved from a predator 90 to the 300ex and the suspension is pletny good enough for me.) I already have the raptor rear shock and was thinking about getting it converted. What do you mean that the ASR a arms are hard to set up? I would rather get them and try them because one, they come with the brake lines. and two they come with a lifetime you break it or bend it they replace it. Im going to be paying 479 and the burgards are 450. So unless I can get a set of used burgards im going to go with the ASR.

[300exOH]

Originally posted by Sjorge300EX
i wanna keep my standerd lenghth shocks. Long travel is out of the question. (i just moved from a predator 90 to the 300ex and the suspension is pletny good enough for me.) I already have the raptor rear shock and was thinking about getting it converted. What do you mean that the ASR a arms are hard to set up? I would rather get them and try them because one, they come with the brake lines. and two they come with a lifetime you break it or bend it they replace it. Im going to be paying 479 and the burgards are 450. So unless I can get a set of used burgards im going to go with the ASR.

The ASR's are hard to set up because they are caster adjustable. The burgards and some others only have adjustments for camber.

[Sjorge450R]

Is it hard to set them up, and since they have more adjustments wouldnt i be happier with them then burgard?

[300exOH]

Originally posted by Sjorge300EX
Is it hard to set them up, and since they have more adjustments wouldnt i be happier with them then burgard?

I wouldn't think they would be too bad but you'll have to find out what the specs should be for the caster. They may require a little more playing with the adjustments to get them to your preference. I chose the burgards because there aren't so many adjustments to deal with since they are the first aftermarket a arms I have owned. Otherwise once they are set up right the asr's should be just as good as the burgards.

[Sjorge450R]

Do the burgards come with extended brake lines? And you said that the ASR arms would be just AS good as the Burgards once they are set up. I would think that if they have more adjustments they would be better. Right?

[300exOH]

Originally posted by Sjorge300EX
Do the burgards come with extended brake lines? And you said that the ASR arms would be just AS good as the Burgards once they are set up. I would think that if they have more adjustments they would be better. Right?

No they don't come with extended brake lines but with +2's they aren't needed. You may need them if you go +3 though. I bought +2 stainless lines with mine and they are way too long for some reason. I really can't say whether the asr's would be better than burgards because I haven't tried them. With the burgards the caster is built into the a arms so I would think that the same amount of caster with the asr's should give the same result. More adjustments isn't always better especially if you can't get them set right. Personally I'm glad mine aren't caster adjustable. I had a hard enough time getting the camber and toe right with mine.

[300ex73]

I say the ASR's are difficult to setup, because of the fact that they use a heim joint at every pivot point. These can be tricky to set up, because you'll have to make sure that the forward placement of the lower balljoints is correct. Then you'll have to carefully set the caster, which could be difficult if the lower arms aren't properly adjusted. Then you'll need to adjust the camber, also difficult if the lower arms aren't properly adjusted. And if anyof the adjustments are incorrect, then it could affect the handling.

And I wouldn't buy the ASR's just because they're the lowest priced, and come with brakelines, and this and that. Sometimes, paying less for something isn't always better in the long run.

If you really want new a-arms, save some more money and get something that will really be worth spending the extra money for. I'd say if you don't wanna bother with selling the shocks you have now, then just get some Burgard +2's. But if you're wanting a front end that will really be good for racing, get the GDH setup, and get some shocks to go with it. You won't regret spending the extra money. To cut costs, you could even buy used aftermarket 400 or 250R shocks and have them rebuilt.

And Lil_300Ex_Kid, thanks for the info about the 450R shocks hitting the upper arms, that'll be useful info for anyone else who wanted to try the GDH arms with 450R stock shocks.