450R A-arm/Shock problem

[HondaRacing23]

Does anyone have or know anyone that has or had Wicked products +2 a-arms on an 04-05 450R? He told me that these arms are set up for stock shocks. They are not. atleast not on my bike. If they were set up for stock shocks then why does my bike bottom out? If they are set up for stock shocks, when I sent then to Santo at Derisi Racing(great guy let me tell you) they should have been 10 times better. Well they werent. the leverage ratio on these arms is 2.5(laz at Gt Thunder Measured them or santo for me). so santo has to set the valving really stiff and put really stiff srpings on them just because this guy messed up on the arms on my bike or everyones. has anyone else incoounterd this problem? thank

[mattonln]

they are set up for stock shocks, but you do realize that, because these arms are 2 inches longer, there is more leverage on the shock itself, giving them a softer feel and ride. I have leagers + 2 regular travel and when i put them on with the stock shock, the ride was softer. its not just yours, its everybodys. you just need to stiffen the rebound and compression all the way up and it should solve your problem for the most part. you may also want to stiffen up your preload, although this gives the quad a higher ride height and center of gravity.

[HondaRacing23]

So putting dents in my a-arms from it hitting the ground is ok? I set the rebound and compression as hard as it gets and the ride heightas far as it goes and still the samething. i understand that it might be softer but it is too soft. i have dents on the bottom of my a-arms from them hitting the ground. I dont think that is supposed happen. WICKED PRODUCTS A-ARMS FOR THE 450R SUCK @SS. i had them on my 400ex that some scumbag stole and never had a problem with them thats why i got them for my R but i havnt been able to ride it for 4 months because of this problem. i am selling the arms and getting different ones. then maybe the shocks that SANTO did such a great job on will work the way they are supposed to. these arms suck. ill never buy from that guy again.

[440ex kid]

I dont understand how you have dents in the a-arms from hitting the ground. When you bottom out you frame hits the ground first, not the a-arms. If you have the compression and preload all the way up and you still bottom out then the problem is in the shocks, not the a-arms. You need to check and see if one of your shocks isnt blown.

[HondaRacing23]

the shocks cant be blowing. santo has rebulit them 4 times in 3 months.

[A A R O N]

They're right dude. The a-arms can't be the problem. +2 a-arms of any brand are going to increase the leverage ratio. The problem IS your shocks. PERIOD. And like 440ex kid said....theres no way your a-arms would hit the ground before the frame. They would make a triangle between the frame and the ground but would be completely suspended by the mounts and by the spindles. If you go buy another brand new set of a-arms you'll then find out that THEY are now the problem:rolleyes: Maybe your shocks have some sort of defect that rebuilding won't cure. And why in the world would they need rebuilding that often?

[400exrider707]

Post a pic of your setup so we can see what your talking about. First off I doubt that there is anything wrong with the arms. Its possible, but I doubt it. Dont badmouth the company if you dont have the correct setup:rolleyes: Secondly if there is in fact something wrong with your arms, IE manufacturers defects, or they sent you the wrong ones, then talk to wicked about it and Im sure they will set you up with the correct ones. IF at that point they try screwing you over, then you can bad mouth them all you want.:macho

[HondaRacing23]

the arms are straight across which is why the arms the frame everything is hitting the ground. if its not the a-arms then why have 3 sets of shocks do the exact same thing. thats 3 sets of stock shocks including the ones santo rebuilt.??:confused: the reason i got them rebuilt so many times is because santo is trying to get them set up so they arnt hitting the ground. as for bad mouthing the guy about the arms. he is being a total @ss to me. he swears to his life that its not his arms. but is they are set up for stock shocks then why isnt it working for me??????

[HondaRacing23]

.

[Ex_Rider43]

I dont know it may be the picture but your front end looks way too low to the ground. 400$ a-arms are worth 400$. The shocks are not the problem , a-arms are so sell those POS.

[HondaRacing23]

the lower a-arm mount is to close to the frame it needs to be closer to the tire

[A A R O N]

Originally posted by HondaRacing23
the lower a-arm mount is to close to the frame it needs to be closer to the tire

Even though moving the lower mount closer to the tire would result in less leverage on the shocks, it would lower the quad even more than it is now. It may just be me, but those shocks seem compressed just sitting there. They look real short.:confused:

[HondaRacing23]

yes u are right actually they are compressed. they look compressed just sitting there. i am going to get some works at steelers shocks brand new with rezzies and if that dont solve my problem im selling the bike for $20. i am sick and tired of spending money trying to get it right.

[250xridamatt]

Let me know how the works thing goes. I'm saving $20 just in case it doesnt work.

If Santo has been working with your shocks, and its still bottoming, I definately think its something with the arms. I wonder what would happen if you put some lt shocks on there.

[Phills450r]

maybe the a-arms are lt a-arms? i don't know if they would fit like that just trying to help ;)

[Ex_Rider43]

Your stock shocks reworked by santo are probably better than the works you want to buy.


put your stock arms back and run them until you can get some quality a-arms.

get rid of these cheap things.

[400exrider707]

Its too hard to tell from the photos or you descriptions what is really going on or what the culprit is here. I've never heard a bad thing about santos suspension work so I find it hard to believe that is the problem. Also your front end should be sitting fairly low like that, it looks right to me sitting there. They are supposed to be ZPS shocks right? Therefore they lower the ride height.

[400exrider707]

Could you post a pic from the side, because from the front it doesn't look like the ride height is setup correctly. I would really like to see a side pic.

[HondaRacing23]

here another pic. ill get one from the side in a few minutes and post it.

[HondaRacing23]

pic

[HondaRacing23]

maybe it will work this time

[mstrav1]

how did this end up? i have works triple rate stock rebuilds and am looking to buy these arms? is the front of that quad bent? you defiantely should be running long travels if you jump that high and hard!!

[Flodies400ex]

it looks liek his hole front end is ****ed lol and it is real bent or something or maybe its the camera but man those are a liitle to long but I think they are for the LT maybe because they are a little to long lol

[Phills450r]

nothing is wrong with the frame... its his front bumper that is bent. Try adjusting your ride height on the shocks. My friend just got his shocks revalved from C&D and thats how it looked w/ iShock +2 a-arms and Colby said to adjust the ride height.

Give it a shot :)

[bwamos]

Originally posted by HondaRacing23
they are set up for stock shocks then why isnt it working for me??????

They are setup for stock "length" shocks. Not stock springs/valving. +2's are going to requre an heavier spring and valving.

Which, you dont have stock springs and valving. You have a dual rate setup designed for extra sag on there.

Adjust the ride height like the others said.

[Jersey450R]

something looks wickedly wrong there, lol!


jk man, looks like you may need a progressive spring rather than a ssd or dual rate set up. take the shocks off and measure them eye to eye and lets go from there.

[400exrider707]

He hasn't posted on this thread in over two months. He probably either got it right or rolled it off a cliff at this point. Lets see if he comes back to let us know how it came out. I still never got a side picture.

[HondaRacing23]

Well here is what I did. I took the "JUNK" wicked product a arms off and cut them in half and threw them in the trash. No lie... I will never buy anything from that guy. He swore uo and down that it was not the arms...IT was the shocks. Santo Derisi knows what the hell he is talking about. I would never let anyone but santo do my shocks. If it was the shocks then wouldnt the HOUSER +2 arms i have on there now be doing the samething? Yes they probly would be. But THe answer is that the houser arms fixed my problem. Now I have to send my shocks back to santo and get them set up like we had them the first time because they are way to stiff now,since we have the stiffest spring on them to make them work for "junk wicked" a-arms.So when i send them to santo and get them back to normal everything will be titties. Thanks for all your help everyone for trying to get this figured out but I think we knew the whole time it was the a-arms and not the shocks. Heres a pic!

[Toadz400]

Weird. I don't understand what could've been so wrong with the a-arms causing the valving/spring weight to be off so much. Guess that company doesn't know how to make arms for 450R's. I know people who have had good luck with them on different quads.

[mstrav1]

can you post a front view of your bike now so we can compare the diff arms?

thanks, matt

[HondaRacing23]

Yea i will take a pic tonight and post it.... The reason i was having so many problems I think was is that if you notice the between the two sets of arms...The lower wicked arms have a bend i them by the ball joint....and the housers dont. As for your saying that u kow people that have had goodluck with the arms on other quads,i will agree on that. I had those arms on my 400ex that got stolen and loved them that why i got them for the 450r,but he dont kow how to make them or tried to spiff them up or something and messed up big time. Im sure im not the only one that has had this problem. Ill posta pic tonight...

[400exrider707]

haha I finally got the side pic I needed, but its already been corrected....now I wanna see a front pic to compar. haha glad you got everything worked out on it, although it did cost you an entire set of extra arms.