lowered my 400

[glamiskid395]

so yesterday i was off school and decided to find a way to lower the front of my bike to make it match the rear better.

i found some 1/4 plates that were from my dads 250 when he widened it with diamondjcustoms. i put those on the bottom shock mount and used the outer hole for the shock and the middle hole goes through the stock shock mount and the inner hole is just a bolt to hold it tight.
i set the shock preload at the lowest setting. it sags about an inch now. as before it would not sag at all, no matter what setting.
i dont know how much it lowered it altogether but you should be able to tell my the picture.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/glamiskid395/my%20400ex/400expolishproject004.jpg

now the rear sits higher than the front.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/glamiskid395/my%20400ex/400expolishproject005.jpg

[honda8&3]

Not bad dude. Looks pretty cool and very clean. Unique and original design:cool:

[eastside 400]

that plates gonna rotate, with only one bolt holding a plate on, nothing is stopping it from moving, if u welded a bracket from the arm to the last hole then i wouldnt move.

cool little trick but thre are some pretty serious downsides. Your front always has to be higher than the rear unless your strictly drag racing. Also with the preload setting as low as it can go you are going to bottom out on a little jump unless you weigh under 80lbs

[Moto49X]

Thats stupid. For one, once you apply a little pressure that bracket will NOT hold in place. Second, your front end is SUPPOSED to be higher than the rear! Did you do this just because you wanted it to look better? :rolleyes:

[glamiskid395]

for one its not gonna rotate, these were on my dads 250 and they NEVER moved, after i put them on mine i was workin the suspension real good and they never budged!

the rear only sits higher than the front because the preload is set wrong on the rear shock, i need to reset it.

also might be getting a new longer swingarm (+2) for x-mas so that will change the height too.

[440challenger]

I did the same to my g/f's 400.
I fabbed plates from 1/4 steel and welded them to the a arms.

[glamiskid395]

Originally posted by 440challenger
I did the same to my g/f's 400.
I fabbed plates from 1/4 steel and welded them to the a arms.

howd it sit? front still higher than rear?

[440challenger]

fronts higher. In the pic it has 22's on the front but now i have 21's on it and 20's in the back. front is still higher. I took most of the preload off the back shock. You can bolt a 450 shock in and it will drop the rear a good 2 inches

[glamiskid395]

is the spring softer is that how it lowers it? or is the shock actually shorter?

[440challenger]

shock shorter

[glamiskid395]

ok thanks
i got a friends 450 in my trailer and i might borrow his rear shock and try it out for the new years trip to glamis

[glamiskid395]

Originally posted by Moto49X
Thats stupid. For one, once you apply a little pressure that bracket will NOT hold in place. Second, your front end is SUPPOSED to be higher than the rear! Did you do this just because you wanted it to look better? :rolleyes:

i would like to know why the front is SUPPOSED to be higher than the rear?
is this a fact or are you just saying this because its what other people have said?

["THE ShoP"]

its a fact, look in any suspension manual,do a little search on it


with you sitting on the quad the front should be 1/4 - 3/4 of an inch higher than the rear..

[XXXRACER165]

I saw a decked out mx 440EX one time with 19's on the front and 22's on the back. It worked fine.

[slow96hater]

the bike will jump, and handle better with the front end a little bit higher then the rear.

[xc_251]

what kind of riding do you do? if its trail riding you want the front end higher to give you a little more ground clearance for going over rocks and such, if you ride flat track or do nothing but flat track yea you might want the front end lower for a lower center or gravity. but....trust me, at glamis, when you go for a big jump, you will blow through the suspension, bottom out, bend those brackets, and start to cry as you watch your quad cartwheel down a hill, you will think to yourself, man i sure wish i wouldnt have done that. but seriously, thats a horrible idea for the dunes, put it back to the way it was stiffen your front shocks back up and have fun at glamis:)

[glamiskid395]

ok thanks for the answers guys.
my bike is up on the rack in the trailer so i can change it now, so i'll change it when im out at glamis this friday

[glamiskid395]

well it handled different, alot stiffer even at the hardest setting.
i was still jumping but with hard landings, and it wasnt cuz it bottemed out. i had my buddy watch and it never bottomed out.

so i took the shocks and brackets off and put on so 450r shocks that i got for FREE.
it was a little stiffer than stock but had softer landings!
i was still able to bottom them out on a jump with 5+ ft. of air.
im gonna get them revalved if my dad lets me, cuz they leek a little.