Front shocks

[trax818]

I am putting the 300ex front end (Diamond J Customs)on my son's trx90. He is racing flat track right now and will be racing motocross in the summer. I saw on ebay someone selling 13 inch harley shocks and claiming that they fit and work just fine. Has anyone tried it, did they bolt right up, did they have to be modified and how was the ride? (right now I am finding the Harley shocks are going for a lot less than the stock 300ex shocks) Thanks for all input.

[COLTBNME]

Are you putting the 300 ex dual a-arm kit with disc brakes?

I have a 2001 TRX with the single a-arm widening kit, as well as 300 ex shocks.

We got it from Diamond J, in 2006.

Let me know if you have the same kit, before I offer an opinion.

Thanks,
Donna Kellum
Proud Mom of Colton Kellum #04
Hetrick 2007 TRX125

[trax818]

I am putting both the upper and lower a arms on it off of a 300ex.

[COLTBNME]

We only used the widening kit for the origanal single a-arms on our TRX90. I have the set of 300 ex shocks we used.

To be honest they have a little more travel, however they are as stiff as the stock shocks. If you are going to run Motocross you may want to consider softer shocks

My son weighs 72 pounds, and they were way to stiff.

Proud Mom of Colton Kellum#04
Hetrick Racing TRX125

[trax818]

Thanks for the input, I think I will try another option to soften up the ride.

[blazen582]

Have you already bought the kit from (Diamond J Customs)?

I bought the same kit and I am taking it off and going with KOQ's a-arms. If you have not bought the kit yet let me know I will sell you mine VERY cheap!! I did not like it..

Davidkeys1@gmail.com

[trax818]

Thanks for the offer, I already have the kit. Did you have any trouble getting it set up on the bike? We are having trouble figuring out why the stock 300ex tie-rods are too short, we are obviously doing something wrong have not figured it outr yet. Any advice? Thanks

[blazen582]

The 300 are to short I had to use 400 ex..

[trax818]

Thanks for the help again! I was lucky a local dealer had the 400ex tie rods in stock. I am a little diappointed with the Diamond J front end. Their instructions that I downloaded off their web site were very vague and we had trouble figuring it out. I will say though that when I contacted them about it they gave us more detailed instructions and a better set of plans. This weekend is the first race(flat track) and we will see how the front end does.

[06yfz450mxer]

I was woundering how u all turned out with the kit looking at gettin for my sons 90 ?? Please lte me know joejoeboxer72@yahoo.com Thaks Joe

[trax818]

The front end turned out pretty good. My son has 2 races on the front end and I have checked the bolts - nothing has come loose and he loves the way it handles. I am going to have the brackets welded on before the motocross series starts, just as a piece of mind thing. I attached a pic of him racing.

[bnesbitt2]

we just ran my sons trx 90 with the diamond j setup last weekend and he ran third out of 8 with a bone stock motor.the u-clamp setup seems kind of hokey but it seemed to hold up ok,but i agree about welding it in place.

[bnesbitt2]

what shocks are those in the picture ?

[jmccary]

How much weight does it add to the front end? I've got the kit and parts but have not put it on yet. It seems like its' going to be an awful heavy front end on such a small bike.

[bnesbitt2]

I have a stock one and one with the kit on it ,when i get a chance i will weigh them and let you know.it doesnt seem too much heavier but hard to tell.Im sure the kids on quad kit is lighter,just depends on what you want to spend.

[trax818]

The shocks are off of an exteme 70 quad. They fit pretty good, except the ends were a little to narrow. I had to shim the shock brackets, both top and bottom.

[bnesbitt2]

If you are going to do any jumping you will need to weld the upper shock mounting brackets in place.After our second race we noticed the cross bracket was bent pretty bad.after we straightened it and welded the brackets in place it was fine.

[trax818]

Thanks for the heads up! Did you re-enforce any other parts on the front end? I am getting ready to have it welded up in a couple of weeks and was curious if anything needed to be added.

[bnesbitt2]

I just welded everything in place and seems to be ok,but I did use one long bolt instead of two seperate ones on the upper a-arms,and then put a small pipe over the bolt between the arms and tightened it all down.seems much better than using seperate bolts.

[jmccary]

Did you any issues with the shocks clearing that pipe? When I try to use the long bolts and pipe that covers them, the clearance between the shocks is too small.

[bnesbitt2]

It was close but mine did clear,we are running the 300 ex shocks. if you are using something else maybe thats the problem.I havent had a chance to weigh it yet but will post when i do.

[jmccary]

Has anyone had issues with the inner tie rod ends touching each other? Mine are slightly touching and I am using the 300ex/400ex tie rods. Has anybody seen this happen on their diamond J kit?

[Spider 171]

Be carful with this design, I have seen it crush the frame tubes! Now what to do to fix? Replace frame or try to cut out the old tubes and replace them? Any Ideas.