+2 arms and 450r shocks

[bearair]

Finished putting my JD a-arms (+2) on the quad last night and aligned everything. Took it out for a ride this evening after work and WOW, what a difference. The arms work very well with the stock '07 450R shocks. If you have stock 450R shocks, I'd highly recommend changing the a-arms. Makes it into a different animal.

The front stays planted, rides well and the stiff feel with the stock a-arms is largely gone. Found out the best way to get through the woops now is to go faster. I went through a couple long straight trail sections at the top of 4th that I could barely control in 3rd a week ago.

Unfortunately, the front working so well now has highlighted the kicking problem from the rear. Just can't seem to adjust it out no matter what I do. Colby at C & D says it's from the shock compressing all the way, hitting it's internal valving limits and then rebounding undamped initially. It's even more pronounced now that I'm hitting things a lot faster. Standing through the stutter bumps and letting the rear kick under me allows me to go fast, but it's tiring.

Man, what a difference. If I was only trying to stay on a small budget, I'd leave it the way it is. I paid $225 for the used arms and stainless lines on ebay, $60 for new heavy duty tie rods from JD and $200 for the shocks. JD even sent me new stickers for the arms. But I'm still sending off all three shocks to C & D next week for the full package. Another $800 plus shipping and she should be ready to go! After that I'm just going to ride it. Well, maybe it will need a bumper, some Razrs and a dual gasser...


:D

[klutch]

Nice! What about an Axle? To match your front? Lol. And maybe a pipe, and some rear rims? LOL Nice and yeah that happened to me set up the front end then the rear was bucking i was like wth?! This never happenned before.

[bearair]

The front is just over 46 inches wide now, and the rear is 45 1/4". Only need an inch to make them match up. I may do an axle at some point, but it's quite rideable the way it is. I'm going riding with the wife Saturday afternoon and I'll pound it around some more. I'm going to have well over $2K in mods in just over thirty days so I'm going to have to slow down a bit....

[gcart2]

.. welcome to the club.. say bye bye to your savings:(

[Pipeless416]

when i put burgard +2s on with 450r shocks i was amazed at the difference. however, i got an axle a couple months later, and i have to say that it made a much bigger difference than going from a stock from to wider a arms as far as stability goes.

Hey are you sure you are measuring it right because stock 400ex is like 44-46 inches wide stock and with +2 a arms shouln't it be round like 48-50 depending on your wheels? Anyway post up some pics it sounds really nice.

[Gatekeeper]

SW Pa in the house^^^^^^^^^:macho
Just measured mine last nite at @ 42" wide- outside ft tires w/ stock rims.
tryin to decide on +1 or 2's. Was surprised that +2s would put me only around 46". Think Ive decided.:D

Wow I had no idea a 400ex was that narrow. Yea southwest PA is amazing

[NJ450rider]

Yup stock width is 42 inches. It is quite narrow in stock form. The rear is 44 inches stock. I got Hipers on my 400ex right now and the front is 43 inches(3+2 offset) and the rear is 45 inches(9X9 4+5 offset). I plan on doing +1 a arms to make the front 45 inches to match the rear. A lil more stability and still narrow to get through anything. I was even thinking about getting a cheap set of used LT a arms(if i can find em) and get the bare bones base model LT elka shocks. There only 695 bucks. Thats no rezzies, but ride height adjustable. Still better than stock 400ex shocks!! LOL

Yea but if you are going to spend the money on those 700 elkas you might as well find a good used set on ebay or something.

[bearair]

I think my original measurement was 41 1/2 at the tops and 41 3/4 at the bottom with the stock arms and wheels. My wife's 250ex is just over 38" wide. The +2 arms actually added about 4 1/2" to the width. Must be due to ball joint length.

I really noticed a difference trail riding yesterday. I didn't wear out after riding all afternoon. It really made a huge difference in the ride. I stick by my earlier analysis. The 450R shocks combined with the +2 arms are a great upgrade if you aren't going to revalve. My wife was worn out from all the riding we did yesterday, and I could have kept going for a lot longer. Wasn't that way 2 weeks ago on the last big trail ride we did. Keep in mind that I am about 245 lbs. with all my gear on though. The shocks were stiff for me until I put the a-arms on. I'm looking forward to the progressive springs and revalving.

That still doesn't seem right to me because Honda's website says Width 45.3 inches and my friend has a 300ex with either +2 or +2.5 400ex houser a arms and 4:1 wheels and it sits right at 50 inches.

[Gatekeeper]

The rear axle is the widest part at around 45"
The front width is narrower, maybe you're refering to advertised "overall width"

Yea that is just off honda's website it said width so I copied and pasted it but still the 300ex I referred to is right at 50 inches with +2 or 2.5 houser a arms and 4:1 wheels which makes it narrower then stock.

[bearair]

Just measured it again this evening after cleaning up from riding this weekend. Got to ride both days and put another 7 hours or so on the bikes this weekend. Even found a rattlesnake (dang near the hard way) when hiking around some rocks up in the hills South of here.

Put a straight edge up each tire in the rear to get a good width. The rear is the widest part of the stock quad. The measurement was 45 1/4" from outside edge of tire to outside edge of tire. The stock front was 3" narrower than the rear and the +2's make it slightly more than 1" wider than the rear. Measured the fronts at the top and the botttom. The top measurement is 46 1/4" and the lower is just under 47". Hard to get a good measurement at the bottom. I've got about 2 degrees of negative camber.

For trail and desert riding This is absolutely as wide as I would go. I think stockers or maybe +1's would be better for some of the technical or woods stuff. +2's are something that I can deal with, but I wouldn't expect someone without a bit of experience to deal well with the increased width in the tight stuff.

I LOVE the improved ride and handling qualities. I'll just deal with it in the woods and on the rough desert trails. Makes off camber stuff feel more confident and makes the wooped out sections nicer. All I need is about an inch to inch and a half on the rear to make it "square" with the front.

Did find that the 20 inch rear tires could definitely be swapped out for 22's to help out on the rutted trails. I've really used the swingarm skidplate a ton. Hate the big ruts as it's like putting on the brake when you scrub the center. Trails aren't wide enough to get far off center. May have to bias the setup of the quad towards XC riding.