A-arm question....

[LERaptor660R]

I'm lookin to buy some a-arm's soon for my raptor.
I found some A-arm's that come in ( 3", 1" ) ( 3", 2" ) ( 3", 3" ).
I was woundering since I will be getting a +2 swing arm to keep the front end down. but the raptor jump's a little heave in the back so I was thinking mabye the +3 wide and +3 forward A-arm's would help level it out?
How would they effec the handling?
Also I'm setting it up for MX.
Thank's

[Str8Wicked]

thats a long bike.


I think it is harder to turn with a stretched quad from what I heard....


I dunno thou...


curious to see what everyone else posts myself..

[LERaptor660R]

Being longer might be a little harder to turn but would that be better than not being able to keep the front end down out of the corner's?
I mean I don't know a whole lot about MX. Which is why I'm posting here.

[Str8Wicked]

Not sure..


I think for moto you don't want it that long. I know for drags you do... Lets see what everyone else says...

+3 forward..:huh I'd go +3 wide and maybe +1 forward..I've never even heard of +3 forward arms..I wouldn't go no farther forward than +1 or will probaby handle likea turd..:eek:

[RiPPiNiTuP7]

If I was in your shoes I will get +3+1's....

[MX26]

+3+1. The shorter your quad is, the sharper it will turn. Also, on the swingarm.. I'd probably just go with a +1 if you can.

[LERaptor660R]

Thank's for the info guess I'll get +3 +1 forward. About the swing arm think I should just get the +1 even tho the 686 kit I will be getting dyno'd at just over 71HP at FSW's?

[MX26]

71 HP is a waste on an MX track

[Str8Wicked]

LERaptor660R are you the one who was at FSW from Texas who owns the firework stand...

been trying to remember who that was cause we had a great time on Sat. night when he brought us those boxes of fireworks

[airheadedduner]

He's from FL I believe.

+3+1 a-arms with +1 swingarm your rap would handle way better.

[Str8Wicked]

I forgot to look at his sig..... lol... woops...

[LERaptor660R]

No I wasn't at FSW:( .

[QuadTrix6]

Originally posted by LERaptor660R
I'm lookin to buy some a-arm's soon for my raptor.
I found some A-arm's that come in ( 3", 1" ) ( 3", 2" ) ( 3", 3" ).
I was woundering since I will be getting a +2 swing arm to keep the front end down. but the raptor jump's a little heave in the back so I was thinking mabye the +3 wide and +3 forward A-arm's would help level it out?
How would they effec the handling?
Also I'm setting it up for MX.
Thank's

i would go with a +1 swingarm and +3,+1 a arms and longer and its gonna handle like an ice cream truck :huh

[400grl]

Yeah - that much power is a waste on MX....maybe XC if you can get onto any long straight stretches.....and I agree - no more than +1 on either end!

[forum]

i tend to disagree with some of you. There no such thing as wasted power as long as it comes on smooth. wich it should. Are you guys scared?? j/k but yea. don't go any longer then +1 on the front and back.

The only problem i can see with having that much power is the loss of reliability wich the raptor never had to begin with. well compared to a stock ex. But once the engine is done up that much its all the same. Make sure you maintain the things very often and everything will be peachy

[400grl]

The reason I say it's a waste of power I guess is because I think of our tracks out here.....rarely do you get into 5th or 6th gears. If the power gains are in the bottom end, then they would be useful, but I always think of add-ons as being in the mid-top range (I'm not saying that's right, that's just what I always think of). The Raptor has so much torque and bottom end as it is......it just seems that if he wants the extra speed for MX that it's not really necessary. Plus, if you hit the throttle accidentally in a set of whoops, it's gonna be like a rocket ship....you'd land in the pits somewhere!;) :D I'd suggest taking that money and gussetting your frame everywhere - you are gonna need it! Get a really nice aftermarket set of sprockets, too. And chain......Raptors have so much power they just tend to tear everything that's on them apart!

:D

[MX26]

Originally posted by Str8Wicked
LERaptor660R are you the one who was at FSW from Texas who owns the firework stand...

been trying to remember who that was cause we had a great time on Sat. night when he brought us those boxes of fireworks

Nah, that's Mark. He lives about 3 hours from me. Super nice guy. Goes by 14mins over at ATVConnection. http://www.14mins.com

[raptor_02]

yea a longer swingarm will help a raptor big time. Racing MX on one of those things is like wrestleing your quad instead of racing it. I think the Raptor is made to short to begin with, just my opinion. But i don't think you can never have too much power. I have been in several situations where I don't have enough power to clear a jump. The extra power would be a big help. But with all that power you better be in great shape because I was just racing a stock raptor and it was all i could do to keep the front end down everywhere on the track. Especially coming out of corners. You shoot the gas to it and the raptor just wants to ride a wheelie instead of going forward.

[LERaptor660R]

Originally posted by raptor_02
yea a longer swingarm will help a raptor big time. Racing MX on one of those things is like wrestleing your quad instead of racing it. I think the Raptor is made to short to begin with, just my opinion. But i don't think you can never have too much power. I have been in several situations where I don't have enough power to clear a jump. The extra power would be a big help. But with all that power you better be in great shape because I was just racing a stock raptor and it was all i could do to keep the front end down everywhere on the track. Especially coming out of corners. You shoot the gas to it and the raptor just wants to ride a wheelie instead of going forward.


So how long of a swing arm would you say?

[boogiechile]

you need to consider the weight balance from frt to rear when making these decisions. adding length to the frt will shift the balance to the rear and adding length to the swing arm will shift weight to the frt. Now traction must be considered but so should handling. I am not at all familiar with the Rap and its balance or even how much swing arm it needs to help control the wheelying.

What I would do is get a bathroom scale and check the weight balance. you can use one scale and three blocks that are the same height as the scale or you can use 4 scales. Put the scales and blocks under each wheel and take the measurements. Move the scale around to all wheels if using one scale. measure while you are standing on the pegs straight up as possible while holding the bars also. This should be about 50/50 frt to rear to a little rear biased. you should be able to shift your body back and fourth to change the heavy end. Lean back or sit on seat to shift balance to rear heavy and lean forward to shift balance to frt heavy. You should have more abilty to shift weight to the rear than the frt. This is good for handling. Of course you may need more frt to keep the frt down on the high torque Raptor. Anyway if it is too rear heavy extending the swing arm more than the frt will help balance it. If it is frt heavy you will probably want to extend the frt. If it has a good balance then if you extend the swing arm you also need to extend the frt with + forward a arms.

Now you are faced with a good balance for handling vs controling the power. Now the issue of too much power has been raised here. If you have so much power and you want to use it all coming out of every corner and you build a quad that is so frt heavy that it can take it without lifting the frt you will most likely spin some and definately not handle as good as you should. Then the other guy will out handle you and pass you. You could then say you had to much power. Now you can argue that I don't have to use all that power but you will probably nail it coming out of the corners no matter what.

Ideally you should be able to shift your weight to control traction and wheelying as well as shift to the good balance point.

Then the total length comes into play, to long and it don't turn good, too short and it wants to swap ends.

I would find someone with much experience with the Raptor on this issue after taking some measurements yourself. Listen to their advice and see if it makes sense. I would not go with what a bunch of people on here say unless they have a Raptor and have tried this stuff. No more than 1 inch may be right for there honda but that is not what you have.

Not flaming anyone that responded because this is a great forum and most people on here really want to help everyone else.

[ieatglue]

Originally posted by LERaptor660R
I'm lookin to buy some a-arm's soon for my raptor.
I found some A-arm's that come in ( 3", 1" ) ( 3", 2" ) ( 3", 3" ).
I was woundering since I will be getting a +2 swing arm to keep the front end down. but the raptor jump's a little heave in the back so I was thinking mabye the +3 wide and +3 forward A-arm's would help level it out?
How would they effec the handling?
Also I'm setting it up for MX.
Thank's


i have +3+1 houser long travel a arms with elka quad rate shocks, steel braided brake lines, elka rear dual rate shock, and dominator axle for sale for a raptor. everything is like new. it was only used one race and i sold the raptor to go back to a 250r. whole package for $2400 shipped. email me if interested robert_s8@hotmail.com

[ieatglue]

more

[ieatglue]

axle

[Woz]

Sponge bob has some good stuff for you. Maybe you guys can work a deal.

Boogiechile also has some great advice on this set-up.

Here's my recommendation.

+3 wide good.
NO more than +1 forward.

If you're running on fast outdoor tracks, then go +3/+1 on the a-arms, and +1 on the swing-arm.

If you're running on tight technical MX tracks, Go +3/+0 on the a-arms, and +0 on the swing-arm.

Too much horsepower? I won't say much about that, but I will say that useable power is much better than just "more power".

And a bit about long swing-arms. I understand wanting to keep the front end on the ground, but the longer the swing-arm gets, you will also get less traction. One thing you will notice is the ATV will want to "spin out" when you are hard on the gas in the corners.

If you have the time, and access to the bikes, I always recommend riding someone else's bike who has the mods your thinking about before spending the big cash. good luck,

[Sparks425Ex]

+3+1 or +3+0 and +1 on the swing arm..


There is no such thing as to much power but there isa thing called unusable power...(Which alot comes with alot of Power)