ds 450 shocks on a 400ex

[laxman1306]

i finally finished putting ds450 shocks on my 400ex...had to make a new upper mount but it rides amazing...and i got +2 arms for it...its a whole new beast now...pics will be soon

[chronicsmoke]

Interested in seeing how you did this, I know another member had done this as well.. Did you use the compressed/extended length of the shocks to design the new brackets?

Way to be innovative:macho

[dxcody]

Doesn't the DS come with dual rate fronts?

PLease share pics!

[laxman1306]

i will post pics tonight

[laxman1306]

all i did was jack the front of the quad up with the factory shocks still on it until the tires just lifted off the ground...then i removed the stock shocks and put the new ones on...now i had to cut the factory brackets off so the angle would work on the front shocks so all i did from there is make 2 mounts that ran across the front of the quad to the upper eyelets on the shocks then with what space there was still there if cut some more steel and welded it in to fill in the gap...its solid a hell i used 1/8 steel pretty strong..now doing it that was the quad sits about a inch lower but it gives the shocks about +3 inches of extension when the front lifts under acceleration and through the travel...rides like a dream..so much cheaper that any other aftermarket set up and performance is a major step up from stock

[laxman1306]

so the overall width of the mount is 11.5 in...the center distance between the shock holes is 10.5 and the offset from outer side and bottom side for the center of holes is .5 inches..and i used a .375 drill bit but had to shave the holes to 10mm for the correct bolt...then i bolted the 2 pieces together on the shocks and figured out the center offset on either side and made it level...(use the previous post for height set up) then tacked it in place then filled the gap in on the front and rear of the mounts with more steel plate..then just cut a piece for the top and weld that in place but only make that 10.5 inches long and center it then weld that in place..hopefully that will be easy to follow...but pics will explain it better

[dustin_j]

I would also like to see pictures; I'm glad it is working well for you. I would recommend verifying compressed length though; if your frame hits the ground before the shocks bottom that could be a painful problem.

To determine compressed shock length, measure eye to eye extended length of the shock, call this ExtLength. Now measure shaft travel (move the bumper up to measure metal to metal contact), call this ShaftTravel. CompressedLength = ExtLength - ShaftTravel. Now, remove the shocks find the frame height when the distance between the mounts is this length.

Ideally you would have 1.5" between the frame and the ground; if you have less you might consider an external spacer to prevent frame out, or changing the upper mount location. I hope this helps. It is cool to see people making their own modifications, I just want to make sure it works well for you.

[laxman1306]

well i took the springs off and let the bike drop down to the bump stops and the frame isnt on the ground..its close but not hitting

[dustin_j]

How far is the frame off the ground? The bump stops will compress a lot, that's why I prefer to ignore them when I measure. Did you take the spring off the rear shock also when you checked? We're all still waiting for pictures, haha :D

[laxman1306]

sorry about the pics im lazy i forgot to post them ill do it tonight...and no i didnt do anything with the rear, i had that one rebuilt last year never thought of changing that at all

[dustin_j]

Sorry, I was just asking if you took the rear spring off when you let the quad drop onto the bump stops. If you only removed front springs, that wouldn't really tell you where the quad bottoms out. That's all. I can relate on being lazy with posting pics, haha.

[fearlessfred]

wow

[laxman1306]

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0180_zpsa0fcce14.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0182_zps2ef19001.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0183_zpsb24e4071.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0184_zps9b34a81b.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0185_zps876e0088.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0186_zpsf9b4380f.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0189_zpsdf8b03ff.jpg http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x457/laxman1306/IMG_0190_zpse20314d4.jpg

dont mind some of the ****ty weld ive only got a cheap welder but im gunna grind them smooth and clean them up before powder coat

[russellsroost31]

thats pretty sick man

[laxman1306]

i hope other people try this its well worth it...i paid $150 shipped for the shocks..i had the steel i might have 2 hours into building the new mount...im gunna try to make a CAD drawing of the mount to make it easier for others to duplicate

[jman7290]

Pretty cool, why didn't you use a piece of angle for the top piece instead of welding the two together? Just saying!

[laxman1306]

its what i had sitting around.. money is tight so there was no point in buying more steel

[fearlessfred]

please dont take insult to any of my comments.first of all kudos to your efforts.I have done a lot of mods to my quads since 86 and they all didnt work out perfect. so far yours seems to be working well for you.For safty sake ,I think you should go a little further with your efforts.There are three things, I can see that could cause who ever is riding this bike to get hurt.the biggest one is that you need to check your ground clearance with all three shocks fully compressed without the bottomout bumpers ( I would use home made metal struts drilled to the center to center length of the fully compressed shocks) . You need to check all ball joints ,to see if there in a bind at full bump and full droop.If the ball joints bind at full bump,the extreem force from bottoming could rip them apart, the last thing is you need to do is check your shock angle at full bump( Full bump is shock fully bottomed and full droop is fully extended) If the shock angle at full bump is wrong,the shock can actully get softer in its last part of its travel.the correct angle at full bump would be if were to draw line thru the center of the lower a arm pivot bolt,and the center of the lower shock mount and then thru the centerline of the shock.This angle should be just shy of being a right angle or square ,if it goes past a right angle your shock will get softer in its last part of its travel.also keep in mind when checking ground clearance that your tires are part of your suspension and they compress .

[MtnEX]

please dont take insult to any of my comments.first of all kudos to your efforts.I have done a lot of mods to my quads since 86 and they all didnt work out perfect. so far yours seems to be working well for you.For safty sake ,I think you should go a little further with your efforts.There are three things, I can see that could cause who ever is riding this bike to get hurt.the biggest one is that you need to check your ground clearance with all three shocks fully compressed without the bottomout bumpers ( I would use home made metal struts drilled to the center to center length of the fully compressed shocks) . You need to check all ball joints ,to see if there in a bind at full bump and full droop.If the ball joints bind at full bump,the extreem force from bottoming could rip them apart, the last thing is you need to do is check your shock angle at full bump( Full bump is shock fully bottomed and full droop is fully extended) If the shock angle at full bump is wrong,the shock can actully get softer in its last part of its travel.the correct angle at full bump would be if were to draw line thru the center of the lower a arm pivot bolt,and the center of the lower shock mount and then thru the centerline of the shock.This angle should be just shy of being a right angle or square ,if it goes past a right angle your shock will get softer in its last part of its travel.also keep in mind when checking ground clearance that your tires are part of your suspension and they compress .

Thanks for sharing that info.
Where did you learn that by the way?

[fearlessfred]

Thanks for sharing that info.
Where did you learn that by the way?
from a build I did years ago

[HondaRacing83]

I would not be confortable hacking my frame up welding on it like that and trusting those welds taking hard impacts