preload? whats it do?

[Mr_Bub400ex]

on the stock 400 shocks, it comes with the preload set high. why? doesnt preload only control the bikes height? i understood it didnt do anything to resist bottoming or anything. tell me all about it:D

[speedy400]

all I know is preload is when your coming up to a jump, you squat down a little and then you push off on the jump,(make sure you dont actually jump off:devil ) this prosses pushes down the shocks and then kind of springs you up when you go off the jump.kinda confuzing, but thats the best I can do- darren

[Mr_Bub400ex]

not that preload:rolleyes: the one on the shocks...

yea pre load does not affect botoming

[OutlawEX]

Im lost:rolleyes:

[440ex kid]

When you adjust the preload it compresses the spring more or less. It makes the shock harder or softer. If you have lots of preload then you can take bigger hits with out bottoming, but its alot ruffer on small bumps. I hope I explained it clear enough.

[Rip_Tear]

The front preload is set high to help resist you endo'ing your quad. The preload makes the springs compress (which may make your quad ride higher) and when the front end hits something it doesnt want to nose dive. I hope that helped :D

[lex luger]

i know know zero preload isnt a good thing, or atleast on a front end heavy banshee :eek2: got only like 4 feet of air doing 65mph, and the front bumper caught the sand, luckily it was just sand and just barly caught, i might be in the hospital :scary:

[toomeyshee87]

lex luger,
so your saying that my pep zps shocks wont work good on my banshee?
:huh

[muff]

i think the reason lex said that is cause he didnt have a zps rear so his front was nice and low but his rear was still stickin up there which made him endo,,,, if he had a good rear shock that prolly wouldnt have happened.... just cause you crash dont blame it on the shocks, i could flip over forwards with stock shocks if i wanted....the shocks also could have not been built correctly for you


setting the preload does NOT stop you from bottoming out, just look at the shock, its still going to go as far as it did, preload compresses the shock a little bit so it'll be a little stiffer when hitting small stuff but if you were bottoming before when jumping you still will be

[northeast400]

I checked with a dealer and they said preload or sag is to adjust the suspension for rider weight, 3.2 inches in the rear and 2.8 inches in the front when sitting on the Ex, they say this should give a good place to start at when adjusting suspension