Houser A-Arms / Potential Problem

[DoctorRags]

Was wondering how many people on this board run houser a-arms. I have a set of +1" long travel with 16" elkas. So far, I like the setup, but my friend has had problems with the ball joints breaking. Apparently, houser has gone to a newer, one piece, ball joint on their new a-arms, but doesn't want to help out the people who have the older two-piece setup (i think they are glue together somehow, not sure the details). Was wondering if anyone else has a similar problem with ball joints breaking on their a-arms.

My buddy had his a-arms for one race and broke a ball joint...In total, he has broken five of them.

[Chef]

My ball joints have been fine.

[RiPPiNiTuP7]

i remember hearing about houser balljoints breaking before on the boards...

if your friend broke 5 balljoints so quickly there is a problem with his shocks not the a arms. There was this same type of thread before titled " Thanks Elka, Whats the deal Houser" where a kid kept breaking balljoints. The problem was in the shocks not the a arms. The reason being because the shocks had to short of a compressed shock length which kept breaking the ball joints. ball joints have only a limited amount of travel and will break constantly if the shock builder surpasses those limits. the shock builder has to take into consideration the amount of travel on the balljoints when they build the shocks and that is why you have to tell them what a arms you have. is he breaking upper or lower ball joints. if its the upper, it is pretty much 100% the shocks because they dont take much abuse from jumping like a lower balljoint does, and the lower ball joint should be screwed in all the way because of the abuse it takes from jumping. also i have had no problems with my houser a arms yet, but i do have the newstyle with the one piece balljoints. :D :cool:

http://www.exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?s=&postid=510531

Don't long travel a-arms require 19 inch shocks???


I've run houser a-arms for 2 years and I"m still on the original ball joints.


Also are you braking upper or lower ball joints??? Lower ball joints need to be screwed all the way in..


we need more info ta help ya...:)

[Admin]

What offset are the front wheels on the quad that keeps breaking the Houser Balljoints?

It sounds like they are 2x3 or 1x4?

[DoctorRags]

To answer a few of the questions that have been asked. Some of you may already know these answers. Also, correct me if I'm wrong.

Houser makes a +1" regular and LT a-arm. Don't know if there is a big difference except about $300. they are both in 16" shock. They also make a true long travel +1" w/ a 19" shock.

I think my friend has broken both upper and lowers. He also rides XC, so jumping is not the problem, but I understand what you are saying.

He also bought the shocks through Houser, which meant they ordered them from Elka. I would think that Houser would know how to tell Elka to setup the shocks for their a-arms. However, that may be the problem.

Also, both of us are running a +1" a-arm and 4+1 offset wheels. I think that stock wheels are 3+2, so the 4+1 moves the wheel in 1" returning the front to stock width. Neither of us are running wheels offset out.

Anyways, thanks for all the info. I will be checking my bike tomorrow night. Hopefully nothing is broken. It's been sitting in the trailer since our District 7 race last weekend.

[QuadTrix6]

just call houser ;)

[Pappy]

like it or not houser does have an issue with thier LT set up. im sure contacting them will get ya squared away....

now....is it the actual ball joint that is broke or the retaining clip? the majority of problems ive seen have been the retaining clips breaking

[DoctorRags]

I have not called Houser yet, but my friend has. Houser wants to charge him the full price of replacing the ball joints at $50 a piece. That is coming from John Houser himself. There are a total of three of us that have bought houser because we thought the customer service would be good, but so far my friend is not impressed. I have not dealt with houser yet, so this is not my opinion.

Hey Pappy, the friend who broke his ball joints is my buddy Brian. He has talked to you about powder coating his frame, and I think you may have one of his airboxes right now. Anyways, he had to buy to lower ball joints for $50/each and then pay to have them overnighted to have his bike running for this weekend. As far as I know, Houser didn't do him any favors.

[DoctorRags]

Not sure whether it's the ball joint or the retaining clip???

[Pappy]

yeah i did brians airbox today...


if houser isnt standing behind the ball joints and if its a reoccuring problem id ditch them and get another companies components that wont leave ya high and dry:ermm:

but.....lets make sure its a problem and not suspension or set up thats causing the breakage before we blame it all on houser. ill chat with brian this week when i see him:)