300ex with 400ex a-arms

[FBRacing76]

My friend has a 300ex and was thinking about putting 400ex a-arms on his 300ex. Would he be able to run 400ex shocks with 400ex a-arms on his 300ex? If anyone knows please let me know!

[JDiablo]

ya he would although he wood just have to relocate his top shock mount higher.pace

[bradley300]

its not a good idea, the geomtry is all wrong, search the topic.
a good set up is to use 300ex a-arms with the 400ex relocater and 400ex shocks

[jay's 300]

Originally posted by bradley300
its not a good idea, the geomtry is all wrong, search the topic.
a good set up is to use 300ex a-arms with the 400ex relocater and 400ex shocks

I had R a-arms, Raptor front shocks (bolt right up) and a relocater on my '02. It worked real good, alot better than the R shocks. Never tried 400 shocks though. It doesn't seem like your shock would be angled enough w/ the 300 a-arms. :confused:

[Nausty]

i'm pretty sure the 400ex and 250r front shocks are practically the same thing performance, height and travel wise too.

[jay's 300]

I figured they might be a little different considering difference in weight between the two bikes, although it isn't alot. Plus your common R shocks are usually 14-17 yrs old. As far as travel and height wise, I think they are the same. :D

[not2hi]

We did the conversion on our 300ex (400ex arms, tie rods, shocks, upper shock mount relocator)...all-in-all, it was WELL worth time and effort to do. Bike rides and handles way better than stock. Travel is greatly improved. I'd do it again in a heart beat. The price we paid for everything to do the conversion was less than a single new 300ex shock, so in our case, it was a no brainer.

Read thru the threads on here, and you get two opposite opinions on this...my 2 cents is this: if you are a racer and/or have the money to spend on aftermarket shocks, a-arms, etc...then go that way...if you are a casual rider, and don't want to drop 5 bills on it, then do the 400ex conversion.

[roostin_dale]

I have 400ex +2+1 A-arms and i just ordered some 400ex front TCS tripple rate shocks. They are setting them up for me so it will work ok.

[jay's 300]

That's gonna kick arse! Sounds like you'll a very sweet setup on that X! :D

[roostin_dale]

Thanks...Ive been spending so much money to get it ready for nationals i cant really buy anything for my cannodnale anymore:(

I got a raptor rear shock for it too...just came in the mail today.

[jay's 300]

I love my Raptor rear shock, it made a world of difference in landings. I can't wait to see it when you get it completed. It looked good before the rebuild! Sounds like it's gonna be a sick X! I know what ya mean about the money thing, I'm getting ready to buy a 400 carb hopefully w/ in the next month or so! :D

[bradley300]

Originally posted by jay's 300
I had R a-arms, Raptor front shocks (bolt right up) and a relocater on my '02. It worked real good, alot better than the R shocks. Never tried 400 shocks though. It doesn't seem like your shock would be angled enough w/ the 300 a-arms. :confused:

thequadshop has been testing this setup since the john penton gncc and it works better than you think. worked good enough to secure dave maccarol another sport class championship if that tell you anything.

roostin dale, you racing the sport class? look for me with red and black quadshop graphics on my 300 or blue and white ones on my blaster

[jay's 300]

I wasn't saying it wouldn't work, I just hadn't heard of anyone doing it this way. My way worked fine for me. :D

[bradley300]

i know, just sharing what i have seen and learned.

dave has +2 300ex a-arms with the reloacter and 16 ssd elka shocks (set up for this setup). he says it handles better than his 400ex that has dual rate axis on stock a-arms.

it does make the shocks more vertical, but it does'nt seem to be causing any harm.

you can do a similar set up using any type of 300ex a-arm (eve stock) and a relocater. you can even use stock 400ex shocks, tho the valving will be off, i think its liveable until you can get shocks made for the set up.

16inches is the same length as std travel 400ex shocks, so you can get on ebay and just buy 400ex aftermarket shocks and get them re valved

[jay's 300]

Thanks for the info! My friend that bought my '02 was wanting to go back w/ the stock arms and I'll let him know about this! :D

[rap169]

are raptor front shocks the same length as 400ex ones? are they softer , what makes them different form the 400 shocks?

[jay's 300]

I never ran the 400's but the Raptor shocks were alot better than the R shocks I tried at first. They were actually a tad shorter, but had a longer spring. They made the landings alot smoother, IMO. :D

[westcoastmxer]

im runnin blaster works w/rezzies on 400ex a-arms made 4 +2's.they seem too tall tho,if i get a relocater will it lower it a lil?

[4wheelboy]

yep

[redrunner]

Hey westcoastmxer, I just put some 14 1/2 " works triples on my 300. Talking with Santo we figured these to be Blaster length someone tried to modify and put Honda mount size ends. 400's are 16" or so. I had to fab up a relocator that was not as tall as the 400 conversion one. So what I am saying is if you get the 400 one it will sit about 2" too low for that geometry. You could buy the 400 and redrill the mounting holes but I had to mill out the back side of the main tube to clear the frame. Still not a big deal if you have access to some machinery. I could send you a sketch of the part I made.

[FBRacing76]

I got another question? Could you guys tell me if a 400ex would work on a 300ex. If so would it also make a 300ex 2" wider each side on the back like the a-arms? Thanks

[outlaw319]

I have a 96 300 EX i did this conversion on and its like night and day! I first tried using my old stock length L.S.R. 250 R arms, but it wouldn't work cuz the pitch was wrong (the tops of the tires wanted to lean out). So I ended up using stock 400 uppers and lower 250R(88-89) style arms. I added my old set of Works triples of my R,which i had to fabricate an upper shock mount. When adding an upper mount besides just raising it you also have to widen it out, I set it with the 250R geometry to give it the right ride height and pitch for the shocks. Took a little work but it was well worth it! Now i can handle diving into the sharp turns while woods racing with the 400's