How to make your own 300EX -> 400EX Shock Relocation Bracket

[blsnelling]

My 300EX had a shock relocation bracket welded on it when I bought it. I thought it was for 400EX shocks. Turns out it was just to lower the quad with the existing shocks. I cut it off and ground the frame clean. I then fabbed up my own bracket to mount the 400EX shocks I bought. It turned out really well.

I started by setting the front of the quad on a jackstand and then lifted the tires up slightly so as to not max out the ball joints at full droop. This is where I set up the bracket to mount the top of the new shocks. Now when I fully compress the 400EX shocks, I'm just a couple inches shy of bottoming out the frame. I'm getting max travel this way.

I started the bracket with 1/8" x 1 1/2" angle iron. You only need a piece less than 12" long. I drilled it so that my top shock eyes were positioned such that my shocks were barely far enough apart to clear the factory shock mounts. I then drilled a piece of 1/8" x 1 1/2" flat stock and bolted it on the back side of the shocks. This esentially created a c-channel. Where the flat stock met the angle iron, I beveled it at a 45* angle in order to get good penetration. There is not room to weld inside the channel with a MIG welder. I welded it together while the old shocks were bolted to it. That way I had perfect allignment of the holes. I then took 3/16" 1 1/4 flat stock and made the straps that end up bolting to the original shock mounts. The back one has to be oddly cut because of the shaped of the factory shock mount. I used the original top shock eye spacers to keep the factory mount from collapsing when bolting the new bracket on. The straps were drilled and bolted on to the orignal shock mounts and the new bracket was bolted to the new shocks which were mounted to the lower a-arm. As I mentioned above, the height of the wheels had already been adjusted for max travel. I then measure and remeasured to make sure things were even and clamped the straps to the new bracket. Only then did I weld the straps onto the new bracket. This way everything was in allignment and fit perfectly once welded up.

Once installed, I could no longer use the factory fender mount. I solved this by cutting off the ends of the mount that bolt to the fender, bolted them to the installed fender in order see the angles they needed to be ground and bent to, and then tack welded them on by reaching up under the fender. I then removed the fenders and finished the welding. All I had to do then was take everything back off, finish my welds, and paint it up. I painted the whole front end while I was at it. Maybe not a perfect paint job but it sure looks better than it did.

$30 of steel from Lowes and you've got yourself a $120 bracket! BTW, my springs are at max preload in these picks, so it's setting pretty high. Sure would be nice to have a set of triple rates!

Front


Back




Front strap.


Back strap cut to clear original mount.

[ZSNOW]

just so you know they put shocks on a angle because you get more travel out of a shock on a angle then a completely up right shock....

[blsnelling]

That certainly makes sense. I'm just not sure the relation to this. What are you saying?

[ZSNOW]

im just saying if you made a bracket that converted it to a long travel suspention set up you could sell it and probably make a lot of money off of it...altho its not what you were after its and idea...

[blsnelling]

That's cool. I just wasn't sure what you was saying. This bracket is really no different than the one you can buy for $120 from JB Racing, I think it is. I simply saved myself some cash. I certainly paid for it though. In sweat and time. I have probably 6 hours in this thing. I'm not a fabricator by trade.

[ZSNOW]

u wouldn't be able to tell by how it came out, it looks awesome

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by ZSNOW
just so you know they put shocks on a angle because you get more travel out of a shock on a angle then a completely up right shock....

Thats completely opposite of true. With the shocks moved further in you can design the arms to travel further, however in this case, it is more reverse engineering. The same principle still applies, but in his case, he is keeping the same wheel travel and losing shock travel.



Also do these shocks bottom out at all? I have a feeling that it will "bottom" by binding balljoints and tie rod ends, and not the shock like it should.

[blsnelling]

I believe it is the shocks bottoming out. I don't thing the ball joint angle is near enough to be the limiting factor. They're not at near the angle they are at full droop. The only thing I question is how soft the shocks seem to be, even with the spring preload maxed out. Of course I never stood on the bumper and jumped before the conversion either. I haven't had a chance to jump it yet. I did do a very high wheelie and then lock the rear brakes. They did not seem to bottom out. I'd like to see what a stock 400EX feels like.

[trompen542]

You could have called KOQ RACING, for 75.00 you could have bought one of their brackets, and saved all that time and sweat

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by blsnelling
I believe it is the shocks bottoming out. I don't thing the ball joint angle is near enough to be the limiting factor. They're not at near the angle they are at full droop. The only thing I question is how soft the shocks seem to be, even with the spring preload maxed out. Of course I never stood on the bumper and jumped before the conversion either. I haven't had a chance to jump it yet. I did do a very high wheelie and then lock the rear brakes. They did not seem to bottom out. I'd like to see what a stock 400EX feels like.

The lower shock mount should be moved out more towards the tire, this would put less leverage on the shock and wouldn't seem so soft. Also at full droop what is holding the arms? Is it the shock or the balljoints, its not good if its the balljoints which I believe it is...


This is why companies sell brackets...

Anyone can build the bracket, few know how to make it work correctly. I commend you for trying, but it does need fixin.