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Suspension Setup

How are you guys setting your zx suspensions up for boondocking? I've got a 162 with the skid setback to factory 03' 159 skid and used a big wheel kit to compensate for the extra 3 inches. I also have the sway-bar out of it and the factory 37" ski stance and pilot 6.9 Rev ski's on it.

I would love to upgrade the skid, but college has done everything but suck my wallet dry, so any secrets you guys have to make the stock suspension work the best?

p.s.-i'm a big guy, 6'4" and around 275 riding weight.

Thanks for the help guys! Just trying to do a little bench tuning before the snow flies!
 
for boon docking i use the sidehiller 2 skis off the newer summits like the 04/05

just because they mount on the outside of the ski. so it essentially narrows your stance again.

an aftermarket skid isnt going to help you to much with boondocking. usually you notice them with climbing with the way it transfers the power to the ground.
 
hey motley i'm still looking for part #'s for those 159" rails:confused:(they should be on a tag inside the rails where the front arm attaches,if it's still there cause my 151's wasn't) ... did ya get any pics of your set up yet? :Dthx cya
 
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What Brew said. I set up my 01 (with 156) so the limiters were juuuust snug with the skid flat on the garage floor, front skid spring set soft, heavy rear springs, and 1" drop brackets.
 
I have an 02 renegade, does anyone know if these settings will work on a 136"? I do not ride many trail and i am trying to keep up with my buddies off trail, up hills, thru the deep, this thing does not seem to be as great as others have made it out to be. My track is 136x15x2, and im also running 04 summit ski's. Any help would be great.
 
FWIW, I've got an 03 Summit 700, 144" track.

I did what was described above last year - front spring full soft/minimal preload, rears firm, limiters on the last hole (loosest), then adjusted knob until there was a touch of tension on the limiters.

It was...ok. It trenched a lot, but I figured that was a lot more to do with me than the setup, so I left it alone.

This summer, I thought about it more and decided to try two changes.

1 - Simmons Gen2 skis
2 - more spring preload.

I'm ~300# on the sled, and was bottoming the front shock out on whoops. I figured more preload would help there, and as long as things did not get _worse_, I'd be happier not bottoming out all the time (it was bad).

I've only ridden 3 days so far, and not one was in truly deep snow (duh), but the difference is night and day - I've sought out deep snow/soft snow, found some fairly soft drifts (posthole to mid-thigh) already, and it seems very, very good so far. I'm not sure how much of it is the skis & how much is the added preload in the front spring, but either way - the sled is nowhere near as trenchy as it was; it climbs out much easier now.

I rode one day with a guy I normally ride with - he and I were about the same last year in terms of skill. The day we rode together, he got stuck countless times (ok, six, five of which in a 200' stretch - stuck, dig, pull, get ready....stuck again. Repeat). I got stuck zero times, including riding "his" sled around to see if my sled just got THAT much better.

It IS better, but not that much.

So, yeah - the above suggestions seem "right," but as a bigger guy, you might consider adding a couple of notches of preload (my sled has the rotating/stair-steppy preload thing, I added 2 clicks) to the front spring. That's the real/bigger change on mine - I also loosened the limiters some. My setup is basically what was posted above + preload.

I like it. I think that the added weight was starting the skid off in the "wrong" spot, and the additional preload puts it back to where it would be with the above setup - which probably works great for 180-220# people.



Iain
 
IIRC On My 02x with 156, I was running my rear in the third stiffest setting, the front skid shock in the middle of its adjustment, the limiter straps with about an inch of slack when sitting on flat surface, no sway bar, the ski shocks I set up so they would only bottom if I nosed into BIG moguls in the trail on the way in with a full tank but wouldn't bottom out on empty tank on way out. The softer the ski shocks the better, but don't want to bottom them out too much. This setup worked best for me on my last ZX that I had (and I tried a lot of different set ups) I weighed about 250 ready to ride at the time. It was the best setup I could find for climbing/side hilling/boon docking.
 
jwill302- put some skid extensions and a 151" track under that thing, or 144x16x2. 16 wide make a lot of differance in flotation. In deep snow, 15 wide just doesn't get it.
 
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