[toyman]

First post, want to say first that I have enjoyed reading the info on this forum.

Now for the suspension guru's. My sled has 1700 miles on it, trail riding mostly. Here is what it does; when I take off and exitng out of corners the rear suspension feel like it sucks up into the tunnel, after i let back off of the throttle it comes back to ride height. It seems like it rides ok (although this weekend it was bad), but I am now bottoming out on some of the bumps. It steers great in and out of the corners, seems like a rocket out of the corner, and ate up my buddies 600 HO Fusion.

Any ideas what to look for. I talked with the local Polaris dealer and they suggest the torsion springs.

Oh yeah the sled is a 2002 700 XC SP, it does have the Fox position sensitive shocks.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Toyman

 

[timespentsearching]

try these things first.
increase torsion spring preload. this will hopefully fix your problem. you can also go to the next size spring, you can get it from your dealer. you can also adjust you rear scissors stop up from low to med or high and also change the hole it is in. this will adjsut weight tranfer and also make the suspension ride stiffer or looser. the high the block the stiffer it rides and the less tranfer. id also recommend getting your shocks rebuilt at the end of this season

 

[michahicks]

You need to get a plan going.....

There's a ton of stuff going on under that sled, and like timespent mentions, the Edge suspension allows adjustments everywhere.

Suggest you start by getting the sag right, then going from there with other adjustments for play in the corners, etc. Until the sled is set to carry your weight properly, you'll be chasing your tail adjusting it to try and do anything else right. You need to get that set at something close to 3". Do you need help with that? If so, need a good idea of what your weight is (now is not the time to be shy!). Let's go through this a step at a time. This is the first one, likely the most important one.

By the way. I'm 6'2"/300 riding aggressively with stock springs. Don't let anyone talk you into heavy springs unless you are even bigger.....I'm here to almost gaurantee you will disappointed at how stiff they are.

 

[timespentsearching]

really there is no right way to set up a susension. it is all how you want it and how you like it. mich im sure can help you out a little more with the edge setup. im really good at prox and exta 10 and 12's, not to much playing aroudn with the edge even know it very close to the prox. sag can be a huge factor in how the suspension rides though. to much you loose to little its stiff. i personally ride with less then an inch of sag but i ride really really aggressive compared to most people. shock revavling can also be done to make the ride how you want it. it kind a trial and error thing.

 

[toyman]

Thanks for the replies. I am a small guy 6' 300 pounds. I do ride aggressive.

My only other concern is shocks. This past weekend while riding the back of the sled would have to get picked back up to get to full height (i know this is normal) but I would push down on the back end and it would drop about 3" then it felt like it hit something, from there it could be pushed up and down. Everything in the suspension is greased before each ride I know the suspension isn't binding. Two weeks ago I was in the UP for a week and the sled was absolutely perfect, no riding issues, no squishy feeling like I got last weekend. I have been searching for replacement shocks only to find that there are none available. I was hoping I could find a replacement that had an adjustable dampening set up.

Michahicks, any ideas on how I should set the suspension up from scratch is much appreciated, I should mention that the only adjustment made on this since new was the block for the torsion spring set to the highest.

Toyman

 

[timespentsearching]

your shocks need to be rebuilt. what happend is you have nitrogen on the oppose side fo the IFP. this is what creates that dead spot. gas is a lot easier to push down then oil is. shocks rebuild is a forsure for next year if not this year if you want

 

[toyman]

Why is it that nobody builds an aftermarket shock for these sleds yet?


Toyman

 

[xltier]

there is. i have 02 xc sp 800 edge with a fox clicker shock.if your not aware of them, this one has a dial u turn with 8 positions on a remote reservoir.i can change the stiffness according to the trails that day.hth

 

[timespentsearching]

there are many aftermarket shocks. if you are really worried about the susension and ride very aggressive, upgrade to a pro x chassis. clicker shocks all the way around. aggressive suspension for big bumps, jumps, and anything you can give it. it weights less, more lightweight parts, it a tougher chassis believe me i know. but you can just get different shocks for the edge. call up Deycore to see what he would recommend id say, they may even be able to hook you up.

 

[toyman]

fox clicker shock.if your not aware of them, this one has a dial u turn with 8 positions on a remote reservoir.i can change the stiffness according to the trails that day.hth[/b]

I have seen them but none of aftermarket guys show anything for them. I am assuming that it is a dealer item?

Toyman

 

[michahicks]

<<<Why is it that nobody builds an aftermarket shock for these sleds yet?

Because the Fox and Ryde FX are so easy to get rebuilt/get parts for/tune. They just generally work real well at reasonable prices....

I have just the setup for you. You might just as well try the one I'm running. Been messing with this thing for quite a while now, and this past season finally has me smiling.

Also, please PM me regarding a freshly rebuilt shock if you're seriously interested. I have one you'll probably like if you don't want to pay the long dollar for a clicker. It's a PPS that's had an expensive performance kit installed on it to eliminate the soft center section of the PPS stroke. 0 miles since done.

OK, on to setup for big guys 101.

The roller on the long arm of the rear spring. We're going to move it to get some better leverage out of it. You'll need to remove/relocate the idler wheel that's in the way. Don't worry, the holes are already there to do this - maybe 2-3" back from where they're at now. Remove them, leave them off until we're done messing around.

Unload the spring from the roller, then remove the roller from the rail. You'll see it was mounted in the center hole of a 3 hole set. Front for lightweights, center for the average guy Polaris was thinking of when setting the sled up from the factory, and the rear, well thats for heavy duty. These different holes can be used to supplement the torsion spring adjusting cams. Why nobody says anything about using these different holes, ANYWHERE, is a mystery......

For the real heavy duties, like me, pushing/at 300 lbs, there is another option I would highly recommend. That's drilling a new hole for the roller 1" directly above the existing rear hole. It's not a lot of trouble, and takes only a minute. It pays in spades...... This mod will let you get into the 3" sag range, and still have total adjustability with no compromises. If you decide to do it, the only caution is to measure carefully. If installed much higher or to the rear of the existing, the metal reinforcing plate on the back side of the rail, will not capture the bolt hole completely. Just take a look before drilling. You'll see what I'm talking about easily.

So much for sag. We can get into weight transfer, steering sensitivity, etc. later. Try the above for a couple of miles before trying anything else. Well one other thing, set the rear stops(RRSS) in the middle hole. I think you're going to be impressed....

Probably won't take much longer to do all the above than it took to write it all out...... -Al

 

[toyman]

michahicks, thank you so much for the starting point. Did you replace the torsion spring also? It does sound pretty easy, like it might take an extra 5 mintutes when doing the springs.

My thought on the spring, if you have not changed yours, maybe I will move the block and see how it goes before i drill a hole and find it to be to stiff. Just me thinking, maybe I'm wrong.

Are you thinking that I should just rebuild the shock that I have?

One other question, is it going to be easier to remove the suspension to replave the torsion springs or have I not looked at it correctly?

Thanks... Toyman :withstupid:

 

[michahicks]

You can try just moving the rollers to the rear holes. There is no doubt you'll notice a difference in your sag dimension when you do that. Just not enough. Personal experience has been as stated, moving that roller to the new location made all the difference in the world. I didn't have to compromise any other settings to do what I wanted to get done. In short, it plain a$$ works.

Replacing the springs is not hard. You drop the rear of the suspension only.

I have a set of the heavy springs I'll make you a deal on. They have about 20 miles on them. That's how long it took me to figure out they were a mistake.... -Al

 

[tifa_5_2000]

toyman, one thing mhicks knows for sure is suspension. you wont be changing it at all from whatever he says. i wouldnt even call it a starting point, more like a fine tuned, tried and trued setup. hope your helmet still fits mhicks.

 

[michahicks]

:blush:

Thanks Mike, you musta got that 20 I sent ya.......

 

[toyman]

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to come off that I am questioning the knowledge here. This is new territory for me, I am trying to understand why this sled is the only one that I have had shock and suspension issues with.

I am going to move the springs around to the proper place before I change them out. I don't know when I can go ride and test things out though. The next to weekends are loaded with stuff. Hopefully there will still be snow in the UP the second weekend in March. I can test it then.

I will post the results, maybe I can sneak a day off and shoot up to Gaylord for a day.

Toyman

 

[michahicks]

No harm done. Mr. Tifa was messing with both of us. Reason for this note is just a sugggestion. If that extra set of holes were there, switching the rollers to (or from) those holes could be done on the side of the trail someplace in 10 minutes or less. If you are worried about having extra holes in your rails, I can gaurantee that there are only very few people around that MIGHT notice them......

Why not test on a lake down here someplace? They should be rutted up pretty good now......

 

[tifa_5_2000]

no really, mhicks knows suspension. toyman, sorry about the misspell on your name. NOT intentional.