Rear Racing shock on 125cc ATV

5670 Views 18 Replies 4 Participants Last post by EPR, Jul 30, 2012

EPR

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2012

5

I found this shock on eBay, for mono dirt bike, ATV etc. Just got it mounted, very very stiff. Had to drop the blue adjusting nuts down to about 1/8" from the bottom of the threads to get any spring, so much better than stock. Has an air fitting which has not air pressure in it, don't think I will need it but might try 20 or 30 lbs later to see what happen.
The old shock is ok but the spring is to light, the front shocks are much stiffer than the stock rear. There are only 4 or 5 of these left, $49.95 to your door and fast shipping. joestone11 on eBay/motors/motorcycles/search.

See less See more

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

jaloos

· #2 · Jul 23, 2012

I picked up a set of rebuilt Fox front snowmobile shocks for the front of my 200cc Gio beast and a new but old style Fox snowmobile shock for the back, got tired of the Chinese junk shocks. Still waiting on delivery, should be next day or so.

I believe your shock is supposed to be filled with nitrogen but for what we use them for I am sure air will work just fine.

I have a brand new set of three of these if anyone is interested.

See less See more

CAM2

· #3 · Jul 23, 2012 (Edited)

2

Good to hear youre upgrading the suspension.......But ;-Too light ???.............More like too springy and uncontrollably dangerous at high speeds to me;-LOL.......Thats why I heav-hoed my 150cc quad...After I modded it and made it way faster it would of costed me an arm and a leg to get it dialed -in so I made it someone elses headache......LOL

Nice find on the shocks jaloos..............Thats definately one of the best upgrades to do and Nitrogen is whats filled in the better quality shocks...Nitrogen isnt hard to find anymore..It can be found at most tire shops now...my new 2012 truck has nitrogen in the tires including the spare......Nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules so they escape the porus rubber alot slower...which brings me to my next upgrade suggestion....tires////get some ITP Holeshot tires for them........

See less See more

EPR

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 24, 2012

Haven't tried it yet, but it alot stiffer the the stock junk, got my Mtn. bike shock w/ my 1,800 dirt bike spring on the X18, the stock shock has no resistance at all, it's just a shaft in a tube w/ a spring,lol. It's strange cause they never said anything about what you put in the fitting, thought it was like my Cadillac air shocks,lol.

jaloos

· #5 · Jul 24, 2012

3

LOL be careful what you buy for shocks.

Learned the hard way. Spent 125.00 bucks on a pair like the ones pictured above and one ended up like this.

Piston seperated from the shaft while it was on the machine. Seems someone was sleeping rather than tightening the nut that holds the piston onto the shaft.

I gave up on the Chinese shocks, the one you have is the same as on the kids Gio 125cc dirt bike. I contimplated one of those but ended up going with these.

For the front.

For the rear.

See less See more

jaloos

· #6 · Jul 24, 2012

CAM2 said:
Good to hear youre upgrading the suspension.......But ;-Too light ???.............More like too springy and uncontrollably dangerous at high speeds to me;-LOL.......Thats why I heav-hoed my 150cc quad...After I modded it and made it way faster it would of costed me an arm and a leg to get it dialed -in so I made it someone elses headache......LOL

Na don't think mine is as light as that one was. Its a fairly heavy unit. I would say pushing 400 pounds. Pretty much a full sized unit.

Once I get the suspension softened up a little it will handle real nice. I find the stock shocks on these things are way too over sprung to compensate for the lack of dampning that they have. I figure the skidoo shocks will prove to be alot less sprung and do a whole lot more in the dampning department.

Tires will definatly be on the list for the future.

CAM2 said:
Nice find on the shocks jaloos................which brings me to my next upgrade suggestion....tires////get some ITP Holeshot tires for them........

Those gold shocks pictured above to be completely honest with you are complete junk. They are somewhat better than what comes on these but for the cash NOT worth the kind of money they want for them. They are flogging them all over ebay as well for ridiculous prices. They are notorious for not holding a charge and losing dampning completely.

See less See more

bogieboy

· #7 · Jul 24, 2012

All this talk about nitrogen.....LOL....yall know that air is 78% nitrogen right? and it doenst make a difference for tires and such, but for shocks the reason they say to use nitrogen is because its typically filtered whereas your air compressor doesnt filter the air it compresses, and gets more impurities like moisture and oils from the compressor that can affect the shocks performance... Thats why they say use nitro in a shock...

CAM2

· #8 · Jul 24, 2012

bogieboy said:
All this talk about nitrogen.....LOL....yall know that air is 78% nitrogen right? and it doenst make a difference for tires and such, but for shocks the reason they say to use nitrogen is because its typically filtered whereas your air compressor doesnt filter the air it compresses, and gets more impurities like moisture and oils from the compressor that can affect the shocks performance... Thats why they say use nitro in a shock...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/repair-questions/4302788

EPR

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 24, 2012

I am using my ATV to work in my yard in the forest, fire wood, raking the gravel, riding the 7 1/2 yr old twins around the yard, are pulling them in there Radio Flyer ATV Wagon w/ air knobby tires,lol. No jumps or ground pounding for me, although I do have a small dirt/gravel oval I like to flat track it on. The other shock was to soft to carry anything or the kids without sagging in the rear. So, I found this $50 shock because of the spring size, probably puts a bigger load on the rear axle bearings too,lol.

bogieboy

· #10 · Jul 24, 2012

CAM2 said:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/repair-questions/4302788

Basically states the same things i did, in relation to a tire... If you really want to get down to it, when you properly mantain your compressor, the moisture issue they raise is non existant... And for temp fluctuations vs psi, i have seen a 1-2 psi fluctuation from summer to winter, and not really any loss of air. Dont always believe everything you read on the internet...

CAM2

· #11 · Jul 24, 2012 (Edited)

bogieboy said:
Basically states the same things i did, in relation to a tire... If you really want to get down to it, when you properly mantain your compressor, the moisture issue they raise is non existant... And for temp fluctuations vs psi, i have seen a 1-2 psi fluctuation from summer to winter, and not really any loss of air. Dont always believe everything you read on the internet...

I dont...I knew about nitrogen and its effects for years before that article ever came out..I just pulled that article for your amusement.I used to work for a well known NMCA ProMod Dragracer thats used nitrogen in his tires since 99/2000.............

bogieboy

· #12 · Jul 24, 2012

For racing it has definate advantages, due to the lack of fluctuation... But for every day driving, 1-2psi flux isnt going to make any difference...(on a dragster its the difference between a straight launch and a launch into the wall....LOL drag racing is a hobby of mine...nothing crazy fast yet, but i am building a 500+ hp motor for my truck right now....hehe)

EPR

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 25, 2012

I am running 10lbs in my ATV tires, nice in the dirt & gravel, its about 230lbs total weight. Got the 25mm carb and 26mm intake w/ swivel on it, much better than the 20mm it cam with. Have a Blue finned CDI and Orange hp coil and oil cooler just in from China, air mail less than 7 days not bad China Post,lol, thank you Customs, San Francisco, you rock,lol.

jaloos

· #14 · Jul 27, 2012

I have 8 pounds in the tires as long as they hold the bead its all good lol.

Got a 30mm mikuni comming for it and replaced the cdi with a performance one. I have done the plug wire but am holding off on the whole coil replacement for the time being.

Got the new shocks on but have not had a chance to get it out for a test run. I definatly lost a little ride height with them, may have to look at relocating the top mounts or some form of shock extension. From what I can tell so far there is a ton less spring to them and a whole lot more dampning. I can rock the machine forward and back while sitting on it now vs the stock solid as a rock no give set up.

Time will tell if I made the right call on these shocks though.

CAM2

· #15 · Jul 27, 2012 (Edited)

bogieboy said:
For racing it has definate advantages, due to the lack of fluctuation... But for every day driving, 1-2psi flux isnt going to make any difference...(on a dragster its the difference between a straight launch and a launch into the wall....LOL drag racing is a hobby of mine...nothing crazy fast yet, but i am building a 500+ hp motor for my truck right now....hehe)

LOL...We know...Its gonna be a beasty truck...like I said youre gonna need a four link rear and coilovers for it............My 91 Fordf250 worktruck w/435hp/470lbs torque 460cid EFI and 5 speed ZF trans frys the tires with ease from 2nd to fourth and its almost a 5000lb truck...1st is granny low and most of the time I start out in 3rdgear....The rearend is simply too light to truley hook up

My old boss been running a 2000lb machine with 3200hp triple nitrous and injected 732 for some time....The power to weight ratio is insane,,,,,,,.

The reason why the car manufacturers suggest nitrogen in the tires is for toning down the severe oxidation that happens to aluminum and magnesium rims causing the tires to lose even more air quicker aswell as making them dangerously compromised in time structurally as they oxidize.....

J......Everything that the chinese manufacture is rarely cut n dry in the mods dept without spending ridiculous loot or taking the time to fab something up.....I know youll get those new shocks dialed -in and working flawlessly one way or another............

See less See more

jaloos

· #16 · Jul 29, 2012 (Edited)

3

Well got the quad out for a test run on the new shocks. WOW what a difference from the stock and supposed performance upgraded pogo sticks they considered shocks.

There is a trade off here though. There is a drop in ride height and a little loss in handling but for the difference in ride well worth it. Down the same dirt roads and trails I used to either have to drive around potholes or slow down I can go right through them maintaining my speed. The loss in ride height isn't an issue either as with the old pogo sticks the suspension was always at max downward travel and now there is actually some downward travel as you sit on it letting the wheels drop into dips and holes rather than just bounce through them. I can ride over things while sitting that I used to have to stand on the pegs to do before.

With a little tweaking of the camber and toe due to the ride height difference the addition of the Fox sled shocks was a night and day improvement and I am glad I did it. I may wind up changing the upper front shock mount position by bringing them out a little more, making them stand a little more straight up and down. That should get a little ride height in the front back and further improve the effectiveness of the shock.

The two fronts were used but rebuilt with no miles on after the rebuild. The single rear was brand new but old style shock. Total cost 200 bucks give or take. Compared to the cost of the so called performance Chinese shocks on the market which run anywhere from 80 to 150 bucks well worth the cost difference.

I have also added 2 inch wheel spacers to the back axle on both sides bringing the rear width inline with the front to improve stability.

I am dropping in a 30mm mikuni into it soon as well as have the aftermarket CDI in it already.

See less See more

EPR

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 29, 2012

Yeah most of the China shocks are pretty Sad. My X18 had no shock at all and it's almost new. Built a shock for the 18 from a moutain bike shock, haven't tested it or the ATV shock yet.
I have a 20 yard trash box in my yard, filling it all week, no pocket bikes at all, I am Jonesing already,lol.
Where did you get the spacers at. My wheels only have 3 bolts.

jaloos

· #18 · Jul 29, 2012

EPR said:
Where did you get the spacers at. My wheels only have 3 bolts.

Got the spacers off ebay but I have 4 bolt 4/110 spacing. To measure the spacing on a 3 bolt you use the diameter of the circle the 3 bolts make. I don,t think there are spacers for the 3 bolt in that style. You could however go with the stud extension style but for me thats just not looking like it would be too strong, prefer the big machined ring.

EPR

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jul 30, 2012

Do they sell stud extenders online, or is it something you make?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.