Shiff suspension!

[whytezombie]

So I upgraded my 2002 Sportsman 700 to 27" tires and also added a 2" High Lifter lift.
The tires are absolutely great and I love the new clearance I have with the lift. I went through places I have never been able to get through before. So as far as mud and offroad performance it's wonderful. However, I really do miss the smooth ride before the lift. I am pretty mechanically inclined so I think I know how they gave you the lift and all but I did not think it would make the ride so stiff!
Is there a way to get the lift AND back to the smooth ride as before? I was wondering what if on the front I remove the spring spacer? This would let the atv spring be less loaded and it might lower the atv a little...BUT when I get high centered the shock spacer would let the tires drop lower looking for ground. Is my thinking wrong here?
Any input would be great!
Thanks in advance!
:-)

[whytezombie]

No input at all? Anyone?

[blueline15]

i dont have much insight to this problem, but im gonna offer my .02 for what it is worth.

you could try removing the spring spacers, but two things come to mind. the spring spacer i dont think provides any lift, because, the distance of the spring seat doesnt change. its just that the spring is under more pressure (ie stiffer), but the spacer and spring are still contained within the same lenght as just the spring without the spacer. so you shouldnt lose any height by taking the spring spacer out, and it should soften the ride up for you.

but i dont think taking the spacer out will give you any more wheel travel to the ground if you were high centered, and here is why. i understand it as, the spring can expand past its normal resting length, but, the limiting factor would be the strut. so even if the fronts are off of the ground, the unsprung weight from the tires can not put the wheels down past the fixed lenth of the strut, and that fixed length doesnt change with or without spacers

hope that makes sense

[whytezombie]

100% agree with you. However in the high lifter kits, there are 2 spacers. One is the spring spacer, and one is the strut spacer. So basically, with the front, I would take out the spring spacer only. That would still let the suspension travel farther down to reach for ground yet give me a softer ride.

The rear suspension however, I don't have a clue on what to do. The kit offset the top shock mount out and lower a little. You also have to replace the torsion bar connections with longer ones. So this doesn't give me the spacer removal options.

I'll try removing the spring spacers on the front see what that does.
If that works then I will have the rear to mess with. I'll read around more forums and think about it a good bit I guess.

Thanks for the input Blue :-)

[backwoodsboy]

take some air out of your tires

[elmerkit]

I believe this is really one of the disadvantage of upgrading your wheels and height from factory spec.