Question for those of you that have upgraded shocks...

1400 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by redbank, 15 d ago

huntertim214

Alright, I have been looking at different shock upgrades for a year or two now, but this past weekend we went for a family ride here in Michigan and it really affirmed the fact that this needs to be done. The trails are sandy so they get these small to midsize corrugations, or washboard type bumps, and it makes for a damn rough ride in the T4. I know that it's offroading and it shouldn't be like a paved road, but miles and miles of these bumps knocking your kidneys together get old! So my question is for those of you that have aftermarket shocks, do you think that they make a noticeable difference on these small to mid size bumps? The limited down travel on my machine (stock shocks with a 1-1.5" lift) is obviously hurting me, so I assume that the increase in down travel will allow the tire to react a little more independently of the body, but will it help on even the small chatter bumps or just the bigger hits? The mid travel set up would be king, but that's not anywhere near being in the budget, so I'm looking at Hester Elka stage 1's or Bandit level 2 right now, heavily leaning towards Elka's. Do you think that I would need a shock with more rebound adjustments to help with this situation?

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Bikermutt07

· #2 · 8 mo ago

I put the plain elka stage ones on my 08. Huge difference. A tuned suspension is going to ride fairly plush and increase in firmness as the terrain gets rougher.
I think Hester even mentions in his comparison video that only stage one will still make a huge difference over stock when it comes to plain trail riding.
His version isn’t available for my machine, but I took that quote to heart.
We did some pretty rough riding Saturday and I wasn’t sore until I woke up from the crappy hotel bed.
Now if you have fox reservoir shocks I think Shock Therapy can do wonders for your ride without breaking the bank for new.
Again, my ride was too old for their system.
For what it’s worth, I’m really happy with my stage one elkas. They ride really good compared to the 14 year old stock shocks.

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huntertim214

Discussion Starter · #3 · 8 mo ago

Bikermutt07 said:
I put the plain elka stage ones on my 08. Huge difference. A tuned suspension is going to ride fairly plush and increase in firmness as the terrain gets rougher.
I think Hester even mentions in his comparison video that only stage one will still make a huge difference over stock when it comes to plain trail riding.
His version isn’t available for my machine, but I took that quote to heart.
We did some pretty rough riding Saturday and I wasn’t sore until I woke up from the crappy hotel bed.
Now if you have fox reservoir shocks I think Shock Therapy can do wonders for your ride without breaking the bank for new.
Again, my ride was too old for their system.
For what it’s worth, I’m really happy with my stage one elkas. They ride really good compared to the 14 year old stock shocks.

Thanks for the input. I have thought about the Shock Therapy rework, and I can see the benefits because they do get re-valved and new springs, but you don't gain any travel with them. I am certainly no suspension guru, but my brain tells me that the increased travel is where the noticeable difference would be because the wheel can drop down further before the body/cab has to follow it, making the ride in the seats better. But I'm not sure if that theory is true for the small corrugations or not... I am guessing that I will just have to bite the bullet and find out. If there is one thing that these machines do extremely well, it's pull money out of my pocket!

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Bikermutt07

· #4 · 8 mo ago

huntertim214 said:
Thanks for the input. I have thought about the Shock Therapy rework, and I can see the benefits because they do get re-valved and new springs, but you don't gain any travel with them. I am certainly no suspension guru, but my brain tells me that the increased travel is where the noticeable difference would be because the wheel can drop down further before the body/cab has to follow it, making the ride in the seats better. But I'm not sure if that theory is true for the small corrugations or not... I am guessing that I will just have to bite the bullet and find out

Well, I do know the a arms only travel so far. When I put on my elkas they the lower a arms were bottomed out putting the shocks on. There is only so much travel for standard a arms to articulate.
I also removed my sway bar in the rear to gain a little more independence on the rear travel.

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ToddBuh

· #5 · 8 mo ago

I think it's mostly in the spring, a progressive rate spring is softer on the smaller whoops and bumps and progressively gets stiffer for big bumps or jumps to keep you from bottoming out. being softer allows the swing arm to move up and down more freely because of the softer spring rate, this will absorb more of those bumps huntertim is talking about.. that's what i understand from what i've read about progressive spring rates.

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Crispo

· #6 · 8 mo ago

I just finished a couple of months ago some upgrades to my 2014 Teryx4. 2 months ago we put on 4, stage 4 Elka shocks. Took about 6 weeks to get them. I gave them the weight of the passengers and the gear and they sent them back tuned for the ride. We went to Moab, Utah for a photographic adventures with a drone. The Teryx4 rides like a Cadillac. I can’t feel cattle bars on the road and when a friend of mine and I took it out and jumped it. You couldn’t really feel the landing. Over the 5 day vacation we put about 150 miles on the vehicle. It has no body roll. You don’t feel tired or beat up when we ride all day. The next upgrade will be some suspension seats. Don’t see myself getting anything new in the future.

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redbank

· #7 · 19 d ago

So what did you go with? When I bought mine (2018) it wasn't very long before I bought a set of superatv offset arms to go with a 30" tire and 814 shocks. This is a great set up for slow trail riding, 814 actually brought out a 3 way adjustable shock not long after I bought mine which are only 2 way adjustable. I did disconnect the front sway bar and adjusted the shocks to my liking and it performs well for the amount of travel I have. I think having a larger tire takes some of the smaller bumps/dips out of the trail.

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huntertim214

Discussion Starter · #8 · 16 d ago

redbank said:
So what did you go with? When I bought mine (2018) it wasn't very long before I bought a set of superatv offset arms to go with a 30" tire and 814 shocks. This is a great set up for slow trail riding, 814 actually brought out a 3 way adjustable shock not long after I bought mine which are only 2 way adjustable. I did disconnect the front sway bar and adjusted the shocks to my liking and it performs well for the amount of travel I have. I think having a larger tire takes some of the smaller bumps/dips out of the trail.

I am still on the stock shocks at the moment... I decided that I needed to get some of my other projects done first. But once I get my last atv back in shape and sold I am going to order the Hester Elka stage 1's and possibly SATV offset arms. From everything that I have read and seen, that would be the best option for me.

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redbank

· #9 · 16 d ago

huntertim214 said:
I am still on the stock shocks at the moment... I decided that I needed to get some of my other projects done first. But once I get my last atv back in shape and sold I am going to order the Hester Elka stage 1's and possibly SATV offset arms. From everything that I have read and seen, that would be the best option for me.

When I want to run fast my set-up shows its limitations, at this point I am not gonna throw more money at this. Perhaps I should have went the Hester route. When I did this I wanted to stay narrow as I was fearful going wide would be a problem when in fact it wouldn't have mattered. I would like to drive a Hester set-up to see the difference.

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6.2Blazer

· #10 · 15 d ago

redbank said:
When I want to run fast my set-up shows its limitations, at this point I am not gonna throw more money at this. Perhaps I should have went the Hester route. When I did this I wanted to stay narrow as I was fearful going wide would be a problem when in fact it wouldn't have mattered. I would like to drive a Hester set-up to see the difference.

Just to clarify, when they say Hester stage 1 and SuperATV offset arms that does not increase the overall width any. If you combine the SuperATV 6" lift kit minus the shock brackets and add the "mid-travel" Hester shocks then it does increase the width about 3" on each side, along with significantly increased travel. Big difference between the two options.

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SuperATV

· #11 · 15 d ago

huntertim214 said:
I am still on the stock shocks at the moment... I decided that I needed to get some of my other projects done first. But once I get my last atv back in shape and sold I am going to order the Hester Elka stage 1's and possibly SATV offset arms. From everything that I have read and seen, that would be the best option for me.

6.2Blazer said:
Just to clarify, when they say Hester stage 1 and SuperATV offset arms that does not increase the overall width any. If you combine the SuperATV 6" lift kit minus the shock brackets and add the "mid-travel" Hester shocks then it does increase the width about 3" on each side, along with significantly increased travel. Big difference between the two options.

Just a heads up.... BIG sale starting tomorrow. Way bigger than my normal forum discount. I know you guys have been looking at some bigger ticket items and wanted to give you a heads up.

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redbank

· #12 · 15 d ago

6.2Blazer said:
Just to clarify, when they say Hester stage 1 and SuperATV offset arms that does not increase the overall width any. If you combine the SuperATV 6" lift kit minus the shock brackets and add the "mid-travel" Hester shocks then it does increase the width about 3" on each side, along with significantly increased travel. Big difference between the two options.

noted, thanks for the clarification.
thinking back on it I should have went with the mid travel and installed some mud guards, I may have been happier with the result. I will say the set up I have now is a lot better than stock.

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huntertim214

Discussion Starter · #13 · 15 d ago

redbank said:
noted, thanks for the clarification.
thinking back on it I should have went with the mid travel and installed some mud guards, I may have been happier with the result. I will say the set up I have now is a lot better than stock.

Yeah, the Hester's mid travel set-up is about as good as a Teryx can get in my opinion, and would be the dream set-up for me... but something around $4k plus rims and tires is hard to justify right now, especially when I'm only doing 1 or 2 technical riding trips a year.
It is badass though!! Check out the video if you haven't seen it. Hester's Mid Travel Set-up.

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redbank

· #14 · 15 d ago

huntertim214 said:
Yeah, the Hester's mid travel set-up is about as good as a Teryx can get in my opinion, and would be the dream set-up for me... but something around $4k plus rims and tires is hard to justify right now, especially when I'm only doing 1 or 2 technical riding trips a year.
It is badass though!! Check out the video if you haven't seen it. Hester's Mid Travel Set-up.

I agree, but now there are some better options that I could take the money for the mid travel and the sell of my t4 to go out and buy newer technology. As I mentioned before there isn't anything out there that I am in love with and not sure if my next purchase will be two or four seater. I am like you, only do one technical trip a year that my suspension limits me from going any faster, the rest of the year I am riding slow or doing utility work.

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