Author Topic: quetion about my front end suspention ?????  (Read 3081 times)

SniperMan

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quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« on: May 24, 2012, 05:22:29 PM »
I'm looking for my restauration project to by an A arms suspention system for my FL350, or custom build one with parts from a TRX450.
But until i have all the pieces, i realise that by just reversing the front original wheels i'm gaining 4.5 to 5 inches of width on each side.
Is there a reason why nobody have done that on there Odyssey ???
At least i've never seen one.

hoodlum

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2012, 07:59:36 PM »
Well,too start off,adding width does not add suspension travel....Second,and most importantly,is a terminology in suspension design known as "scrub radius"....In a simple translation,if you drew an imaginary line through your upper and lower balljoints,the line should hit the ground somewhere near the center of your tire......When it doesn't,small rutts or differences in terrain can rip the wheel out of your hands due to the feedback that gets passed through the steering wheel....It can be violent enough to break bones in your hands....Don't take my word for it though...Try it...Just be careful....
Hoodlum

ttyR2

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2012, 09:23:25 PM »
An easier way to understand it is the further the centerline of the tire moves away (inwards or outwards) from the balljoints, the more leverage the tire has against the steering system. Hit something with the tire in the normal mounting position and it might sting. Hit it with the rims flipped and the wheel will rip the steering wheel right out of your hands, possibly with nasty consequences.

KTM265

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2012, 09:38:54 PM »
Sniperman... Yes it can be done.  What you're wanting to do I did with my FL400R Pilot.  I took the front A-arms, shocks and hubs from a Kawasaki KFX700 and fabbed those onto the Pilot frame...I got with a great suspension fabricator who knew all the rules and physics to make it have the range of motion I needed... I then got with another fab shop and we added a GPR and played around with various tie-rod settings...etc...

Take your time, going in know what sort of performance you're wanting and communicate that to your fab shop...

If you go onto the FL400R section, you can read up on my project...
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SniperMan

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2012, 12:07:19 PM »
tks everybody for all you're aswers.

Really cool to have a forum like this one so we can talk about our ideas before doing something really stupid.
I know about the travelling distance Hoodlum, that by reversing the wheels it would not give me anything more but i got to admit that i should of push my thinking further on what kind of results i would get on the suspention part of it.

The only thing i was looking at was to get the front end wider to improve on the stability, but didnt push my thinking far enough i guess.
Tks again for all you're good advice i really appreciate it.

And tks to you to KTM265, i will surelly go out and read with a lot of attention what you have done to you're pilot, because i really think that i will procedd with the approach of the TRX450 as a donner.
I saw one done on youtube and it really seem to work just fine.


SniperMan

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2012, 04:50:57 PM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TanFE-gINoU

This is so cool, tks for sharing this video. I just can't wait to ride mine. I had some dirt bikes for most of my young life (some people who know me would say that, that's a very long time ago lol) But now i have that thing for those odyssey's.

LiveWire

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Re: quetion about my front end suspention ?????
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2012, 07:59:41 AM »
OdyPilots has some good videos. That is me driving with the long travel front suspension I sell.