Long travel

[Jdub]

What are my options for long travel kits? I have been online and the selection is very limited. Last question. Does it make that big of a difference to spend a couple grand on?

[LiveWire]

The only kits I know of being made are the ATV Racing kit and the Aftershock kit that I designed. Unless you can still get the one someone was making out of black pipe.

Hoodlum on here has two Aftershock kits bought several years apart. With a pair of G-series shocks, it would be $1670.

[Jdub]

Does it make that big of a difference?

[LiveWire]

I feel the front makes a significant difference. I don't feel the rear would which is why I never made one. The additional travel is not the only gain. Matching the front track width to the rear helps as well. In the case of the Aftershock kit only, having proper Ackermann angle where the front tires are each at the correct turning angle during a turn to prevent tire scrub also makes a big difference.

[Jdub]

How do i get ahold of hoodlum?

[LiveWire]

He will likely respond to this thread the next time he is on. If you send him a private message, he might have it set to email him when he gets one.

If you do a search on his posts, you will probably find the answers to most questions you would have.

[LiveWire]

Here are a couple posts by him about the kits:

http://www.odysseypilot.com/index.php?topic=3714.msg110238#msg110238
http://www.odysseypilot.com/index.php?topic=3308.msg8257#msg8257

[hoodlum]

Here I am!!!!
Hoodlum

[Jdub]

Thanks for the reply. I recently purchased a 89 pilot and everything is great so far. The front suspension is lacking. How do you like your aftershock long travel kit? Where is the best place to purchase one?

[hoodlum]

I love it. Makes a tremendous difference. I would say the best place to purchase one would be the only place to purchase one, which is at Aftershock Motorsports. Just remember that this is not a bolt and go kit. The arms, shocks, etc. are but there are many parts such as the steering system that need to be set correctly to prevent bumpsteer. Just do a bit of reading on what adjustments effect what and you should be good to go.hoodlum

[shoubadaba]

Google yoda arms for the pilot. No welding required and can use fox air shocks and still gets 10home inches of travel. The aftershock kit gets 12 but the way the shock mounts to the lower arms is not the best design . No offence but if you hit something and tweek the arm its a bitch to remove the bolt personal experience .

[LiveWire]

An impact that will bend the DOM tubing of the Aftershock arms would bend those arms made out of black pipe beyond use. There is no way that kit gets 10" of travel without an anti-bump steer kit. I don't recall it ever even being advertised as long travel, but just as long arm. The Aftershock kit will get 12" travel with AT Steelers, but 13" with G-Series. Fox Air shocks are popular not because they are a good shock, but because they are cheap to adjust on custom projects. Other people feel that if they don't know what damping and spring rates they need, Fox Air shocks are a good choice because they can use trial and error to get to it. Properly setup dual or triple rate coil springs are a far better setup. Air shocks have an exponential rising rate spring rate. Every adjustment you make to air shocks affects the entire range of travel. You will never find the perfect balance. That kit also has digressive travel due to moving the upper shock mounts out. That means the amount of additional force to compress the last inch of travel is less than the amount of force to compress it the previous inch. Although that might seem good with the other bad choice of using air shocks, the damping is also reduced as the suspension is compressed when is should be increasing.

[hoodlum]

Google yoda arms for the pilot. No welding required and can use fox air shocks and still gets 10home inches of travel. The aftershock kit gets 12 but the way the shock mounts to the lower arms is not the best design . No offence but if you hit something and tweek the arm its a bitch to remove the bolt personal experience .

There is not one, and I mean not one person with the Yoda kit getting 10 inches of travel that is not having major tow change through the suspension travel...If they say they are, then they are lying, point blank...It is not geometrically possible with 1 piece tie rods.... You can adjust the tow so it's straight at ride height, but what exactly is ride height? Is it the height that the suspension is at when setting in the garage with the rider in the seat? How long and how often is it in that position while riding? Till you hit the gas, the brakes, or a bump? In other words, never....It may pass by that point at some time or the other, but it doesn't stay there...If it does, then the suspension isn't working....As soon as the suspension moves, the tow moves...This may be somewhat acceptable of you ride sand, because sand is a quite forgiving since the sand will give under resistance from the tire, but put it on hard pack, especially with some jumps involved,and I would bet in a minute that it would be a handful to control....They may see some improvement over stock since the stock setup does have some bumpsteer, and the travel is increased, but if they could drive a pilot with the same or more travel with no bumpsteer, they would piss their pants at the difference it makes in handling.....

[funinoly]

I need to ask wht is bumsteer?

[LiveWire]

bumpsteer is where when you hit a bump, the wheels toe in or out. It is caused by the tie rods being a different length than the A-arms. While it is important to have minimal bump steer, the primary reason an 'anti bumpsteer kit' is installed is because the tie rods will hit the frame when dropping the A-arms down at a steeper angle.