suspension on a 80 liquifire

[BrandoWI]

Is there anyone out there that knows about a suspension up grade to a early to mid 90's polaris if a extra 10 or 12 will bolt in or fab it in ??? Thanks

[ljm]

xtra 10 and 12 suspensions have to much travel to match up to the front suspension. a regular Indy suspension from the late 80's early 90's can be fabbed up. You will need to switch tracks ( rail center distance is different) and switch the drive sprockets on the drive shaft.

[BrandoWI]

Sounds like alot of &%#) idk if it would b worth all the work or not. Just would like a smoother ride out her put alot of work in it to make run young again and shine but do u think the work would be worth the reward ??????

[ljm]

Yes it is a lot of work.

My opinion is to have your Liquifire suspension in good shape and go with it.

I have a gas shock on mine and I think that helps.

It would depend on how much your going to ride it if it is worth it or not.

[JoeRainville]

Sounds like alot of &%#) idk if it would b worth all the work or not. Just would like a smoother ride out her put alot of work in it to make run young again and shine but do u think the work would be worth the reward ??????

"BrandoWI"

May I suggest toning down your response when someone volunteers there time to answer you. And ljm is quite correct, an Extra 10 or especially 12 will have too much travel to work properly with 4" of travel of the front leaf springs. You would have to pull down the suspension or modify it to shorten the travel to "approximately" 6 to 8 inches at most. By jacking up the back of an otherwise great handing sled like a Liquifire, you accomplish a few things. One is that it looks stupid, the other is that you erase the caster angle of the front spindles, so you loose the "on center" feel of the stearing, making the sled darty and weird handling.

Instead up hacking up a 34 year old vintage sleds, I would suggest you either buy a late model IFS sled, or properly modify your original suspension with modern shocks and springs. It's amazing what adding some damping to the original design does to make the sled be able to handle the big bumps over a stocker.

-Joe Rainville

[BrandoWI]

Well with everything all u have said I will go a head and revamp the stock suspension go with new gas shocks and new springs as well thanks for all the inputs on this I think I will b happier with the stock suspension

[BrandoWI]

I would like to add one last thing. To joe I didn't mean any disrespect to Jim by saying that. U took that conversation way out of context. I just ment it was alot of "stuff" if u will to do thats all I was saying I think Jim got that. I do apologize if I offended either one of you I appreciate all of the input u and jim have gave me. Please let me know if u see this. Thanks very much for your help on this issue

now back to work!!!! Were can I find a gas shock for the rear suspension ??? I have been searching the web with no such luck its not the same as the front shocks is it by chance?????

[tieszo6]

On my 81 LF, I put a gas shock in the rear and also put a coilover gas shock on the front arm. Other members have done the same for their cross country racers. I think it was a significant improvement in ride quality on my sled.
Mark

[JoeRainville]

Brando,

Thanks for clariflying your point. No problem. Mark's advice above is dead on. We had a custom made FOX shock made up at Carver with the same full open / closed lenghts, as the rear shock is the upper travel limiter and you don't want it to be the lower limiter. The front shock is a Polaris / Cat ZR set up, with the front arm modified by the Watersboy to have a shock mount. Then limiter straps were added to keep it from over extending.



Kenny also modified the front brackets and idler wheel set up, since the front shock goes right through were the cross shaft would have been. I added a 4 idler wheel set up to the back axle, but that is not needed for a trail sled. Unfortunately I have not found a good replacement spring set up yet for the rear of the skid, and NOS (new, old stock) springs are hard to find. So I have stuck with used ones for new. Needless to say, the difference is amazing from a stocker.

Also adding FOX shocks to the ski's from a 93-95 ZR center position (front shock of the rear skid) make a world of difference in keeping the front end from bottoming out.

I hope this helps,
-Joe Rainville

[Danzig]

A coil over rear shock is what is needed in my opinion. Those rear suspension springs are very hard to find new, so with that coil over it will assist with load leveling so to speak. I havent seen that modification yet...well I may have.

[SIIaCanuck]

I agree that rear springs are not growing on trees but I found two new sets last week. One NOS JD set and one Kimpex. I also got one set of NOS front springs too.

Therefore, before I put my hands up and surrender to the coil-over mods, I'm going to talk to a custom spring shop to see what it'd take to get a few sets made up. I'm sure it won't be the $12-20 Kimpex price but having them made might give the opportunity to get some different stiffness sets.

It'll be interesting to see what the minimum batch would be and then see if it's feasible.

I'd really like to see what a good setup using stock springs but with adjustable gas shocks would be like. That's a setup that would be much easier for the guys who just want to bolt on an improvement.

Just my two bits but it's entirely possible I'm barking up the wrong tree.

[ljm]

To use just a coil over rear shock.

Would the upper shaft on the torque arm not be prone to bending?

I have seen enough bent ones with the springs on the ends.

I like Stew's idea of looking into having some made. A spring shop should be able to do a set in a matter of a couple minutes

Lloyd

[Danzig]

To use just a coil over rear shock.

Would the upper shaft on the torque arm not be prone to bending?

I have seen enough bent ones with the springs on the ends.

I like Stew's idea of looking into having some made. A spring shop should be able to do a set in a matter of a couple minutes

Lloyd

[JDT]

My theory is bent shafts and broken shock brackets happen when you bottom out hard.

If the coil over does it's job it will prevent bottoming out and therefore keep all the other components straight and true.

[JoeRainville]

Hi Guys,

With a good gas shocks and a coil over in the front, I hardly ever bottom out my sled anymore. I had the chance to ride it back to back with my stock 84, and the difference was incredible. I would not recommend removing the stock rear springs and go to a single coil over in the rear position due to concentrating all the load on the center of the rear arm. Even with steel cross shafts, I have bent rear arms, including the one on my racer.

If you wanted to try it, I would build a custom rear arm out of stronger or thicker material, or reinforce a stock unit.

I hope this helps,
-Joe