2005 rage

[snow1]

I got a 2005 rage with 600 miles on it for my wife in June and it's our first Yamaha (former cat owners). I get a snapping noise from the front of the rear skid when going over small sharp bumps (low speed). On large long bumps its ok, I adjusted suspension to spec, no change. I then tried adjusting front and rear shocks, transfer rods and spring angle, not much change. Sounds as if front skid shock has very little rebound damping (not transfer rod noise). Is there a fix for this? Did any one try different shocks or springs on front of rear skid? What would happen if i took almost all tension off this spring/shock?

 

[rxrider]

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Does the Rage have a Monoshock skid? The monoshock skid does exactly that.

rxrider
TY Management

 

[snow1]

It has two shocks in skid, one in the front mounted up/down and one in the rear mounted front/back. Noise coming from the front one.

 

[ragefarmer]

they all do that when going over small stutter bumps, the skid doesn't have enough time to catch up. that skid is made for the big whoop de does at speed.

 

[rxrider]

It may be the limiter straps loosen up when compressing the skid and them rapidly tighten up when skid decompresses, just a thought.
How much preload do you have at the front shock spring?

 

[snow1]

I now have front shock set to max according to owners manual,I tried in the middle of spec. I tried min setting and even les then min spec. I found that less then min spec that the noise seemed to be not as loud but there more often. From my cat experience I usually had front shock spring backed all the way off. I was afraid to try that with the rage because I did not want to do any damage.(track studs/front exchanger). let me know what you think.Thanks for the response to my questons.Rage is getting 24-25 mpg canadian on hard pack and 20 in 6" of power. We are very impressed with gas milage and 4 stroke power,just need to figure out suspension.Do you think that the front shock can be revalved for slower rebound movement or is there a different shock/spring that might work. Thanks.

 

[Phantom]

The noise is in fact the front shock "topping out" due to little or no rebound from the factory.
You can cure the noise (or lessen it drasticly) by sending the shock to Pioneer performance and tell them about the problem. The will re-valve the shock with a bit more re-bound damping and the noise will be less. According to Bruce @ Pioneer they can get rid of the noise completetely but it makes the skid ride harsher in the studders.
I had Bruce do my shocks a few years ago (time for a rebuild) and I am VERY happy with the ride of the sled now.
My 05 Rage has 13,000 miles on it and I'm looking forward to the next 13,000!