EVOL X RC2 on RT Viper

[Team Lazy]

I'm new to Yamaha, just coming off a Renegade 137, and had Snocross front suspension on it. They are pretty killer shocks as many know, and about 18.5" eye to eye. What I am wondering, is do I sell them or give them a shot on my 2014 Viper XTX? More to the point, any reason they won't work? I think the eye to eye is 18.6" on the Viper so I'm cautiously optimistic. I just can't bare to sell them! But if they're useless then I will. Any input is welcome, including starting points for settings. There's only about 7 million ways to get these things wrong.

That would be sad really, trading those shocks essentially for a a 2 up seat! Wow.

 

[Team Lazy]

Well, apparently these aren't as popular with Yamaha as they are with Doo. I have guys lined up trying to buy them off me, but I really want to try them. So, I removed the F3's to do some comparisons and see if I could get lucky and have a simple bolt in. Why would I think that might happen??? Hellz no.

For the record, the Float 3' are LONG. As in I was talking to a Fox service guy and he figured the Evol X's would be too long. Uh uh. F3's came in at just under 19.5", and the Evol X at 18.75. Definitely worth a try for me I think.




So now the problem is the aluminum bushings. The Evols will not fit on the Viper as is, I need to remove/replace/alter those bushings. I need to first remove the bushings, and then I'll see if the bushing from the Float 3's fit. Fortunately Fox has a good instructional on their website, mine are the 2 piece reducer:
http://www.ridefox.com/help.php?m=bike&id=251

It would appear I need to lose about 1/4" total.
Float 3:


Evol X:


Why am I going to all this trouble to keep people from giving me money for parts I don't need????

 

[Team Lazy]

Bumping my own thread, in case somebody some day gets a benefit out of this.

What I ended up doing was removing the bushings from the EVOLs, and then was shown how to remove the circlip holding the spherical bearings and pressed those out. Leaves a perfect hole that the bushings from the Float 3 popped right into. Mounted the EVOLs up and it actually worked! Wow. These shocks are the #*$&@. Nothing phases them, nothing shakes the thing. Little problem...

The steering arm rubs against the EVOL chamber at full lock, as the Ski Doo EVOLs have both canisters offset. My buddies 8000RR Hibbert has them nice and straight from the mounting bolts, and no rub. I was prepared to remove them, when I stopped into an AC dealer and much to my surprise, two brand new sleds on the floor sporting EVOLS had the same interference issue. Technician there said it's a non-issue, so I have been running mine just like that. And they seem to be working fine. I have found that some EVOLs have the proper location for the chambers and will work, some do not. Obviously right from the factory they can't even get it straight...

So for my own future reference, I am going to post my settings here, as given by the Fox Guru, who pretty much nailed the settings off the top of his head. He's good. Real good. They are slightly harsh, but he said they would be, and the only direction I should be adjusting from his initial was softer. Which is exactly what I need. I'll pop some pictures in here to show the rubbing, and you can see bands on my shock shafts about halfway up. That's all the travel I'm using with the current settings, and I've nailed some pretty nasty moguls head on. Definitely need to soften, I'm not using as much suspension as I should be,

The initial settings:
Main: 125
EVOL: 225
Hi Speed Compression: 16
Low Speed Compression: 12
Rebound: 12
(we can't all have QS3's!!)