Rear suspension

[cannondale27]

To get the wheels off for changing torsions I used a dull chisel and just tapped on the inner race. Put them back on with deep well socket. The tool would be handy though since could leave skid in sled.

 

[Studroes144]

What type of puller is needed to remove the upper wheels so that the torsion spring can be replaced? As I have a new set of torsion springs coming from Hygear along with Custom Axis shocks, I tried to just have the shocks revalved but it was better than stock but it just wasn't what I expected so I went with the full Hygear Axis shocks all around and they also suggested the torsion spring replacement

The type of puller that was used on mine was just a standard automotive flywheel style puller with the 3 clawed arms and ran them off with an impact. Now with mine I had both rear shocks done..at different times tho, once I had both revalved shocks in you could tell right away there was a lot more movement on the suspension..at this point the season was over so this is just sitting on the sled on the garage floor. Rebound was smoother and faster and compression was a fair amount softer. I still had the floats on the front. Even with those at 60 pounds the front just didn't really do anything. Put on the coil overs and right away just pulling the sled around and jumping on it some you could rock the sled back and forth, seeing the front collapse and rebound and feeling the rear of the sled sink in and spring back..it would never do that before. With stock rear shock valving there was no collapsing the rear suspension without forcing all your weight on the rear bumper. Now as soon as I sit on it it settles prolly 2 inches..not just the rear but the front suspension settles in as well which I'm happy to see since it's pretty obvious with this chassis that the front suspension plays a huge roll in the ride quality

 

[Studroes144]

So I got to get my sled out for about a 1/4 mile ride tonight on a fresh mowed hay field. This is the first time I've ridden the sled since I've had ALL the rear suspension updates done. So as of now I have softer torsion springs and both shocks revalved softer and with smoother quicker rebound. I had the turbo installed over the summer, clutching I'm sure isn't where it needs to be yet but I did put in heavier weights. So yes I did add quite a lot of hp and it is on grass so the sled didn't spin at all. I only held it for a couple hundred feet but it was pulling the front end up hard! If I would have held it it would've stood on the rear axle I'm sure..again I don't expect this on snow but before the rear shocks were done it wouldn't even come close to doing that. Even before the sled would hook up good and launch very hard but u really had to be trying. On snow I don't predict it to be a wheelie machine like the nytro..which is great in my opinion atleast for me, but I do suspect the sled will hook up much better with less effort. As soon as that first snowfall comes around and I get the sled all dialed in I'll report back with exactly how it handles! Until then keep prayin for snow!

 

[TestMaster]

So now that you know, as Jimmy Hendrix would say "you can kiss the sky" how does you rear suspension work for riding compliance. Curious minds want to know! LOL!!!

 

[Studroes144]

I haven't ridden the sled at all since the rear suspension has been completely done. Did softer torsions early in the year..they helped, had center shock valved softer later in the year, that too helped, and then after the season I pulled the rear shock out to get revalved, so the little bit I drove it thru the field was the first ride with everything all done. I can't give any determination on anything other than punching it at about 15mph the rear of the sled sunk down and the front end was coming up hard. Yes it was on grass, but I did enough frozen field testing last year where there was zero track spin so I can say for certain already that this helped a lot with getting some weight transfer!

 

[Mxtyphoon]

I had the same problem with my sled and only have rode it one weekend to break it in late in April with about 350 miles on it now. When I got home and looked at the rear suspension the manual has no information on setup at all. I did loosen up the front strap and let it all the way out to see how much the spring was compressed on the middle shock. I install the strap again and started with zero spring pressure. With the track looser and the rear springs on the softest setting I had about 3" or more of sag with my weight of 200 lbs. So they want you to have about 1" of spring preload on the middle shock. What I found out is that the spring might have 1" of preload fully extended but when you hook up the strap again you have preloaded it more yet and it's not letting the rest of the skid move freely because of this.
But I haven't been able to test it yet till it snows. I do know that now I have something to work with since I do have some sag finally.

 

[TestMaster]

I had the same problem with my sled and only have rode it one weekend to break it in late in April with about 350 miles on it now. When I got home and looked at the rear suspension the manual has no information on setup at all. I did loosen up the front strap and let it all the way out to see how much the spring was compressed on the middle shock. I install the strap again and started with zero spring pressure. With the track looser and the rear springs on the softest setting I had about 3" or more of sag with my weight of 200 lbs. So they want you to have about 1" of spring preload on the middle shock. What I found out is that the spring might have 1" of preload fully extended but when you hook up the strap again you have preloaded it more yet and it's not letting the rest of the skid move freely because of this.
But I haven't been able to test it yet till it snows. I do know that now I have something to work with since I do have some sag finally.

Welcome to the site, great to have you aboard Mxtyphoon!

 

[Studroes144]

In the service Manuel it talks about proper suspension setup. Not sure if the Manuel is uploaded on here or where it could be found. We do have it uploaded on the viper owners Facebook page. That makes for some good reading and very helpful info!