ATV Florida Forum

hey guys.
my sons(klutchbuster) bike has elkas on it. it was orginally valved/set for a 150lb rider.
well hes now at 200lbs and he keeps bottoming out. i realize the shocks(elka quad and triple) need to be revalved to a 200lb rider.  the way the economy is now i cant dish out the beans for a revalve. i read up on it and was considering goint to a nitrofill station or just using shop air on it(80% nitro). possibly raising the pressure by about 20%.
i was wondering if anyone had tried this and what luck they had.
gery


(pressing post button as flame suit comes on)

Did you call Elka to see if they have any good ideas for you? As much as Elka's cost they should be willing to talk. 

Raising the nitrogen pressure is not the way to prevent bottoming. The nitrogen prenents the shock oil from foaming, it is not a way to adjust damping. You should be able to raise the spring preload or adjust the compression damping to firm it up.

chillin,
thanks for the reply. question........do i do the above by turning the nut and compressing the coil spring. also if i do that will it affect ride height.
thanks, gery

Yes you can tighten the springs down that will help him temporary. I would recommend finding out what pound your main springs are by the color coding on the bottom of the spring. Then you can search for someone either selling stiffer springs or that will swap them out for you, many of the shock after market companies have used springs laying around there shop. Off the top of my head you can try calling GT thunder or Noleen racing, they might be able to help you out.

Yes, upping the preload will affect ride height, that is what the adjusters are for. If you have to crank the adjusters down too much then that means your spring rate is too low.  Have you adjusted the compression settings? You should be able to turn them in a couple of clicks at a time until it doesnt bottom out as much. The downside to too much compression damping is that it will make it rough on the small stuff. Spring rates and valving all work together and affect each other.

thanks guys. i guess i will try  adjusting the coil springs first and go from there.
gery

If the ride height is set properly then try adjusting the compression damping first. The compression adjust should be on the shock reservoir, turn it in to firm it up. The rebound adjuster is usually found on the lower end of the shock body below the spring.

The compression has been set to the highest stiff setting for some time now, and the shocks don't have the rebound adjustments. Wouldn't stiffening the springs, and a non-adjustable rebound cause a very nasty pounding on whoops and bumps?

Logically, yes, because your making the spring rates stiffer without adjusting the pre-set rebound setting... Hence making the overall stiffness of the shock stiffer while the rebound remains at the same level for the softer set springs which were dialed in by ELKA.. idk if that makes too much sense, I was just trying to make it sound clear, but I believe I have the idea and Klutch you sound about right, physically thinking it makes sense. BTW what do you mean by your "compression" setting has been maxed for a while; are you getting mixed up with the pre-load adjustment..? Compression and rebound adjustments which are found usually on reservoired shocks cannot be set to their highest setting due to the needle bearings inside of the shock, you'll blow them out essentially.. This could potentially be your problem Klutch.

gery, give gtthunder or noleen a call, you might be surprised how cheap it is

This is all very simple. EAT A FREAKIN SALAD and drop a few lbs. ;D

do not go full hard on compression setting you are constricting so much oil flow and the pressure behind could cause your seals to blow.  Unless he is built muscle wise I say just shed some weight