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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Janesville, Wisconsin
    Posts
    316

    Strong Made 2-3" Lift

    I had always said that I wasn't going to put a lift kit on my Viking VI... I added BanditUTV Trail series shocks little over a year ago. Was up hunting this past week with one of my buddies that has the Strong Made on his Viking (3), and liked how his sat. In an effort to make the trail series shocks function even better, I was losing a lot of my clearance, so I bit the bullet yesterday and ordered the Strong Made lift. I am hoping that my research is true in the fact that there is very little change to the shock angles with this kit (the least shock angle change from what I could find).

    Once I have the lift on and everything settled out, I may get with James to see about getting a set of Eibach springs for the BanditUTV shocks in an attempt to make them even better. Time will tell.

    So, if anyone has any feedback specifically about the Strong Made lift kit on a Viking, please post it below.

    Thanks.
    2015 Yamaha Viking VI EPS (Camo):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Skids, JBS Arm Guards, JBS AIS Block Off, JBS Rad Guards, JBS Slug Kit, 28" Terrabites/14" Hurricanes

    2018 Yamaha Wolverine X4 SE (Silver):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Spring Kit, 28” Terrabites/14" Hurricanes, Weller ECM Flash

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  3. #2
    Administrator WV Hot Rod Rhino's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Mount Hope, West Virginia, United States
    Posts
    8,709
    That's what Ryan has on his

    Sent from JBS test site
    James Davis
    If you have questions call me!!!
    304-673-2602
    304-877-3419
    Check out our web https://jbsperformance.com/
    Email to - jbsperformanceinc@aol.com
    Ship to - 131 Davis Ct., Mt. Hope, WV 25880

  4. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Janesville, Wisconsin
    Posts
    316
    Got my lift in and installed. Put the front on 3" and the rear on 2" to produce a level ride. Side measurements are: 15" Front, and 15-1/4" Rear. I don't remember what the skid clearances that I normally measure were, but it looks good. I will have to get it out to do a little test ride in the next few days.

    One thing of note: With my BanditUTV Trail Series Shocks, I had to twist the top mount on the rear to avoid the Nitrogen Valve from having contact with any of the lift brackets.
    2015 Yamaha Viking VI EPS (Camo):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Skids, JBS Arm Guards, JBS AIS Block Off, JBS Rad Guards, JBS Slug Kit, 28" Terrabites/14" Hurricanes

    2018 Yamaha Wolverine X4 SE (Silver):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Spring Kit, 28” Terrabites/14" Hurricanes, Weller ECM Flash

  5. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Janesville, Wisconsin
    Posts
    316
    Did a little test ride. Think that I have what I have been looking for. More riding will show if further adjustments are going to be needed.

    I know that when I first got the Bandit's, they would act good for the first portion, then as they warmed up (and I warmed up my driving), the performance wasn't as good. Kept at it, making adjustments and got them to work pretty darn good. So time will tell.

    And to add that my riding style and requirements have changed now for my Viking VI with having purchased the Wolverine X4... So where the Viking was my primary trail rig, it is now downgraded to mainly hunting and work around the house.
    2015 Yamaha Viking VI EPS (Camo):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Skids, JBS Arm Guards, JBS AIS Block Off, JBS Rad Guards, JBS Slug Kit, 28" Terrabites/14" Hurricanes

    2018 Yamaha Wolverine X4 SE (Silver):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Spring Kit, 28” Terrabites/14" Hurricanes, Weller ECM Flash

  6. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Janesville, Wisconsin
    Posts
    316
    Digging back up an older post of mine to do an update. As you can see above, I added the StrongMade lift, and set the ends different than many (3" Front/2" Rear) to level the machine out. I also haven't been using my Viking VI as much now that I have my X4, but with hunting season coming up fast, I decided to go through it to make the ride a bit better for me and my use.

    BanditUTV had been working with me to try to find the best ride quality on my machine, and I am very thankful for that. I had also investigated buying a set of different shocks, but the owner of that company gave me some pointers and different ways to adjust the shocks that I had in an effort for me to not waste my money that I had already spent.

    I had previously installed a set of 350lb springs that BanditUTV had sent to me and during a different hunting trip, my buddy and I were trying to make the ride a bit more comfortable. Seemed that the suspension was REALLY stiff and didn't seem to actually move very much, so we started to play around with the pre-load settings (only settings on the Trail Series). We had backed the 350lb springs in the front way down to get them to actually move, so I decided to go back to the 320lb springs and see what I could do. With the new measuring method that had been discussed, I was able to start to figure out a few things. Instead of simply measuring the height of the machine, we began to measure the eye-to-eye length of the shocks.

    I had to measure everything again to get a functional idea of where I was. I made some new discoveries:
    Front Spring Free Length: 10" (was supposedly 11" new)
    Rear Spring Free Length: 11 7/8" (Started at 12" new)
    Front Shock Travel: 3 1/4" (Spring Off Fully Extended, to Fully Compressed on the bump stop)
    Rear Shock Travel: 4 1/2" (Spring Off Fully Extended to Fully Compressed on the bump stop)

    With having so little available shock travel (different from wheel travel), I decided that I should try to minimize the static sag of the shocks (eye-to-eye measurement difference between fully extended and settled on the ground). So I went around the machine making adjustments to each of the shocks (and actually noted that the front springs don't allow the static sag to be the same with the same shock settings). I adjusted everything to:
    Rear Eye-to-Eye (Settled): 17 1/4" (3/4" of static sag to allow some travel to drop into a hole)
    Rear Spring Length (Settled): 9 1/2"
    Rear Spring Length (Extended)" 10 7/8"
    Front Eye-to-Eye (Settled): 15 1/4" (3/4" of static sag to allow some travel to drop into a hole)
    Front Spring Length (Settled): 8"
    Front Spring Length (Extended): 8 7/8"

    All of these adjustments netted me the following ground clearance (With the lift set the way I had it, and 28" Terrabites):
    Front (Measured at the front A-Arm Pivot/Skid Plate): 13"
    Rear (Measured at the frame squares next to the receiver): 13 1/4"

    From the little bit of driving around the farm, this seems to allow the suspension to move and the ride is fairly comfortable. I will be going on a hunting trip in a few weeks where I will also have a chance to run a few trails to see how this actually functions at these settings. I really hope that this is going to be one of the last updates I have to the settings portion of this thread. I really think that I would be benefitted from doing some better quality springs in the future, but I can't imagine what that might cost to do. Otherwise, I may have to search out a different shock set-up for this machine.

    I do also know that my daughter really wants us to take the Viking trail riding one of these days instead of the X4, but that is because she wants to sit up front vs in the back. And I need to have this machine comfortable as I seem to get elected to run everyone around during the various hunting camps to drop them off to where they will be hunting for the day.

    Thanks for reading.
    2015 Yamaha Viking VI EPS (Camo):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Skids, JBS Arm Guards, JBS AIS Block Off, JBS Rad Guards, JBS Slug Kit, 28" Terrabites/14" Hurricanes

    2018 Yamaha Wolverine X4 SE (Silver):
    -JBS Extreme Sheave, JBS Spring Kit, 28” Terrabites/14" Hurricanes, Weller ECM Flash

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