2015 Teryx4 build

[6.2Blazer]

Haven't been on this board much recently but wanted to share my winter build-up on my rig.

2015 Teryx4 LE

Came into the winter with 28x10-14 Intimidators on 14" STI beadlocks and 2" wheel spacers. 2.5" Highlifter bracket lift with decreased preload on the stock shocks (attempting to make the ride smoother) and disconnected swaybar. The main issues I had was the ride quality and ground clearance. Even with the decreased preload, compression adjustment at full soft, and disconnected swaybar it still had a jarring ride. I don't do a lot of real fast trailriding but simply running at slightly higher speeds between obstacles had me gritting my teeth and bracing the steering wheel from the harsh ride while following RZR's and the like. About all the decreased preload gave me was a lack of ground clearance as it didn't make a big impact on ride quality.

After selling some parts and getting a little bit of a bonus from work I decided to make some purchases (which made the wife happy). Dropped the coin on a set of Bandit Performance 2.0 shocks. Bandit offers several different series of shocks with the Performance 2.0 being between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 price wise. These are a longer shock that is advertised as offering an additional 2" of wheel travel (that is 25% increase!) and allows extra ride height without needed lift brackets. They also have progressive rate front springs and true dual rate rear springs.

[WV Hot Rod Rhino]

Looking good!

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk

[6.2Blazer]

Removed the HL lift brackets and set the preload on the Bandits for higher ride height than what I had before (maybe 1" up in the front and 2" up in the rear). I also now have twice as much shock shaft showing at ride heights, so potentially twice as much up travel. Maintained as much droop travel as I had before. The extended length of these shocks is just about perfect as it is just slightly less than when the suspension would start to bind under full droop (you have to just barely raise up the a-arms/hub to get the shock bolt started). It would be difficult to install these with the lift brackets as you would have to compress the shocks quite a bit to get them installed.

The scientific test of pushing down on the front and rear bumpers show that the suspension now actually moves! A quick articulation test also shows it has some flex now.

[6.2Blazer]

Next step was tires. I wanted to step up to 30" tires but was planning on holding off awhile, but ran across a good deal on a set of lightly used 30x10-14 Crawler XGs. Had planned on getting a set of Carnivores for several reasons (weight, price, little more aggressive tread) but couldn't pass up the deal on these at almost half the price of new ones. While the Intimidators are not bad tires and ride decent even on the road, they are very heavy and don't work great in the rocks and hardpack that a lot of the trails we run are made up of.


These are the 90% tread 30" Crawlers compared to 75% tread 28" Intimidators, both mounted and at 10 psi. The only downside is that the Crawlers rubbed badly both front and rear....couldn't even turn the wheels all the way in the front before hitting while sitting in the shop even after cranking up the preload more.

[6.2Blazer]

Kinda' like the tires, was planning on eventually going to offset high clearance arms but was going to wait. However absolutely needed them on the front if I wanted to ride anything but paved roads. Bought a set of SuperATV brand off a vendor I know on Facebook (best price I could find......and way cheaper than the prices shown on the internet).



Had to slightly clearance the shocks mounts for the Bandits but 5 minutes with a grinder. The picture makes the alignment look way off but camber is right at the -1 mark and toe has been adjusted. Front tires now fit! Rears rub slightly under full compression but nothing bad and can wait for the credit card to cool down a little before getting rear arms.

[Hump]

Here is just something to keep in mind, and that you may want to try while you are at it... Through all the trial and error of shock settings to get them just right for me, I have found that I really like a good bit of preload with a lower setting on the valving. On my Rhino anyway, the preload doesn't seem to make a huge change in the way it rides other than keeping it from bottoming out. After riding this thing since 2012, I've finally got my settings better than they have ever been for my driving. 5 clicks is what I do at all 4 corners now. It is a caddilac, but 5 clicks up is for hauling ass. Changed tires and wheels a while back and that changes things too.

[scottwv]

Through all the trial and error of shock settings to get them just right for me, I have found that I really like a good bit of preload with a lower setting on the valving. On my Rhino anyway, the preload doesn't seem to make a huge change in the way it rides other than keeping it from bottoming out.

With the Elka's , my rhino wasn't "plush" at slow speeds ; but , it rode really well 25mph or above . It is doable ; but , expensive to get the best of both worlds with the limited travel the rhino has . I'm in the same boat now , so to speak with the Fox's on the teryx . A lot of people including Kawasaki , try to compensate for too light of a spring by cranking down the preload to get the desired ride height ...I am "dealing" with this now on my fronts...it is obvious that the spring rate is WAY too light for them to have over 2" of preload to get the front of the bike where they "wanted" it . The spring should support the bike with minimal (1" or less) preload . Unfortunately , finding the "perfect" spring rate is like trying to find the "perfect" tire for everyone...not likely to happen . Everyone's riding style is different ; and , what I think is great , someone else may despise . Undoubtedly , I need some heavier springs for my front (already swapped to 450lb on rear) so 2" of preload isn't needed to achieve my ride height ; and , help soften the ride some .

[6.2Blazer]

Finally got a real ride in after all the modifications I performed over the winter. Spent three days riding Brimstone and some of the TWRA New River unit.

- Shocks made a huge difference especially when running down the "easy" trails to get to the good stuff. These trails may be easy but they are pretty rough and equivalent to a cobblestone road in some places. I was able to keep pace with the Wildcat XX's in the group and the 800 RZR S was getting beat up. Granted, the Wildcat XX's were not pushing it 100% but the those guys were running as fast as they felt comfortable doing and I was able to keep up without feeling beat up. The other big thing was the control as you weren't bouncing all over the place. It also simply put the power to the ground better, such as when climbing steep and rough trails that required momentum.

- Clearance - I gained 2.5"-3" of ground clearance between the larger tires (28 to 30's) and raised ride height from the shocks. Previously with I had the Highlifter kit with preload decreased (overall machine lowered) on the stock shocks trying to get a better ride. The new shocks allowed me to remove the lift brackets and gain lift with the increased preload. I have the preload turned up a little more than I had originally planned but had done so to get tire clearance prior to the offset a-arms, but never turned it down. There were many ruts and rocks that I went right through that before I was sure it would have got hung up. Again, I was following the two Wildcat XX's with 32's through difficult trails and there was only one place I got hung up on that they made it (and they had to hit it pretty hard). I'm sure the high clearance front a-arms helped out also. Still have the stock rear a-arms but plan to upgrade those soon.

- Tires - a few weeks ago I had gone to a local park that was covered in about 2" of greasy clay mud and the Crawlers really sucked there, especially after coming from Intimidators. At Brimstone there is a lot more rock and hardpack (evean after all the rain the previous days) and they worked great there.

Overall I was very happy with the performance of the Teryx. This was my first ride with the two Wildcat XX's (they were formerly Teryx4 riders also) and was a little nervous about being able to keep up with them, but really didn't have any issues.