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Stiffening Up my Rear Suspension


Thack82

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I've got my front suspension perfect Full Flight +3+1 a arms For (YFZ-450 Shocks) with Chromoly Heims, and the following parts off a 2009 YFZ-450R: shocks, spindles, hubs, brakes, brake lines, steering stem (and flag). And I need to stiffen up the rear.

 

I have the shock tightened all the way and it needs a little more. I'm 6'3 and I weigh about 225 pounds. I sat on my buddy's Raptor the other day and it felt perfect, so I thought I'd get a Silver "Matching" Raptor 660R Shock for the rear I did a little research on Google and from what I've read only one year will work.......2001.

 

What do you guy suggest?

 

 

any input would be very helpful.

 

 

Jim

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What he said. ^

 

Thanks guys, how deep do you think this shock upgrade is going to get in my pockets? I've up-graded every thing on my Banshee. The only thing I haven't modified is the stock frame and the rear suspension (Swing arm and rear shock). If you guys have any questions about my front suspension set up feel free to ask me. I have my front suspension tuned in perfect. I can hit rocks as big as bowling balls at 60mph with out giving it a second thought. It jumps great and lands smooth, I couldn't be happier with that set up. The Full Flight a arms combined with all the other 2009 YFZ-450R suspension works great. It takes alot of fine tuning and time but its worth it. In order to make it work like it came out of the Yamaha Factory that way you haft to buy the a arms with 12 point adjustable Chromoly Heims. Theres just a couple of things I'm thinking about to make it all that much better. A steering stabilizer, and some way to get the seat or a seat like a YFZ-450 has, thats my biggest challenge, getting the center of gravity lower without giving up ground clearance.

 

 

I would like to finish up the suspension with a light weight +2 rear swing arm equipped with some form of stiffer rear shock or rear shock upgrade. What do you guys think about doing that? I'm setting this bike up to race in The Kentucky Off road Hair Scrambles, and ride in the woods with my Brother on his built 1989 Honda TRX-250R. There are 68 Sport Quads on next year list and not only am I the only person Racing a Banshee; I'm the only two stroke. I'll get with MattSCESC and see what he has to say. Thanks Keep the Ideas coming.

 

Jim

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I'm not a suspension expert...but why are people putting so much time/money into the 450r front suspension mods ,when you can buy A-arms in any layout you want that are Banshee specific? When you factor in all your time,are you saving ANYTHING going through all that trouble just to run 450 shocks instead of some aftermarket Banshee shocks/a-arms?

Just trying to figure it out......

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I'm not a suspension expert...but why are people putting so much time/money into the 450r front suspension mods ,when you can buy A-arms in any layout you want that are Banshee specific? When you factor in all your time,are you saving ANYTHING going through all that trouble just to run 450 shocks instead of some aftermarket Banshee shocks/a-arms?

Just trying to figure it out......

 

I agree 100% I used all the YFZ-450R Parts because I attempted using 2009 450R a arms. I have alot of machine shops that do me a lot of favors free of charge so I thought I could make it work perfect. After a month of spending every spare minute trying to get the set up perfect and buying one 450r part at a time thinking that would fix it I came to the end of the road. I had 3 options 1. Give up 2.Have the a arms cut and completely reworked 3. Mod the Banshee frame.

 

I ended up choosing 1, I gave up. I talked to the guy at Full Flight and he said he had a ton of calls from potential customers that attempted the YFZ-450R front suspension swap and didn't like the end result. The problem that most of these guys had was they had sold or gotten rid of there stock Banshee parts in order to buy the 450 components. So his team of guys engineered a+3+1 a arm and tie rod kit with 12 point adjustable Chromoly Heims that would correct the problems converting the Banshee suspension over to the 450R suspension.

 

As some one who did this I can tell you why people try it. The new YFZ rides great compared to the Banshee, if you stand back and look at the YFZ you would think you could take a six pack of bud and a couple of days and have that suspension setting under your Banshee. Then you look at the price comparison between the YFZ parts and aftermarket Banshee suspension parts. I paid:

 

$69.00 plus $20 shipping for my 2009 YFZ-450R Shocks.

$61.00 plus $30 shipping for my 2009 YFZ-450R a arms and tie rods.

$40.00 plus $12 shipping for the 2009 YFZ-450R Spindles.

$35.00 No shipping for the 2008 YFZ-450R Hubs.

$60.00 $14 shipping for the YFZ-450R steering stem and flag.

 

For a grand total of $341.00

 

The cheapest set of good after market a arms and tie rods are $380, and if you want a good set of shocks with mounted gas resignators like ELKA's Stage III for instance your looking $800-$1000 dollars. So the YFZ-450 suspension conversion looks real incising when you compare the money you'll be spending. I also had a Yamaha Tech at a local dealership tell me the YFZ-450R shocks were made by SHOWA and they were as good as any after market shock on the market. I copied and pasted this right off the YFZ Sales Information:

 

New long-travel front shocks offer fully adjustable Showa shocks with 9.8 inches of travel and separate adjusters for preload, rebound and compression damping, The shocks also have a Kashima coating on the body. This coating decreases shock temperature and friction, helping to improve shock life. The new wide arc lower A-arms are 2.65 inches wider per side. The wide arc design, according to Yamaha, increases ground clearance.

 

So it looks like he was telling the truth. The problem with the YFZ-450 Suspension is not the Shocks; there great it's the horrible geometry the a arms have on the Banshee frame, and they end up coming out a +6-2 set up which is way to wide. If you want a great front suspension that performs as good as any other front suspension on the market IMOA. Buy the YFZ-450R Shocks, Spindles, Hubs, and steering stem, by doing this you can also upgrade to the YFZ-450R Brakes and Brake lines that are 10X better than the Banshee's. It all comes down to this you can have one bad ass front suspension for about $700 bucks. In most cases you can't buy a good pair of after market shocks for much less than that. I am truly happy with my front suspension set up and I haven't seen another Banshee out riding that has a suspension that performs any better than this set up. You guys can take this for what it's worth, again all of this is my own opinion based on my experience with this set up.

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I agree 100% I used all the YFZ-450R Parts because I attempted using 2009 450R a arms. I have alot of machine shops that do me a lot of favors free of charge so I thought I could make it work perfect. After a month of spending every spare minute trying to get the set up perfect and buying one 450r part at a time thinking that would fix it I came to the end of the road. I had 3 options 1. Give up 2.Have the a arms cut and completely reworked 3. Mod the Banshee frame.

 

I ended up choosing 1, I gave up. I talked to the guy at Full Flight and he said he had a ton of calls from potential customers that attempted the YFZ-450R front suspension swap and didn't like the end result. The problem that most of these guys had was they had sold or gotten rid of there stock Banshee parts in order to buy the 450 components. So his team of guys engineered a+3+1 a arm and tie rod kit with 12 point adjustable Chromoly Heims that would correct the problems converting the Banshee suspension over to the 450R suspension.

 

As some one who did this I can tell you why people try it. The new YFZ rides great compared to the Banshee, if you stand back and look at the YFZ you would think you could take a six pack of bud and a couple of days and have that suspension setting under your Banshee. Then you look at the price comparison between the YFZ parts and aftermarket Banshee suspension parts. I paid:

 

$69.00 plus $20 shipping for my 2009 YFZ-450R Shocks.

$61.00 plus $30 shipping for my 2009 YFZ-450R a arms and tie rods.

$40.00 plus $12 shipping for the 2009 YFZ-450R Spindles.

$35.00 No shipping for the 2008 YFZ-450R Hubs.

$60.00 $14 shipping for the YFZ-450R steering stem and flag.

 

For a grand total of $341.00

 

The cheapest set of good after market a arms and tie rods are $380, and if you want a good set of shocks with mounted gas resignators like ELKA's Stage III for instance your looking $800-$1000 dollars. So the YFZ-450 suspension conversion looks real incising when you compare the money you'll be spending. I also had a Yamaha Tech at a local dealership tell me the YFZ-450R shocks were made by SHOWA and they were as good as any after market shock on the market. I copied and pasted this right off the YFZ Sales Information:

 

New long-travel front shocks offer fully adjustable Showa shocks with 9.8 inches of travel and separate adjusters for preload, rebound and compression damping, The shocks also have a Kashima coating on the body. This coating decreases shock temperature and friction, helping to improve shock life. The new wide arc lower A-arms are 2.65 inches wider per side. The wide arc design, according to Yamaha, increases ground clearance.

 

So it looks like he was telling the truth. The problem with the YFZ-450 Suspension is not the Shocks; there great it's the horrible geometry the a arms have on the Banshee frame, and they end up coming out a +6-2 set up which is way to wide. If you want a great front suspension that performs as good as any other front suspension on the market IMOA. Buy the YFZ-450R Shocks, Spindles, Hubs, and steering stem, by doing this you can also upgrade to the YFZ-450R Brakes and Brake lines that are 10X better than the Banshee's. It all comes down to this you can have one bad ass front suspension for about $700 bucks. In most cases you can't buy a good pair of after market shocks for much less than that. I am truly happy with my front suspension set up and I haven't seen another Banshee out riding that has a suspension that performs any better than this set up. You guys can take this for what it's worth, again all of this is my own opinion based on my experience with this set up.

 

Jim

 

I would like to see some pictures of this setup. Can you post some? Also, do the 450 a-arms bolt right up to the Banshee frame?

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oh boy here we go..

 

the other option is to buy a yfz 450 sell the motor out of it install your banshee motor. ta da!!

 

you end up with a light modern frame and the reliabilty and dependability of the banshee motor

 

yamaha SHOLD have done this and rereleased teh banshee. they would sell them easily i believe

Edited by camatv
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  • 2 years later...

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