Will this ride better? Take a look.

[turbowrenchhead]

I picked up a pair of decent yfz 450 front shocks for $100. This is what the guy said they were off of. When I measure the eye to eye distance it was 15 3/4. I was told that yfz 450 shocks were 16 1/4 eye to eye. Anyway I thought I would try to fit them in just to see how the bikes stance looks. They went in real easy. I compressed them by hand to get them lined up. The suspension travels fine when I do a bounce test. I'm wondering if they will ride better on the trails then the stock ones. I'm going up north Nov 4th-6th. So I need to know if I should take them back out or leave them in. I can also take the stock ones along and change them back out if I don't like the ride.

 

[yamaha28]

do you have anywhere to ride? I am assuming not or you would test it yourself. I would leave those shocks in and take the stock shocks. If anything happens or you don't like it, just do a quick swaparoo.

 

[sicivicdude]

find me a deal like that!

15 3/4" huh? I wonder if those are 03+ KFX400 shocks or something strange like that?

I can tell you, they'll ride a little rough on the stock suspension and wear your ball joints out VERY quickly because the shocks have more spring for travel than the ball joints do... You really need to remove them for your ride and ride on the stockies and then get a set of +3 +1 a-arms setup for those shocks and they'll ride LIKE A DREAM. Cole454, care to comment?

 

[turbowrenchhead]

I moved the preload rings to as high as I could get them and I notched out the bottom mount a little, it was rubbing. I jumped on the bike and it seemed to travel nice, but there is a big difference when your on the trails versus a bounce test.
I don't have anywhere to ride except when I take them on a trip up north. The motor is out right now. Ken Occonors did the motor build and its on its way back home. I'm looking forward getting it back in and putting all the goodies I have collected over the past 6 weeks.
I got the shocks off of craigs list locally. I figured if I didn't like them they are going for around $200 on ebay.
I think I will leave them on for the trip up north and try them out. I will bring the stockers with me in case I don't like the ride.

 

[Awk08]

i ran works performance yfz front shocks on my sons, and they were the 16"+ ones, they were awsome feeling, but had way too much angle on the a-arms, and wore out the ball joints in one season, the 15+ ones you have should be better suited for our suspension, i say run them and report back with your results

 

[turbowrenchhead]

I will. When I get more funds my next purchase will be a pair of +3+1 arms and those shocks should work for those right. When you change the arms do you swap over your stock ball joints?

 

[sicivicdude]

No, the stock ball joints aren't removable or replacable. The a-arm set should come with new ball joints to fit the application.

 

[blasterboy1019]

Anything is better than stock. I used 300ex shocks and those are even better.