flatbed

Thank you, I to enjoyed watching the grandkids open there presents from Santa. I want to wish you all a happy and safe new year, it has been fun camuticating back and for with new friends.

I wish i had more time, i could probably make up some kits that some one else could weld on. You have to be carefull because these joyner tube frames are not square. What i did on the front was make sure i was at the bottom of the susp stroke, when i rased the front of the car up to get the old shocks off. get the bolts loose so they come out free . You have to turn the steering both ways with the front wheels of the ground, feel the axle as it rotates and make sure there is no bind, keep raising the frame with the wheels just blocked off the ground untill you feel the axle start to bind, lower the frame back down until it is free. you have to have the steering turned all the way to one side, and than check the other side. Once you have this done you take the lower shock mount off and weld new tabs with 1/2" holes the distance of the shock hiem and 2 spacers. mount the lower shock mount and then start fabing the top mounts. You have to cut the upper mount out. The pictures show how i did it and that is plenty strong. If you can wait awhile i can probably make the upper shock mount set-up. I don,t think it matters what shock you use as long as it is a good shock. The 2 spring set up is the way to go, 8" tender with a 10 primary spring. The trooper becomes a totaly different car. I took it out yesterday and it climbs better than it did before and we know how these things climb. There is no comparison with the ride, The wife and her boobs are very happy.

Rocmoc, the shocks are mounted in the same plain as before, so unless your tank went over the cross tube you should be able to run 8.5, the shocks are not closer to the firewall

Lenny, there may be something that keeps the rod bushing and seal holder from sliding into the tube to far, i do not know if the tube has that in it since i have not seen one of these shocks apart. You will need something to keep it out at the end besides the preasure that is in the shock. There are a couple of ways of doing it, i am sure you can figure it out. You talk about alum for the shock shaft, I dont think it would wear very good, plus it would ding pretty easy. You need a hard steel with crome or stainless.

Kinarfi has help me out and posted the pictures in trooperfolk. He voiced consern about the cross bar no longer being there. In the pictures you notice that the top of the shock tower is not supported side to side. What i plan on doing is after i get the storagebox built behind the shock tower i am going to run braces back to the outside corners of the dash from the shock tower to keep the tower and frame from wanting to bend back or sideways, making the frame stronger. I will use 3/4" tubing as to keep the weight down.

I am afraid you have something else going on. Usually if your oil is too thick you will blow the oil filter off. I have run 50 weight kendall in the race cars, you just have to let them warm up. You are either getting alot of blow-by or you have some sort of blockage or oil leak, if oil is coming out off the canistar it is not from too much oil preasure. You have something else going on. If the crank case is not able to breath or release preasure (not oil preasure) it will start get air preasure in the block and start pushing out where ever it can. Make sure you crank case is ventalating.

sorry guys, no pictures tonight, Don,t know what i am going to do about the fenders yet, I also looked at moving the fender up, but i still think i would hit if i did something bad. i thought of triming the backs and just moving them in, but damn these things can throw the mud. I like your idea of the fender with a bump in it where the tire comes up. When i drove it yesterday the susp felt good, the front would dive when you hit the brakes, and rise when you were on the throutle. Just setting still and turning the wheel the corners would dive so i think i am close with the springs, I still have to see how the shock valving does on the bumps. I think i am going to the new years race at plaster city so i should know then. Hopefuly i get off earlier tommorow so i can post pictures. Click on picture to open album

I would make shure the tank is clean and no restrictions, makesure the drane back hose is not kinked, also make sure the crank case pcv valve is working and the hose are hooked up. If its real cold 10-30 should work fine, 15-40 if you let it warm up good before driving.

I just got the front shocks mounted on the trooper, the 8.5s fit under the hood, i was kinda of worried that i was going to have to trim a hole for the shock tower. I ended up cutting the tube that goes across the hood and the uprights out. The new shock tower just uses the center of the frame, so there is no cross bar in the hood. I keep the shocks at the same angles as stock, just made the upper mount taller and of course closer together because they tilt towards each other. The centers on the upper shock mount bolts are 10". I have added kickers and braces so it is plenty strong. I have to shorten the fenders because the tires will now come up and hit them. The susp is so soft that i can put a 16" block under one front wheel and all the tires stay on the ground. I now have 250 over 400s on the front with 30 over 35 on the valving. Drove it around some today, the trooper feels alot different.

lenny, you need the extra 3" for the area to fill with oil when the shock is all the way in, the rod is taking up area that has oil in it when it is extended. since you are going to work with the shim stack that you have, i think i would take #5 out of the compresion side and double stack 5 on the rebound side. I think the rear springs are overpowering the shocks, and you proved it when you moved the shock mout. It gave the arm more leverage against the spring. I asume you are moving the shock back close to stock.

Ii was talking about the distance from the throtle body to the air cleaner, long runners are for top end, this is not a carb engine , it is injecteed, as far as $900 for 15 hp, that is kind of costly. Knocking out the cat, i have already done that, gives you more on top end but i think the bottom is still flat. This engine is 9.5 to 1 so there is enough compresion to work with, we have no idea what the timing is or what the fuel mixture is. this engine just feels like it is starving for air on the low end. Has anyone pulled the intake of to see if the head and intake are port matched. What i am saying is there are alot of small thing that can be done on these engines before we have to think about going inside the engine and changing parts. It is nice to work with numbers. vilosity stacks were used to speed the air up before it got to the carb venturi for better fuel mixture, this engine is port injected so the fuel is sprayed into each cylinder, if you can get more air into the engine the computer will tell the injectors it needs more fuel.

I would leave the plugs and fuel preasure alone, I feel the engine improvements will come when the throtle body is changed. Your power always has something to do with fuel mixture. These are smog engines and I don't think chery had hp in mind to the extent that we are thinking about. Someone will do some testing in time and we will have a hp gain just like the other utv's, I would think these engines would get over 100 hp with the right mods which would be great. Puting a different intake system where the engine does not thave to suck the air so far before it gets to the throtlle body i think would help the low end.

Lenny, if you use a limit strap you can get rid of the spring which will give the shock more travel. Measure the thickness of the shims on the valving. To me it felt like the compresion was to stiff and the rebound was to soft.The shims should be different thickness stacked like a pirymid, is there enough shims to where you can move them around. I am sure you can figure out which way the oil flows. The end with the hime should come off. I use alum halfs with a hole in it, use the press to aplpy force on the shaft. Use map gas to release the lock tight to take the end off. Also you might be able to get rid of some material on the shaft bushing end. Can you put a snap ring on the inside of the shock body to hold the shock together, maybe weld a machined piece on the end of the body so you don't make it longer. That body is already to long for the stroke of the shock, try to keep it short.

Nice piece, i like the o-ring to keep the grit out, could the bearing be recess into the nut.

I checked mine the first time i cleaned it, no dust. I guess i will be looking before i use the trooper again. I have the carbonfiber top with the filter on top and sides with a precleaner over it. I use k&n filter oil. Thanks, i will be checking it .

lenny, the 2.0 sleeve that goes between the two springs should fit the stock shock, 5" and 10" would do wonders in the back, Try to use a spring compresser with the stock shocks, or make sure you use oil on the threads, I had one of mine siez up when taking the springs off. When you get the shocks apart you might be able to build a new piston to acept good seals. Make sure the shaft has a good nut holding the piston on. You got the right idea, might be able to sell a kit to others, a exchange program.

What is wrong with your old wheels, They are made of alum. You can repair alum wheels if they are not damaged too much and they will be just as strong with a good welder.

Don't bet, if it was that easy why would you make a differnt ring and pion for 4 wheel drive. Don't make me a rich man.

POP, that sounds like it might hurt, do not do that. Remember the front shocks are shorter than the back, kepp it simple

Its hell when you get old and can't see. I have the same problem.

the top mount is in the stock location. the lower shock mount is 14 1/2 " from the center of both the bolts that hold the trailing arm on, the mount is 1 3/4" up from the surface of the arm, all measurements are from center of bolt. Before welding make shure the shock is fully extended, put your hand on the axle and make shure you can move it, also rotate the cv joint to make shure it is not binding. the drain plug on my diff is 3/16" from the bottom of the tube, almost even with the bottom of the frame.

First off, buy the newest one, you can tell because they have a spot in the dash to put things, it looks like a open glove box. this way you know you are getting all the newest mods. i paid $11.300 for mine back in april. I would think you could do better than that because of how the economy is righ now, not a whole lot of people buying . There are some people on this site that could private messsage yoiu and tell you what the hard numbers are.

Shocks that you can adjust would be great, a ice chest in the back makes a huge difference in the susp. Lenny, the angle i am talkiing about is between the arm and the shock, if the shock is starting to stand strait up as you compress, it will make the spring not react correctly. I am running a 8" 300lb tender over a 10" 600lb on a 2.0 fox shock. I think a 350 on the tender would be better because you would not getting into the 600 as quick. I am not trying to sound like a know it all, just want other people reading this form to understand each others point of view. Like i said, i have 14 1/2 inches of travel in the back, the ride is outstanding and all i did was relocate the rear diff as you have done, but i moved the lower shock mount towards the rear about 3/4 of a inch and braced the arm. I have the front shocks, same size 2.0s with 300 over 400 but i have not put them in because i do not want to change the angles, i have to cut the tubing in the front of the car so i can move the the upper shock mount. I want the full 14 1/2 inches of travel in the front also. I do not know what the rear stock spring rate is, but i do know that it is more than a 600. the valving in my rear shocks is 50-40 with 200lbs of nitrigen.

Just a note to you guys that like the mud and water, the diff vent hoses are not very high, they could use a little more length, also the fuse box under the dash on the passanger side is not sealed on the firewall on my car. I sanded the back side of the box to get it to fit to keep the mud out of the back of it. There was also some one that sucked water in through the breather (crome canistar on drivers side) into the engine that cost them a rebuilt engine

When instaling shocks you have 3 points, where the arm pivots, the upper shock mount and the lower shock mount. It is very important to keep the angle between the lower shock mount and the arm as close to the same through the arc as you can. If you let that angle become more in effect you are making your spring get softer through its compresion, the leverage becomes more against the spring as the arm goes up, kind of like the latch that hold the rear deck down, it also hinders the springs ability to get the wheel back to ride height for the next bump. that is a extreme. Moving the lower mount closer to the arm pivot point, i do not think this is a good idea,the suspension will get softer as it compresses witch is the oppiste of what you want, the trooper angles are good stock, if any thing you want to move the lower shock mount away from the arm pivot point . You are facking the spring out untill you need it, and it is impossiable to get a shock to work that way. Stock shocks get hot very easy, they are made of stainless witch does not disapate hea very well, thick oil more heat, more nitrogen more heat, cheap shock , it will fail. I believe the ride is softer in what you have done because the steps you did make the spring softer, but the angle between the shock and arm increase as you go through your stroke.