a arm suspension arm angle adjustment

[slowdryrider]

Was looking in my service manual and came across this today about setting the front a arm angle and then tightening the a arm mount bolts. The section in the manual is 19 - 19 or page 449. What surprised me is that the manual says that the distance between the the shock mounts center to center of the bolts, should be set to 440mm - 448mm or 17.3" - 17.6" before tightening the bushing bolts. Now what has me thinking is because I've added a spring spacer as well as a lift now this setting is way off.I'am almost thinking that what I should do is to let the machine sit on the ground with the weight of the machine and loosen off the a arm bushing bolts so that they come to a netutral postion and then retighten them in that spot to relive any torque that has been put on them due to me installing a spring spacer as well as the lift. What do you think a person should do because there must be more torque on the bushings after installing the lift etc:

 

[Admin]

 

[Hondasxs]

I do agree there could be some hidden torque in those bushings. In theory, it could cause them to wear out faster then expected as they will be twisted when they should be at rest. However, my past dealings with these bushings on the Rincon and Rubicon was not really enough "recoil" for say, to have a side effect on the machine with what you may call a "negative lift pressure".
Your idea of letting it rest could work. But there is no way to test it without removing the hub assembly and seeing where the a-arm "free floats".
The distance between the bolts and shock will decrease/increase as it is moved by the spacer and lift. Building a bracket to correct that distance would be a waste of time in my opinion. But if you find a need to rebuild your lift it would defiantly consider it as a factor to building a "correct" lift.

 

[slowdryrider]

I do agree there could be some hidden torque in those bushings. In theory, it could cause them to wear out faster then expected as they will be twisted when they should be at rest. However, my past dealings with these bushings on the Rincon and Rubicon was not really enough "recoil" for say, to have a side effect on the machine with what you may call a "negative lift pressure".
Your idea of letting it rest could work. But there is no way to test it without removing the hub assembly and seeing where the a-arm "free floats".
The distance between the bolts and shock will decrease/increase as it is moved by the spacer and lift. Building a bracket to correct that distance would be a waste of time in my opinion. But if you find a need to rebuild your lift it would defiantly consider it as a factor to building a "correct" lift.

Thanks for your reply.I've replaced many bushing on my Polaris machines and never had to worry about torque on them due to how there designed way differnent.I didn't think about the ones on the Honda untill I happened to see the angle adjust in my service manual.
I was more thinking on the lines of lossening all the a arm mount bolts,and letting the bushings come to a negative torque.With the weight of the machine sitting on the ground and then tighten all the bolts back up to possibly help with keeping the bushing from premature wear. I know that there's not that much extra twist/torque applied to them due to the lift but still if I can keep things from wearing out faster because of installing the lift then this is what I'am going to try to do.

 

[spifyd]

tightening them at ride height would make the most sense. The big difference between the Honda in the Polaris ones would be you don't have to replace the Honda ones will last a lifetime.

 

[austinjohn]

Yes I completely agree with you that it is very important to tighten the bolts at the mid travel or at proper height.This would be really useful for the old bushings as well.Recently I purchased my control arm bushings from ARMSTRONG DISTRIBUTORS Inc.and replaced it.

 

[Hondasxs]

slowdryrider,
Did you ever adjust yours?

You were right. This did impose more pressure then I figured it would. I figured it would be the 4 inside bolts. But I found it was the 2 outside knuckle bolts causing most of the pressure. Few turns to loosen them and it fell down to where I needed it.
In the vid I have the shock and sway arm bar disconnected.

 

[slowdryrider]

slowdryrider,
Did you ever adjust yours?

You were right. This did impose more pressure then I figured it would. I figured it would be the 4 inside bolts. But I found it was the 2 outside knuckle bolts causing most of the pressure. Few turns to loosen them and it fell down to where I needed it.
In the vid I have the shock and sway arm bar disconnected.

Yes I did mine. As soon as I loosened the bolts etc: if you listened close you could hear the bushings relax so I think its something everyone should do if they've added a lift or ??

 

[SkyPup]

Do you all think this is something to attend to after installing a lift kit?

I just put the Strong Made lift kit on mine front and back and the knuckle bolts has allot of tension in the rears...

 

[Hondasxs]

Ya. Just ease it up and loosen the 2 bolts holding the knuckle to the a-arms. You will here it release. Lower it down and tighten them up.