P500 Bear Claws, Spacers and Elka

[Dave41]

26 inch Bear Claws, 2 inch spacers and stage I Elka shocks have transformed my 2017 P500 from a rock crusher to a rock cruiser. Mostly do rocky (think baby heads) trails above 10000 feet in Colorado - the stock setup was awful. The new setup is so much fun and the ride is no longer painful. $2K later it's become the machine I thought I was buying! Better late than never - right? - Dave

 

[Fischer]

26 inch Bear Claws, 2 inch spacers and stage I Elka shocks have transformed my 2017 P500 from a rock crusher to a rock cruiser. Mostly do rocky (think baby heads) trails above 10000 feet in Colorado - the stock setup was awful. The new setup is so much fun and the ride is no longer painful. $2K later it's become the machine I thought I was buying! Better late than never - right? - Dave

View attachment 285135

Stock rims?

 

[wvupsc]

Nice set-up! I installed the 26" Bear Claws and 1.5 inch spacers with ITP rims that have more offset than the stock ones. Made a huge difference. I still have stock suspension.

 

[Dave41]

Stock rims?

Yes - stock rims; 26x9R12 and 26x11R12 Bear Claw HTR's. I run 6PSI. The sway bar is removed (of course!). By far, the Elka shocks made the biggest difference.

Changes this spring also include going from Rotella oil to Mobile 1. The machine is shifting better than ever (finally!).

Its not uncommon for a trail here in CO to start at 10k feet with a long pull to 13k or even 14k. We dont carry much gear and its just me and my wife. The machine pulls these trails with no problem, albeit slowly. We are in our 60s and don't need to go anywhere fast.

These are my first posts after three years of reading the forum - the forum has been so helpful - the information found here has been spot on! We wanted a 50-inch(ish) machine for the trails nearby, and we wanted reliability. We were a little disappointed with the ride and these changes have turned that around completely.

Dave

 

[Fischer]

Yes - stock rims; 26x9R12 and 26x11R12 Bear Claw HTR's. I run 6PSI. The sway bar is removed (of course!). By far, the Elka shocks made the biggest difference.

Changes this spring also include going from Rotella oil to Mobile 1. The machine is shifting better than ever (finally!).

Its not uncommon for a trail here in CO to start at 10k feet with a long pull to 13k or even 14k. We dont carry much gear and its just me and my wife. The machine pulls these trails with no problem, albeit slowly. We are in our 60s and don't need to go anywhere fast.

These are my first posts after three years of reading the forum - the forum has been so helpful - the information found here has been spot on! We wanted a 50-inch(ish) machine for the trails nearby, and we wanted reliability. We were a little disappointed with the ride and these changes have turned that around completely.

Dave

Great reply. My only problem with spacers is I run mostly 50 inch trails which I like. If they widened them to 60 inch trails, like most want, it would turn trails into a mini highway. They would just get angry, cuz we are slower and in their way, I don't need that. Not good, at least in my opinion. There are plenty of places to run 60+ machienes, in fact, more so from what I've seen. For those of us who don't need the speed, 50 inch trails are good. Let's all compromise, plenty of room for all, even though we all have different machienes and ride differently. Nice looking machiene, have fun with it.

 

[Dave41]

Yep - I understand. We have quite a few 50 inch trails here and many of the gates will pass 52. I have several different width spacers and sometime will only run with spacers on the rear. My machine with the 2" ones runs 54.5" in the back and just fits on my 54 inch wide trailer.

It's all about roll over stability for me. When I first put the 26 inch tires on, I gained ground clearance. That allowed me to lower the ride height with shock adjustment. The stock shocks dont have much adjustment so when the Elka's went on, I was able to lower it a little more. I'd rather bottom out than roll over! And we are slow crawlers out on the trails - so I get to pick and choose a line.

Pics to follow....

Dave

Great reply. My only problem with spacers is I run mostly 50 inch trails which I like. If they widened them to 60 inch trails, like most want, it would turn trails into a mini highway. They would just get angry, cuz we are slower and in their way, I don't need that. Not good, at least in my opinion. There are plenty of places to run 60+ machienes, in fact, more so from what I've seen. For those of us who don't need the speed, 50 inch trails are good. Let's all compromise, plenty of room for all, even though we all have different machienes and ride differently. Nice looking machiene, have fun with it.

ment.

 

[Dave41]

A typical shelf road

 

[Dave41]

Drop off to the right sends you down several hundred feet. Not kidding.

 

[Dave41]

The payoff. 13,600 feet with a short hike to Mt Antero, in the background, at 14,000 feet. Is the P500 underpowered at elevation? Yes - but you don't notice because you're being very careful and slow!!!

 

[nctrailboss]

The payoff. 13,600 feet with a short hike to Mt Antero, in the background, at 14,000 feet. Is the P500 underpowered at elevation? Yes - but you don't notice because you're being very careful and slow!!!

View attachment 285373

How tough would it be getting help here if your fuel pump quit?Just asking because mine quit at low hours,but I was not as isolated as this appears.Just curious.I carry a spare with me now.

 

[Dave41]

It's a long walk back down but there's always Jeeps and SxSs around to help. And there's quite a few free rescue organizations in CO. We off-road early in the morning so that if we have any problems, we have the rest of day to get off mountain. There's almost daily thunderstorms in the afternoon....another reason to get back down before 1 or 2 pm.

 

[wvupsc]

26 inch Bear Claws, 2 inch spacers and stage I Elka shocks have transformed my 2017 P500 from a rock crusher to a rock cruiser. Mostly do rocky (think baby heads) trails above 10000 feet in Colorado - the stock setup was awful. The new setup is so much fun and the ride is no longer painful. $2K later it's become the machine I thought I was buying! Better late than never - right? - Dave

View attachment 285135

which Elka shocks did you get? I'm seriously considering the upgrade from stock.

 

[Dave41]

which Elka shocks did you get? I'm seriously considering the upgrade from stock.

Elka Stage 1. The least expensive ones avalable for the P500. Between the Elka and Walker Evans ones, there's probably little difference in ride, but I like the materials and machining on the Elka's better. Someone who has had both might be able to shed some light...

 

[Pauly B]

Elka Stage 1. The least expensive ones avalable for the P500. Between the Elka and Walker Evans ones, there's probably little difference in ride, but I like the materials and machining on the Elka's better. Someone who has had both might be able to shed some light...

Hey Dave! I have S2 Elkas on order right now, but I’m considering upgrading my order to S3’s. I don’t want to have any regrets about not going with a higher end model. I am already spending a bunch of money, what’s a couple hundred more bucks if it improves the ride, right? Lol
I’d be very interested in your comments on weather or not you wish you went with a higher end version of the Elkas. Thanks Paul

 

[wvupsc]

The big price jump is from S1's to S2's. That's why when I decided to go more than S1's, I just puckered up and got the S3's.

 

[Dave41]

I like the S1 ones over stock but have no way of telling how much better the 2's and 3's are. I think a lot of ride improvement is the spring rate...the stock springs are really stuff! Wish I had a shock Dyno.

 

[Splorin]

I've always felt that if the stock shocks are a '1' then quality replacements (ie Elka 1's) are probably at least a '7'. Each stage up from that goes up incrementally. Evan's and Elka 3's are solid '9s' and the stage 4s are probably '10s'. I take that back, the stockers are a '0.5'......

 

[Dave41]

Yes...stockers...zero point five!