Sorry to get so wordy...
So, for a while now I have been noticing a bit more passenger tire rub than usual, but me being me I ignored it until I couldn't. A few weeks ago I apparently finished tearing the tube at the upper rear mount on my "test & tune day" for the Locker & EZ-steer.
Then I had to make serious time consuming repairs, a weeks worth.
It involved a total tear down of the front end to clean the area, remove the arms, the diff (I have a thread about the axles taking me hours to remove (Cir-clip)) and the rack & pinion, then bend & move things back into place and align the mount tabs, then weld the front 4 upper tabs properly...and then make gussets for both sides.
Then I only had to reassemble and I found the A-Arm bushing design to be horrible and unacceptable. I know JWB had pointed this out before, but I thought I could just back off on the nuts and be fine, I was wrong. I swear those things tightened themselves up at some point.
I could not just put that back together like it was. BAD Honda engineers..BAD!
That design is the reason people that ride hard are damaging those suspension mounts, the design causes work hardening and metal fatigue at that weak point. Those teeth turn the bushings into a fixed torsion bar spring.
Seriously, if you do no other mods remove your arms and grind those teeth off the ends of the bushings and insert washers in their place and you will have a different machine. Those stubby little arms will move a lot faster and farther, and for the buggies with the "Double Air shock" mod it makes a noticeable improvement to the capabilities of this little rig.
It has more "Usable" range of motion than a lot of over-sprung RZR's or Teryx that use springs as a lift kit for more height. When you watch videos of those guys rock crawling you rarely see a wheel go UP very far do you? Like my autoshop teacher in High School always said, it's better to use all of 6 than a half of 8!
Anyway, I guess that's not even the point I was getting too. I wanted to say this machine rocks now. With the air shocks, the free moving arms and that LOCKER this thing is a beast, and the power steering is sweet! It lets me smoke a cigar while looking good!
I went to a state riding area this weekend with a some 1000XP's a new General, and a few other $$ rigs. A few of the buggies were new and/or had new pilots so we took some medium trails to acclimate the new guys, and that got kinda boring so we moved onto the black and after one of those a few of the bikes went home due to not having tree kickers (but nice stereos apparently?) and those trails were steep, rutted and not wide, in reality they are kinda dangerous for a novice. So I cant blame them, but we did have a bet on who would be upside down first. But them leaving meant we were free to roam onto more black trails.
The P5 owned those black trails on this day! Seriously ,I have been where I shouldn't a few times, and to be honest have had to sit a few of them out, I am no rockstar trail master but I know the limits of my rig.
But, this time was special, I was matching and sometimes beating RZR's to the top of technical climbs consistently. A short wheelbase can have it's advantages sometimes. I had the front end off the ground a few times when coming over the peak, and learned that in a serious off camber hillside turn you can now drive on two wheels...in this case it was the left two. I was at a point where I was either going to fall over, or punch it while on two wheels and roll onto flatter ground and that thing actually did it. No way I would have tried that with no locker and been successful, it would have only been one wheel drive.
Now, I'll admit that with this set-up on a 500 I do have more money invested in it than I wanted to have. I got this machine so I could go watch others fail and party a bit at down on the farm so to speak, but after owning this one for a few years now, and looking at the cost of ownership of the higher HP rigs and what it takes to keep them going I think I am doing fine with my investment in tires & wheels, air shocks, locker and power steering. The other bits are nice (Winch, lights etc..), but these things make it truly capable.
I had another one of those "What the hell is that thing" conversations with guys in a Teryx , love how those conversations go, I also love the look on their collective faces when I say "It's just a 500".
See you guys out there!
Alex
So, for a while now I have been noticing a bit more passenger tire rub than usual, but me being me I ignored it until I couldn't. A few weeks ago I apparently finished tearing the tube at the upper rear mount on my "test & tune day" for the Locker & EZ-steer.
Then I had to make serious time consuming repairs, a weeks worth.
It involved a total tear down of the front end to clean the area, remove the arms, the diff (I have a thread about the axles taking me hours to remove (Cir-clip)) and the rack & pinion, then bend & move things back into place and align the mount tabs, then weld the front 4 upper tabs properly...and then make gussets for both sides.
Then I only had to reassemble and I found the A-Arm bushing design to be horrible and unacceptable. I know JWB had pointed this out before, but I thought I could just back off on the nuts and be fine, I was wrong. I swear those things tightened themselves up at some point.
I could not just put that back together like it was. BAD Honda engineers..BAD!
That design is the reason people that ride hard are damaging those suspension mounts, the design causes work hardening and metal fatigue at that weak point. Those teeth turn the bushings into a fixed torsion bar spring.
Seriously, if you do no other mods remove your arms and grind those teeth off the ends of the bushings and insert washers in their place and you will have a different machine. Those stubby little arms will move a lot faster and farther, and for the buggies with the "Double Air shock" mod it makes a noticeable improvement to the capabilities of this little rig.
It has more "Usable" range of motion than a lot of over-sprung RZR's or Teryx that use springs as a lift kit for more height. When you watch videos of those guys rock crawling you rarely see a wheel go UP very far do you? Like my autoshop teacher in High School always said, it's better to use all of 6 than a half of 8!
Anyway, I guess that's not even the point I was getting too. I wanted to say this machine rocks now. With the air shocks, the free moving arms and that LOCKER this thing is a beast, and the power steering is sweet! It lets me smoke a cigar while looking good!
I went to a state riding area this weekend with a some 1000XP's a new General, and a few other $$ rigs. A few of the buggies were new and/or had new pilots so we took some medium trails to acclimate the new guys, and that got kinda boring so we moved onto the black and after one of those a few of the bikes went home due to not having tree kickers (but nice stereos apparently?) and those trails were steep, rutted and not wide, in reality they are kinda dangerous for a novice. So I cant blame them, but we did have a bet on who would be upside down first. But them leaving meant we were free to roam onto more black trails.
The P5 owned those black trails on this day! Seriously ,I have been where I shouldn't a few times, and to be honest have had to sit a few of them out, I am no rockstar trail master but I know the limits of my rig.
But, this time was special, I was matching and sometimes beating RZR's to the top of technical climbs consistently. A short wheelbase can have it's advantages sometimes. I had the front end off the ground a few times when coming over the peak, and learned that in a serious off camber hillside turn you can now drive on two wheels...in this case it was the left two. I was at a point where I was either going to fall over, or punch it while on two wheels and roll onto flatter ground and that thing actually did it. No way I would have tried that with no locker and been successful, it would have only been one wheel drive.
Now, I'll admit that with this set-up on a 500 I do have more money invested in it than I wanted to have. I got this machine so I could go watch others fail and party a bit at down on the farm so to speak, but after owning this one for a few years now, and looking at the cost of ownership of the higher HP rigs and what it takes to keep them going I think I am doing fine with my investment in tires & wheels, air shocks, locker and power steering. The other bits are nice (Winch, lights etc..), but these things make it truly capable.
I had another one of those "What the hell is that thing" conversations with guys in a Teryx , love how those conversations go, I also love the look on their collective faces when I say "It's just a 500".
See you guys out there!
Alex
