P1000m5 P1000 shock test and comparison

[drfubar]

Is a suarez glock vs a stock glock justifiable?

Is your life and/or the lives of your family worth having the best tools available?

 

[drfubar]

I can't just make a blanket statement that says the cost is justified for everyone. Everyone's needs are different, everyone's financial situation is different, and some people are more content with what Honda provides stock. Heck, I haven't been willing yet to spend that kind of money on shocks but I'm sure it will happen this year. What's really going to hurt is when I have to send these back and then I'll really be wanting to up grade.

I just try to do a service for the community and provide as much information as I can so that other members can make an informed decision.

Yep, I think you need to run for the Governor of Alabama... In fact that's my new handle for you...lol

 

[drfubar]

I can't just make a blanket statement that says the cost is justified for everyone. Everyone's needs are different, everyone's financial situation is different, and some people are more content with what Honda provides stock. Heck, I haven't been willing yet to spend that kind of money on shocks but I'm sure it will happen this year. What's really going to hurt is when I have to send these back and then I'll really be wanting to up grade.

I just try to do a service for the community and provide as much information as I can so that other members can make an informed decision.

With unlimited funds to me it doesn't seem like the best upgrade but it's not my money and anyone that is all for the shock upgrade go for it. Just don't let me pull you out of the mud hole. Or don't have any problems climbing the rock I just climbed cause I'm gonna be trash talking like ya never heard...

 

[snuffnwhisky]

Is your life and/or the lives of your family worth having the best tools available?

Exactly my point. If you have the means and are going to possibly put yourself in danger, you want the best possible. Removing my swaybar probably helped me from going turtle back in the creek with @Delton and I almost endo'ed with my stock shocks not thinking that little bump was bad!

 

[joeymt33]

A shock upgrade is something you enjoy every time you turn the key. The big mud tires are nice but I don't think they make your riding experience more enjoyable all the time. The money we spend on winches and dual batteries only help for that small 5% of the time we are out four wheeling. Even the windshield in our part of the country is only enjoyed half the year or less. There's many of us that have spent a lot of money on suspension upgrades which helps only those few times we don't want to get high centered.

There are other things that I enjoy every time I turn the key on, the roof is something I will probably never removed because it helps keep me warm in the winter and keep me from getting sunburned in the summer as well as several other benefits to having it. A stereo is something else that can be enjoyed every time, I think shocks should be added to the list of things that you'll receive a benefit from the majority of the time using the vehicle.

There is one other major benefit to having a good set of shocks. @CumminsPusher can also vouch for this, it will save wear and tear on your vehicle. I ripped the shock mounts from the frame on my pioneer 700 from bottoming out. Now the high lifter kit didn't help any but I know exactly when it happened and it was because the front suspension bottomed out real hard.

If the shocks cost $200 apiece, it would be something that a lot more people do. It's just the cost makes us think long and hard before making our decision on whether we should do it or not.

So @drfubar, you do force us to bring all of this into a discussion and make us think about it more in depth. Damn, I should be rewarding you for this conversation. I know you're just trying aggravate me!

 

[ohanacreek]

A shock upgrade is something you enjoy every time you turn the key. The big mud tires are nice but I don't think they make your riding experience more enjoyable all the time. The money we spend on winches and dual batteries only help for that small 5% of the time we are out four wheeling. Even the windshield in our part of the country is only enjoyed half the year or less. There's many of us that have spent a lot of money on suspension upgrades which helps only those few times we don't want to get high centered.

There are other things that I enjoy every time I turn the key on, the roof is something I will probably never removed because it helps keep me warm in the winter and keep me from getting sunburned in the summer as well as several other benefits to having it. A stereo is something else that can be enjoyed every time, I think shocks should be added to the list of things that you'll receive a benefit from the majority of the time using the vehicle.

There is one other major benefit to having a good set of shocks. @CumminsPusher can also vouch for this, it will save wear and tear on your vehicle. I ripped the shock mounts from the frame on my pioneer 700 from bottoming out. Now the high lifter kit didn't help any but I know exactly when it happened and it was because the front suspension bottomed out real hard.

If the shocks cost $200 apiece, it would be something that a lot more people do. It's just the cost makes us think long and hard before making our decision on whether we should do it or not.

So @drfubar, you do force us to bring all of this into a discussion and make us think about it more in depth. Damn, I should be rewarding you for this conversation. I know you're just trying aggravate me!

Joey you could see a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves.

 

[CumminsPusher]

A shock upgrade is something you enjoy every time you turn the key. The big mud tires are nice but I don't think they make your riding experience more enjoyable all the time. The money we spend on winches and dual batteries only help for that small 5% of the time we are out four wheeling. Even the windshield in our part of the country is only enjoyed half the year or less. There's many of us that have spent a lot of money on suspension upgrades which helps only those few times we don't want to get high centered.

There are other things that I enjoy every time I turn the key on, the roof is something I will probably never removed because it helps keep me warm in the winter and keep me from getting sunburned in the summer as well as several other benefits to having it. A stereo is something else that can be enjoyed every time, I think shocks should be added to the list of things that you'll receive a benefit from the majority of the time using the vehicle.

There is one other major benefit to having a good set of shocks. @CumminsPusher can also vouch for this, it will save wear and tear on your vehicle. I ripped the shock mounts from the frame on my pioneer 700 from bottoming out. Now the high lifter kit didn't help any but I know exactly when it happened and it was because the front suspension bottomed out real hard.

If the shocks cost $200 apiece, it would be something that a lot more people do. It's just the cost makes us think long and hard before making our decision on whether we should do it or not.

So @drfubar, you do force us to bring all of this into a discussion and make us think about it more in depth. Damn, I should be rewarding you for this conversation. I know you're just trying aggravate me!

I absolutely agree. I saw this first hand in the 700. Good shocks will save parts and abuse on the machine. To go one step past it's also safer. Anytime you have more chance of all the tires on the ground it's less chance of injury. I want shocks too and it's not to be better then anyone it's to have a better ride. You cannot drive this vehicle to its ability with the shocks from stock. We all know that. It's a major upgrade.


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[drfubar]

Exactly my point. If you have the means and are going to possibly put yourself in danger, you want the best possible. Removing my swaybar probably helped me from going turtle back in the creek with @Delton and I almost endo'ed with my stock shocks not thinking that little bump was bad!

You are comparing apples to oranges... I give up.

 

[drfubar]

So @drfubar, you do force us to bring all of this into a discussion and make us think about it more in depth. Damn, I should be rewarding you for this conversation. I know you're just trying aggravate me!

Exactly

 

[Tigermark]

You can buy him a cold Coors lite, for aggravation services.

 

[snuffnwhisky]

Initial shock feelings:

The Elkas feel a lot stiffer just trying to rock and push down on the bumpers. The Elkas lowest compression in the front felt like the Walker Evans with 3 clicks from full tight. The rear Walker Evans were closer feeling in the rear to the Elkas but still a pretty big difference. The side to side rock with both shocks loose was a big difference. Walkers felt as soft as stock if not softer. You could rock the top probably a foot. Elkas were like 4" of movement. The stock 3 seat shocks felt a lot better than my stock shocks on the 5 seater. There is 3 big differences though, the 3 seater had 6 ply tires and does not have the load leveling rear shocks and is almost 200# lighter than the 5 seater. The stock shocks and bighorns on my 5 seater with the swaybar on had a lot more body roll, bottomed the front real easy and didn't feel confident at higher speed going across a bumpy field. The 3 seater wasn't that bad overall.

Jumping:

Walker Evans did a better job then the Elkas. I was not able to adjust the Elkas to keep the rear end from hopping up. The front felt great but the rears are going to have to go back to Elka for revalving. Pretty much went from one extreme to the other adjusting. The Walkers seem to work wherever they were set. Joey didn't do much tweeking and jumping so they will probably do even better than in the video with some back to back testing and tweeking. The 3 seat wasn't terrible but it needed more dampening for that. I'm pretty sure If I did the same jump in my stock 5 seater I would have been cleaning my pants out.

High speed trail riding:

I felt a lot more confident with the Elka rig. A lot of varibles there though. Joeys Walker rig is taller and heavier up top so there was a lot of body roll. Didn't seem to bother Joey. He drove his like he stole it and didn't flip it! I rode with him after doing a AFR adjustment. I was holding the laptop unbuckled while he raised hell to get the adjustment made. Towards the end he asked me if I had been watching the AFR. I'm sitting there thinking crap I should have been watching but to busy trying to hang on and figure out what to do if we rolled! Joeys Walker rig seemed to plant the rear tires better but did have some understeer. My elka rig was more likely to oversteer. I did take about 15 rounds of rebound out of the rear shock after Joeys drove it and it did hookup in the rear a lot better and less oversteer. Not sure where the Walkers were set at but could have been quiet a bit stiffer for the fast stuff.

Log bump test:

Didn't get much out of it. Needed larger logs. I would say the Elkas was best but really not enough difference from the Walkers to matter. A small adjustment on the rear of the Walkers and it would have been the same. The Elka machine felt like it floated across. The Walker machine floated the front and a very minor bump in the rear The stock 3 seater wasn't that bad either. You could feel the bumps but really wasn't bad. I expected a lot worse.

Overall:

Very happy and very pissed with the Elkas. The low and high speed handling is very good. The jumping not so good. I have reached out to Elka with the videos to get the rear hop fixed. They sent everything to R&D and will contact me this week. I think the high speed dampening is way off. The Elkas were Stage 4 and only the Stage 5 has high speed compression dampening external adjustment. I think Walker Evans did a better job with the overall stock valving. I didn't get a chance to tighten them up on the high speed trail riding and see the difference in body roll but if you drive like Joey and it doesn't flip on its side, I don't know if you really need to stiffen them up! The Walkers were a little noisy. You hear the shock oil moving through it. The Elkas are dead quiet. It looked like the build quality on the outside might be a little higher on the Elkas.

Spring Rates:

Elka
250# Front
300# Rear

Walker Evans
225# Front
250# Rear

 

[AKRider]

Initial shock feelings:

The Elkas feel a lot stiffer just trying to rock and push down on the bumpers. The Elkas lowest compression in the front felt like the Walker Evans with 3 clicks from full tight. The rear Walker Evans were closer feeling in the rear to the Elkas but still a pretty big difference. The side to side rock with both shocks loose was a big difference. Walkers felt as soft as stock if not softer. You could rock the top probably a foot. Elkas were like 4" of movement. The stock 3 seat shocks felt a lot better than my stock shocks on the 5 seater. There is 3 big differences though, the 3 seater had 6 ply tires and does not have the load leveling rear shocks and is almost 200# lighter than the 5 seater. The stock shocks and bighorns on my 5 seater with the swaybar on had a lot more body roll, bottomed the front real easy and didn't feel confident at higher speed going across a bumpy field. The 3 seater wasn't that bad overall.

Jumping:

Walker Evans did a better job then the Elkas. I was not able to adjust the Elkas to keep the rear end from hopping up. The front felt great but the rears are going to have to go back to Elka for revalving. Pretty much went from one extreme to the other adjusting. The Walkers seem to work wherever they were set. Joey didn't do much tweeking and jumping so they will probably do even better than in the video with some back to back testing and tweeking. The 3 seat wasn't terrible but it needed more dampening for that. I'm pretty sure If I did the same jump in my stock 5 seater I would have been cleaning my pants out.

High speed trail riding:

I felt a lot more confident with the Elka rig. A lot of varibles there though. Joeys Walker rig is taller and heavier up top so there was a lot of body roll. Didn't seem to bother Joey. He drove his like he stole it and didn't flip it! I rode with him after doing a AFR adjustment. I was holding the laptop unbuckled while he raised hell to get the adjustment made. Towards the end he asked me if I had been watching the AFR. I'm sitting there thinking crap I should have been watching but to busy trying to hang on and figure out what to do if we rolled! Joeys Walker rig seemed to plant the rear tires better but did have some understeer. My elka rig was more likely to oversteer. I did take about 15 rounds of rebound out of the rear shock after Joeys drove it and it did hookup in the rear a lot better and less oversteer. Not sure where the Walkers were set at but could have been quiet a bit stiffer for the fast stuff.

Log bump test:

Didn't get much out of it. Needed larger logs. I would say the Elkas was best but really not enough difference from the Walkers to matter. A small adjustment on the rear of the Walkers and it would have been the same. The Elka machine felt like it floated across. The Walker machine floated the front and a very minor bump in the rear The stock 3 seater wasn't that bad either. You could feel the bumps but really wasn't bad. I expected a lot worse.

Overall:

Very happy and very pissed with the Elkas. The low and high speed handling is very good. The jumping not so good. I have reached out to Elka with the videos to get the rear hop fixed. They sent everything to R&D and will contact me this week. I think the high speed dampening is way off. The Elkas were Stage 4 and only the Stage 5 has high speed compression dampening external adjustment. I think Walker Evans did a better job with the overall stock valving. I didn't get a chance to tighten them up on the high speed trail riding and see the difference in body roll but if you drive like Joey and it doesn't flip on its side, I don't know if you really need to stiffen them up! The Walkers were a little noisy. You hear the shock oil moving through it. The Elkas are dead quiet. It looked like the build quality on the outside might be a little higher on the Elkas.

Spring Rates:

Elka
250# Front
300# Rear

Walker Evans
225# Front
250# Rear

Excellent writeup, @snuffnwhisky. Although I only have the WE on the front, I immediately noticed a huge difference in handling and ride. On my initial ride I had them set at 4 clicks. They are a little noisy, but less so, I think, when you stiffen them up.

 

[Tflynn]

Great information guys!