jwb: this mod is going to be perfect you need that ground clearance when crawling over rocks then lower it when you have cleared it it is unbelievable that it was essientially a drop in on the rear its great that the suspension travel does not appear to cause issues with the cvjoints. seeing how there is no cutting or welding involved that might effect warranty i will be ordering the gabriels directly. i am going to put 27 in tires on as soon as i can free up the finances. this combo should make this machine great on rocky trails. thanks for sharing this. never would have thought that a car air shock would work perfectly. i was looking into using a small bottle of nitrogen as the air supply since it doesnt transfer heat and doesnt leak out like air does. a 20pd bottle is still around 2 feet long dont know if a composite bottle for air guns would be allowed to put nitrogen in or not. just an idea i was toying with.
Glad to share. I've been toying with the idea of a small scuba tank as an air supply- one fill would pressure up the shocks from empty dozens of times. I don't know how expensive the regulator(s) would be. My little compressor was like $60 (Vlair 92C)
Don't get caught up in the nitrogen hysteria- the air we breath is already almost 80% nitrogen, and only has about a 2% difference in expansion vs. air when heated. Don't see the need for the extra expense... on our machines anyways.
Oh ya, the tires- I have 26x10's on the front of mine, and they are very close to touching the frame when fully turned, so you might have to do the frame mod, or, apparently 27x9's will fit with no clearance issues- depending on tire style I'm sure. Take a look at atv-tv.com and the P500 reviews- he talks about tires too.
Anndddd..... when you pump up the shocks to full extension, it makes the machine narrower- at least with mine because of the bigger tires and wheel off-set make the machine wider than stock.
And maybe if we all pray real hard, someone will come up with a locker for our front differential, and our lives will be complete......