P500 p5 suspension

[jak9922]

Had a chance to evaluate the air shock conversion yesterday at a buddy's house, he has an MX track and a creek etc... Awesome. Even the guys that I ride with that are/were skeptical about the P5 were there to see first hand were amazed and how much improvement it made. The track had a series of "Whoops" that would typically hurt in a P5, they were big enough to cause the front shocks to spring bind at speed, but with these shocks I went fast enough to blow my hat off. I am not going to call it "Supple", but it was a huge improvement. FYI I still have the stock rear shocks and no sway bar. As far as articulation its a monster improvement. I can now shove one wheel all the way up until the shock runs out of stroke and keep the other 3 wheels on the ground (with the hoke open). I found a large rock and with two riders we would put one front tire up on the rock with the hoke closed and drive up it till the one rear wheel lifted and we could feel the buggy rock back n forth, but then I opened the HOKE and it settled right down and dropped the lifted tire, so I tried it again with the valve open and had no lift off at all! Passengers were impressed. These are the same guys that would freak out when I would climb hills and have "Aggressive 3 wheel action" so to speak. It looked scary I guess, I never got to see it from the drivers seat.

On the berms and fast corners the thing feels like a rock crawler with a solid axle front end with a pivot point in the middle, the lean was really pronounced but the tires stayed planted. With the HOKE closed the cornering was much tighter and perfect for my riding style since I never go fast anyway. I went faster trying to break things yesterday than I typically ride. The only time I go fast-ish is on gravel roads etc..

My recommendation is to DO IT! a BIG THANKS TO JWB! YOU DA MAN!

wait until you change the rears it really brings it all together weather you run air shock coilover or whatever

 

[Admin]

 

[Montecresto]

Had a chance to evaluate the air shock conversion yesterday at a buddy's house, he has an MX track and a creek etc... Awesome. Even the guys that I ride with that are/were skeptical about the P5 were there to see first hand were amazed and how much improvement it made. The track had a series of "Whoops" that would typically hurt in a P5, they were big enough to cause the front shocks to spring bind at speed, but with these shocks I went fast enough to blow my hat off. I am not going to call it "Supple", but it was a huge improvement. FYI I still have the stock rear shocks and no sway bar. As far as articulation its a monster improvement. I can now shove one wheel all the way up until the shock runs out of stroke and keep the other 3 wheels on the ground (with the hoke open). I found a large rock and with two riders we would put one front tire up on the rock with the hoke closed and drive up it till the one rear wheel lifted and we could feel the buggy rock back n forth, but then I opened the HOKE and it settled right down and dropped the lifted tire, so I tried it again with the valve open and had no lift off at all! Passengers were impressed. These are the same guys that would freak out when I would climb hills and have "Aggressive 3 wheel action" so to speak. It looked scary I guess, I never got to see it from the drivers seat.

On the berms and fast corners the thing feels like a rock crawler with a solid axle front end with a pivot point in the middle, the lean was really pronounced but the tires stayed planted. With the HOKE closed the cornering was much tighter and perfect for my riding style since I never go fast anyway. I went faster trying to break things yesterday than I typically ride. The only time I go fast-ish is on gravel roads etc..

My recommendation is to DO IT! a BIG THANKS TO JWB! YOU DA MAN!

That's awesome pFive, this most certainly is on my to do list. And I agree, thanks JWB for the inspiration, instruction and encouragement for this mod.

 

[JWB]

Had a chance to evaluate the air shock conversion yesterday at a buddy's house, he has an MX track and a creek etc... Awesome. Even the guys that I ride with that are/were skeptical about the P5 were there to see first hand were amazed and how much improvement it made. The track had a series of "Whoops" that would typically hurt in a P5, they were big enough to cause the front shocks to spring bind at speed, but with these shocks I went fast enough to blow my hat off. I am not going to call it "Supple", but it was a huge improvement. FYI I still have the stock rear shocks and no sway bar. As far as articulation its a monster improvement. I can now shove one wheel all the way up until the shock runs out of stroke and keep the other 3 wheels on the ground (with the hoke open). I found a large rock and with two riders we would put one front tire up on the rock with the hoke closed and drive up it till the one rear wheel lifted and we could feel the buggy rock back n forth, but then I opened the HOKE and it settled right down and dropped the lifted tire, so I tried it again with the valve open and had no lift off at all! Passengers were impressed. These are the same guys that would freak out when I would climb hills and have "Aggressive 3 wheel action" so to speak. It looked scary I guess, I never got to see it from the drivers seat.

On the berms and fast corners the thing feels like a rock crawler with a solid axle front end with a pivot point in the middle, the lean was really pronounced but the tires stayed planted. With the HOKE closed the cornering was much tighter and perfect for my riding style since I never go fast anyway. I went faster trying to break things yesterday than I typically ride. The only time I go fast-ish is on gravel roads etc..

My recommendation is to DO IT! a BIG THANKS TO JWB! YOU DA MAN!

You're very welcome! Thanks for the great review and compliment! Made my day man! I've been riding mine all weekend and showing it no mercy, and I can't really find any faults worth mentioning compared to the vast improvement it makes to the entire attitude of the machine. It goes through and over obstacles that it plain and simply could NOT traverse before. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. But high praises and glowing reports coming from the guy that designed it is always open to skepticism, and of course I could be very biased in my observations. It appears you're getting the same results I have. Very very cool! I also noticed that the biggest improvement came with the front shock change. When I added the rears the only notable change was that there is absolutely no more 'sharpness' to the ride. You can still make it firm, and not have it bang hard when the rear drops off a large obstacle, or going fast over very rough terrain- it's more like a firm 'whoosh' and not the back jarring deal it was with the stockers. I added my external air connection today for airing up tires- works like a champ, and I also made a rubber cover that snaps over all my valves to keep the mud, weather and debris off them. Check the roll pin(s) that hold the toggles on the hoke valve(s)- I had a couple of loose ones that I replaced with stainless cotter pins.

 

[pFive]

Pics of air connection and other bits in case I feel the need to steal that idea?

 

[JWB]

Pics of air connection and other bits in case I feel the need to steal that idea?

I'll post some pics later- camera dead. All I did was stick a length of 1/4" tube into the open port of my 'exhaust' Hoke, and at the other end of the tube I used a 1/4" npt to 1/4" tube adapter and screwed on a male 'M' air line fitting, and just laid it into the space along the edge of the hood. Then I used a 20' piece of air hose we had laying around the shop, and added a female 'M' connector to each end of that. I just coiled the hose up tight and stowed it in my cargo box. If I need more space in the cargo box on a serious ride, I'll bungee the hose to the cage in front of the box. So, if I need to use the air hose, I open the main valve that feeds my manifold, connect the air line, and then open the exhaust valve to feed the hose. The compressor kicks on at 90psi, and shuts off at 120psi. I inflated all my tires, one after the other, to 12psi from 5psi and didn't have to wait for the compressor. It ran for about 30 sec's. after I finished. I thought I had posted some pics of the completed system- less the air hose set-up....

 

[pFive]

Ahh. I don't have a compressor mounted, it is just going to stay in a dry bag and be on the ready. I put my air fitting under the hood near the dash and it seems to hold PSI pretty good, no need to add air yet. Those black plastic push fittings with the blue ends are great.

 

[JWB]

Ahh. I don't have a compressor mounted, it is just going to stay in a dry bag and be on the ready. I put my air fitting under the hood near the dash and it seems to hold PSI pretty good, no need to add air yet. Those black plastic push fittings with the blue ends are great.

Here's some pics. I also added some rubber shields in the fender wells to keep crap out of the dash area, you can see part of it on the right side in last pic. It's working really well. The air fitting lays in that spot perfectly (middle pic) and doesn't interfere with the hood at all. Those push connectors are working well too, the system has been leak-free for a week at a time, although temperature does affect it- pressure rises on a warm day, and drops on the cold ones- as much as 5psi in each direction. More than I expected.

 

[JWB]

I still want to add a pressure gauge, but I can't find a small digital one to fit in the extremely limited space on the dash, and I can't mount anything on the cage cause it'll get torn off. I'm considering cannibalizing one of those cheap little digital tire pressure gauges, cause that's the exact size of read-out I want. So far can't find one 'stand-alone'.

 

[pFive]

You have much larger diameter lines that I used. I stayed with the air lines that the shocks used, I wonder if yours works faster?

 

[JWB]

The large diameter lines only feed the valves. The lines from the valves to the shocks are the 1/8 lines supplied with the shocks to keep system volume to a minimum. I have tried the system with the shocks 'seeing' the full volume of the system by opening the appropriate valves, and the machine became very spongy, and bottomed easily. More volume really degrades the effectiveness of the shocks.

 

[KYhillbilly]

this gauge might work. Cole-Parmer Digital Pressure Gauge, 0 to 145 psi, with 1/4" NPT(M) Connections from Cole-Parmer

Cole Parmer miniature pressure gauge model [HASHTAG]#6895035[/HASHTAG]. They have several other models as well.

I still want to add a pressure gauge, but I can't find a small digital one to fit in the extremely limited space on the dash, and I can't mount anything on the cage cause it'll get torn off. I'm considering cannibalizing one of those cheap little digital tire pressure gauges, cause that's the exact size of read-out I want. So far can't find one 'stand-alone'.

 

[JWB]

this gauge might work. Cole-Parmer Digital Pressure Gauge, 0 to 145 psi, with 1/4" NPT(M) Connections from Cole-Parmer

Cole Parmer miniature pressure gauge model [HASHTAG]#6895035[/HASHTAG]. They have several other models as well.

Thanks for the info. I took a look at it, and it's a 1 7/8" diameter so it won't fit the dash either. I've looked at hundreds of gauges, and for some reason, no matter how big, or small the read-out, they're always packaged as a round gauge that's too big. Even the motorcycle applications are huge... What I need, is that rectangular read-out, that's packaged in a housing that's the same shape, and only slightly larger than the display itself. They have digital pressure gauges that are key-fobs, so I know it's possible. Just can't find it!

 

[KYhillbilly]

space is limited, I'm sure you have seen the remote readout and wireless ones as well but they are similar in size. Could you use a gauge pod like used on a diesel truck and mount to roll bar tube or under the roof on roll bar cross member.

I will keep looking as I have worked in chemical plants and refineries and have seen the small digital readouts. Should even be a way of running a signal wirelessly to an iPhone or other device. All you need is time and money.

 

[JWB]

space is limited, I'm sure you have seen the remote readout and wireless ones as well but they are similar in size. Could you use a gauge pod like used on a diesel truck and mount to roll bar tube or under the roof on roll bar cross member.

I will keep looking as I have worked in chemical plants and refineries and have seen the small digital readouts. Should even be a way of running a signal wirelessly to an iPhone or other device. All you need is time and money.

Thanks for your efforts- much appreciated! I can't mount anything to the roll cage- it gets scraped off. We ride through heavy brush and woods, and often end up pushing under, through, or between trees. Even the rear view mirror was taking a beating so I took it off. The gauge isn't mandatory, but if I could find something that fits the bill, I would really like to have it. It would make setting the front and rear air pressure easier and more consistent, and would be the finishing touch to the whole set-up.

 

[KYhillbilly]

How small are you looking for and can you do analog, tons of small analog gauges. Have you seen this one on ebay? it is square 1"x2"
Digital Fuel Oil Pressure Gauge 10 bar/150 PSI | eBay

and I understand on pushing brush, my cab and bed was full of sticks after my ride today.

 

[JWB]

How small are you looking for and can you do analog, tons of small analog gauges. Have you seen this one on ebay? it is square 1"x2"
Digital Fuel Oil Pressure Gauge 10 bar/150 PSI | eBay

and I understand on pushing brush, my cab and bed was full of sticks after my ride today.

That would fit, but man is that overkill! Analogue would be fine- if I could read it, you know, up close... Have you done any of the suspension mods yet?

 

[KYhillbilly]

I agree that is steep. No I have not done any suspension mods, just a bed, tires/wheels, winch, skid plates next. I had an 02 Wrangler that I had modified and now the P500 has taken its place. I am nearly 49 and an 02 wrangler for a daily driver was getting old and ruining my hearing. I have a long wish list but most will remain a wish, have 1 in college now, 2 in college next fall and one still in high school.

However I am keeping tabs on your suspension mods as I am a nerd and mechanically inclined and would like to do them to improve the ride.

 

[JWB]

I agree that is steep. No I have not done any suspension mods, just a bed, tires/wheels, winch, skid plates next. I had an 02 Wrangler that I had modified and now the P500 has taken its place. I am nearly 49 and an 02 wrangler for a daily driver was getting old and ruining my hearing. I have a long wish list but most will remain a wish, have 1 in college now, 2 in college next fall and one still in high school.

However I am keeping tabs on your suspension mods as I am a nerd and mechanically inclined and would like to do them to improve the ride.

If you only do the fronts- the most dramatic change, and biggest bang for the buck- you're only looking at about $200. Take off, or disconnect the rear sway bar, and your at 90% of as good as it gets, at least for the air shock set-up. pFive can chime in on this one.

 

[pFive]

Yeah, I would suggest doing the front before a stereo or spendy light bar etc..

 

[trigger]

before a stereo

Before a stereo?! Lol...guess I have my priorities all mixed up.