fun in the woods

[Tionestajeeper]

[IMG][/IMG]thanks to this site for all the help. worked on a crossfire 150R over the winter and have been having a blast with it this summer. with your suggestions and wonderful information base i have had no troubles with this machine. It climbs hills great and goes fast enough for me for now GPS said 38mph but i go much slower in the woods. only question is would softer front shocks make all the roots i drive over any smoother? see some videos at tionesta jeeper on youtube and rebuilding at facebook/ tionesta jeeper

[2SlickNick]

Your buggy looks great! Not sure how you get by without reverse...LOL, but great looking buggy.
Looks like you have plenty of travel with those shocks. I am sure a softer front end would be your answer.

[2SlickNick]

What kind of material is your paneling? I would love to have that black paneling. Where could I get some?

[Tionestajeeper]

Thanks for the post but I have reverse. And I agree how could you get by without it. The panels were from a golf coarse maintenance shed they were given to me so I thought I would try making the pieces. We're used to drag things along the coarse I'm told. Just thick plastic that was hard to cut and bend. Made rear fenders , roof, and side panels.

[zman007007]

very nice buggy. I have a 150 but mine doesn't have the reverse. It has the front disk brakes but no reverse.

[Masteryota]

That is a nice looking rig you have there. Love the colors.

[Tionestajeeper]

Being I'm from Steeler country is there any other colors. ( Roots in Pittsburgh and tionesta pa. ).

[x-bird]

looks really good, are those the stock shocks/springs?
Getting the "bounce" effect over roots etc? you can absorb the impacts better two ways.

softer spring rate with the stock length and locations, but ride height drops with the rate as you'll eat up more spring in preload.

Speed up the compression rate internally and at the same time increase the rebound rate to match the change.
if those are stockers, it's unlikely you can get into the internals to make the needed valving changes to adjust compression/rebound.

finding something different that meets your needs is difficult. it takes a lot of monkeying around and the acceptance that you'll likely need to respring and revalve to get them dialed in. or lay out the big $s and have someone build a set to your buggies specs.

if you have the clearance between the shock and the upper a-arm you could move the upper mount outwards to have the stock shock sit more vertical. this would soften the spring rate a bit. (actually changing the leverage applied to compressing the spring) you could also accomplish the same by moving the lower mount inboard, but that will put more stress on the lower a-arm. it would likely need beefed up to handle it since it's the one taking nearly all the stress.

I think the hardest part of trying to match atv, sled/utv etc shocks to buggies is the heavily biased rear weight distribution. despite have much lighter front ends, atvs tend to "drive" the weight down into the suspension when hitting things and at least on atvs, the rider can gas it and pull up just like on a bike to help traverse. a lot of atv spring rates are still too stiff for the type of trail riding you're talking about.

[Tionestajeeper]

Thanks x-bird these are stock springs and shocks I think I might try lower tire pressure first then maybe cut a spring to take off some of it's load. If that won't help then different setup will be in the works.

[x-bird]

cutting a spring will lower the ride height and not do much else. go with lower tire pressure, and as an experiment, put a sandbag on the front end and test ride over some bumps. start with 10 pounds and keep adding. Simple solution to smooth things out may be to add a weight bar up front. Not ideal performance wise in terms of power, but getting the suspension to work better is a performance improvement of a different, often better kind.

off topic, how far out past the route 81/Elysburg area are you? I was out there last weekend and came across a great place to ride with parking and no permits or state registration needed best part --free of charge. 2 hour haul for me,. but might be a good spot to have a mini gathering of penciltuckians. )))

[Masteryota]

I agree with X on the ATV shocks, our buggies tend to hold 20-40% of the weight up front, where as an ATV holds well over 50%, requiring heavier spring rates, and that doesn't translate well to our buggies. The easiest, and probably the most effective for the front is to add some weight to soften them up. Standing them up will do the same, but will require some fab work. Strap a cinder block or two up there and try it out, then you could make a fitted ballast once you get an ideal weight.

[Tionestajeeper]

Going to try the added weight to see if that helps. Makes sence will experiment this weekend. Will try with a jerrycan filled with water that way I can adjust even on the trail.
2 5gal to start should be a good test. About 30# each when full should give lots of adjustment try. Thanks for the tip.

X-bird I am in forest county outside tionesta in the allegheny natl. forest region. Not to close to your spot either. Only have limited access to a trailer for hauling out of the area for now.

[2SlickNick]

I think I am somewhat close to that area. I am living in Wheeling WV. (Northern Panhandle of WV).

[Tionestajeeper]

x-bird you were right. just adding 30# and lower tire pressure worked great. still bounces but no bang as the springs are allways loaded with the extra weight. added 30# piece of rr track all the way in the front and bolted to the frame. thanks for the tip

[Tionestajeeper]

On a side note. (memo to self or others) if keeping a fire arm with you when riding KEEP it with YOU. Was keeping it in a tool box on the buggy to keep it clean. Got off to explore a trail around a massive mud hole. about 100 yards from the buggy and turned around to find a black bear standing there. between me and the buggy just hanging out soaking up some sun. waited him out for about 10 min and he just strolled off. Bears are predictable unless there are cubs around, but we have a problem with coyotes now and they will come after you. lesson learned got a good ankle holster coming...
still was kinda fun......

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by Tionestajeeper

x-bird you were right. just adding 30# and lower tire pressure worked great. still bounces but no bang as the springs are allways loaded with the extra weight. added 30# piece of rr track all the way in the front and bolted to the frame. thanks for the tip

glad to be of help. now on the flip side, if you can find a place (atv/motorcycle shop) to test the rate of the springs, you know how much of a softer set you need if you ever want to dump that 30 pound chunk for performance reasons.

[zman007007]

Jeeper I just bought a cart like this and was wondering if you have any of the manuals, such as the frame and engine. Mine has the Howhit motor. zman

[Tionestajeeper]

Sorry zman I just used the PDF I found online and winged all the rest with help from online searches and reading posts here. It's a learning experience for sure but fun. Mine has the howhit also. All I needed to do was a once over cleaning and blasted the carb. Replaced the clutch and springs and sliders. Added a uni filter and that's all.

[Miamieddie]

I'm no computer wiz I'm old school and suck with this high tech computer world. With that said and out of the way. Can you send a pdf to zman using messaging or blue tooth? @ tionestajeeper...... and if it can be done that can open many doors to many people on differant websites... service manuals seems to be a task to find for many.

[Miamieddie]

Oh yea cool looking buggy.

[zman007007]

Well, I appreciate it anyway Jeeper. I prob. paid to much for this one but hey I wanted it and I got it. I paid $700 for it. It's in pretty good cond, and he has already added the uni filter, gutted the muffler ,and he said he put 6 gram sliders in it. does that sound right about the sliders? I know it has more power taking off than my other one does.

[zman007007]

thanks for your help too Eddie I appreciate it also.

[Tionestajeeper]

I run 11 gram sliders and a 1500 main spring and it pulls the hills fine only tops out at 38 mph with a gps going down a paved road slight grade. The trails I ride on are not to forgiving to much speed so the pulling hills is what I was looking for.
It's only to much to pay if you are not happy with it. ( no matter what anyone says)

[zman007007]

Originally Posted by Tionestajeeper

I run 11 gram sliders and a 1500 main spring and it pulls the hills fine only tops out at 38 mph with a gps going down a paved road slight grade. The trails I ride on are not to forgiving to much speed so the pulling hills is what I was looking for.
It's only to much to pay if you are not happy with it. ( no matter what anyone says)

now this grade you speak of, are you going uphill or downhill? lol I like your saying at the end there.