The shock settings that come with the Long Travel Kit are built around dune riding.

The majority of the cars that end up with ATV's LT kit end up racing around in the dunes where the surface is for the most part smooth and slightly soft. A stiff spring and lighter damping rates are perfect for this setting. !T" if you want to play on a track" be it a motocross track" out door off road track or a stadium track" you need to do some changes. The spring rates that came with my LT kit were as follows# $ront shocks % single &'' pound spring. (ear shocks % )ual rate setup with a &*+ pound tender and a &+, pound main. These are too stiff for the off road stuff. - switched to a dual rate up front and used a &.+ pound tender and a */, pound main. 0n the rear - went down to a &,, pound tender and a &*+ pound main. )rastically softer than what the car came with. y going to the softer spring settings my damping was a lot closer" but it was still too soft on both compression and rebound. - ended up completely changing the shim stacks and jets a couple of times. 1ere's a mapping of the stacks and jets that - finally decided on and used for the 2ace 3eries. 4- unfortunately don't have the originally supplied shim data to compare against5

Recommended Shim Stacks and Shaft Jetting for ATV Racing's Long Travel Custom Axis Shocks
Front Compression .,,' 6 .',, .,,7 6 .7,, .,,7 6 &.,,, .,,7 6 &.&,, .,,7 6 &.*+, Front Jet Front Re ound .,&, 6 ..,, .,&, 6 .',, .,,' 6 .7,, .,,' 6 &.,,, .,,' 6 &.&,, ., Rear Compression .,&, 6 .7+, .,&, 6 &.&,, .,,' 6 &.*+, .,,' 6 &.8+, .,,' 6 &.+,, Rear Jet Rear Re ound .,&+ 6 .',, .,&+ 6 .7+, .,&+ 6 &.&,, .,&* 6 &.*+, .,,/ 6 &.88+, '/

-f - were to run the 2ilot on one of the large out door tracks" such as 9randon" - would probably go up on spring rate for both front and rear and leave the shock damping where it is" or go slightly stiffer on the compression damping. The reason for the spring changes are that the speeds are so much higher and the jumps are not near as radical compared to a stadium track. :ow that -'ve covered the basics on shocks and spring setup for a Long Travel 2ilot" how about actually looking at chassis tuning; 3o far" all -'ve done is cover the suspension and how it works. <hat about the tires and the way they contact the ground; Let's dive in.

3ome key terms# Ackerman Angle % The angle of the two steering arms which produce toe out on turns. Alignment % The process of adjusting the position of the tires and steering a6is to bring them to a specified" predetermined position. !ump Steer % The amount of toe in or out that is induced as the suspension goes through it's travel. Cam er % The angle of the king pins from vertical as looking parallel to the chassis' longitudinal a6is. <hat; 1ow about the angle from vertical the king pin leans in or out towards the body of the car 4as looking at the front or rear of the car5. Caster % The angle of the king pins from vertical as looking perpendicular to the chassis' longitudinal a6is. There he goes again= >ore like the angle of the king pin from vertical as looking at the side of the car. - always remember caster as you ?cast? a fishing rod. 2ositive 9aster is when the top of the king pin 4from vertical5 leans towards the back and :egative 9aster is when the king pin leans towards the front Caster "ffset#Trail % The distance in side elevation between the point where the steering a6is intersects the ground and the center of tire contact. The offset is considered positive when the intersection point is forward of the tire contact center and negative when it is rearward. Contact $atch % the part of the tire that actually touches the ground. Scru Radius % The distance between the center of the tire and the steering a6is when measured at the road surface. Toe % An angle of a tire" relative to straight ahead" if viewed from above. Toe Angle % The actual amount that the tire differs from pointing straight ahead. Toe %n % A condition where both tires of an a6le are positioned so they are closer together at the front than the rear. Toe "ut % A condition where both tires of an a6le are positioned so they are closer together at the rear than the front. Track % The lateral distance between the centers of tire contact of a pair of wheels. Track Change % The change in wheel track resulting from vertical suspension displacements of both wheels in the same direction. :ow that -'ve tossed out a bunch of terms" how do they relate and what settings did - use; -t's all pretty straight forward# Toe $ront@(earA &@B? toe out @ &@'? toe out 9aster $ront@(earA 9amber $ront@(earA 8 degrees positive @ , degrees 8 degrees ?top of tire in? 4:egative - think5 @ , )egrees.

A ALL (CA( >CA3!(C>C:T3 )0:C <-T1 3109K3 0$$ A:) 3!32C:3-0: AT &@* T(AVCL. <hen setting up the suspension" the first thing to do is make sure that the car is sDuare 4shocks on" set car on it's ?butt? so it's pointing up5. >easure on the left side from the center of the front lower ball joint to the bolt head on the lower left rear carrier % write it down. )o the same for the right side of the car. These are supposed to be the same. :e6t" measure diagonally from the left lower ball joint to the right rear carrier lower bolt head % write it down and then do the same the other way. These are supposed to be the same too % bet they aren't= Eo about adjusting this until the cross measurements are the same and the side measurements are the same 4you will end up

with two sets of measurements % the cross and side measurements won't be the same as each other5. :ow put the car back on it's wheels and block up the rear end. 2ull off the shocks" pull the suspension to &@* travel and set the rear wheels so that they have no camber 4wheels sit vertically5 and you want &@'? of toe out. This lets the suspension come to , toe 4due to fle65 when the drive train is under load. The 9aster should be set so that at full e6tension" the upper ball joint on the rear carriers just barely touches the springs. As the suspension compresses" the ball joint will rotate away from the spring. Fou'll notice that as you change the settings" CVC(FT1-:E from the side to side measurements to the cross measurements will change on you. -t's VC(F frustrating and takes Duite a bit of time to get done correctly. 4 eer makes the time needed L0:EC( % and you have to go back and recheck it all later.5 The front end is pretty easy. $ind 4beg@borrow@steal5 a set of turn plates and a caster camber gauge and follow the instructions. )o the caster first" then camber % go back and check caster as you adjust for camber and then finally do toe out % &@B?. Toe 0!T on the front end will help the car dive -:T0 the corner. Toe -: on the front will help the car come 0!T of the corner. 0n the rear end" it's e6actly the opposite.

A &issertation on Front 'nds ( Sort of)))) Long* Complicated and $ro a l+ $rett+ !oring to ,ost $eopleLet's start with the definitions# 4you probably saw them at the top of this5 Ackerman Angle % The angle of the two steering arms which produce toe out on turns. This also can be considered the relationship of the angle between the two wheels as they go through the steering motion. Alignment % The process of adjusting the position of the tires and steering a6is to bring them to a specified" predetermined position. !ump Steer % The amount of toe in or out that is induced as the suspension goes through it's travel. Cam er % The angle of the king pins from vertical as looking parallel to the chassis' longitudinal a6is. <hat; 1ow about the angle from vertical the king pin leans in or out towards the body of the car 4as looking at the front or rear of the car5. Caster % The angle of the king pins from vertical as looking perpendicular to the chassis' longitudinal a6is. There he goes again= >ore like the angle of the king pin from vertical as looking at the side of the car. - always remember caster as you ?cast? a fishing rod. 2ositive 9aster is when the top of the king pin 4from vertical5 leans towards the back and :egative 9aster is when the king pin leans towards the front . Caster "ffset#Trail % The distance in side elevation between the point where the steering a6is intersects the ground and the center of tire contact. The offset is considered positive when the intersection point is forward of the tire contact center and negative when it is rearward.

Contact $atch % the part of the tire that actually touches the ground. Scru Radius % The distance between the center of the tire and the steering a6is when measured at the road surface. Toe % An angle of a tire" relative to straight ahead" if viewed from above. Toe Angle % The actual amount that the tire differs from pointing straight ahead. Toe %n % A condition where both tires of an a6le are positioned so they are closer together at the front than the rear. Toe "ut % A condition where both tires of an a6le are positioned so they are closer together at the rear than the front. Track % The lateral distance between the centers of tire contact of a pair of wheels. Track Change % The change in wheel track resulting from vertical suspension displacements of both wheels in the same direction. 3o" what's all this crap mean; <ell" lots of stuffG but how does it relate to us; Let's see. 4the majority of it % who cares % -'m not gonna bother with it.5 The original Duestion was concerning trying to adjust ackerman to help in steering with our off road cars. eing that most of the time we're counter steering through corners we can toss most of the ?normal? road course stuff out the window. 4# $irst % ackerman % well" anyone that's familiar with a 2ilot's front end will realiHe right off the bat that trying to adjust ackerman is useless. Ackerman would be the LA3T thing that you'd try to work on with a vehicle. -'ll e6plain why. $irst" if you've ever taken notice of a 2ilot's front wheels as it goes through it's travel" you'll notice that there is a huge amount of bump steer. -t's because of the relationship of four points on the suspension# &5 inner mounting point of the tie rod *5 outer mounting point of the tie rod 85 inner mounting point of the a%arms B5 outer mounting point of the a%arms -n a perfect world" the suspension and tie rods would all work as a parallelogram system. !pper and lower a%arms would be e6actly the same length. The distance between the mounting points of the a%arms on the chassis and the mounting points on the spindles would be e6actly the same length and the tie rods would be e6actly the same length as the a%arms % and they would sit parallel to the a%arms. As the suspension went thru it's travel" the system would stay parallel % there would be no toe change" no camber change" no caster change. All nice and tidy. ut" that's not what we have. To adjust for ackerman 4in our fantasy" parallelogram suspension vehicle5 the length of the tie rod would be changed % A:) the mounting point for the tie rod would be changed too % if we just lengthened@shortened we'd induce toe. y doing this the relationship between the tie rod's pivot points and the suspension's pivot points would change. -'m assuming 4we all know what that means5 that if we lengthened the tie rod that the inner wheel 4in the turn5 would turn less %

my thinking is that you'd have less horiHontal travel as the arm moves through it's travel % more on that later % maybe... 3o" if we shortened the arm 4and adjusted the mounting point to keep the toe that we started with5 then the ackerman angle would be greater 4the desired result that was spoken of in the previous posts5. -'m either correct or completely backwards= 3o" back to our suspension design. The entire idea of a suspension design is to keep the contact patch as large as possible in all aspects of the suspension@wheel movement. 9ertain factors will make a huge difference in this. King 2in Angle and 9aster are probably the two biggest factors. $irstG King 2in Angle % This is the line drawn through the spindle's pivot points 4draw a line from the pivot point of the top ball joint thru the bottom ball joint and then project it on to the ground5. This angle and the distance from the center of the tire is what determines scrub radius. This is the amount of pivoting the contact patch does around the king pin angle % if the line we drew ends up pointing directly to the middle of the contact patch" 4assuming that we have no camber or caster yet % everything's set perfectly vertical so far5 then we'd have no scrub radius. 4-'m gonna call this the king pin's contact point % kpcp for now5 The wheel would pivot right around the middle of the contact patch. This is a pretty desirable thing % so far.... !T" you want to induce a bit of scrub % you want the contact patch to move around the king pin angle % it forces the tire to bite by inducing scrub. A bit is a good thing. :ow" let's toss in caster % by leaning the king pin back you make the contact patch move behind the kpcp. This gives the car steering stability and controls the bite of the contact patch. Think about trying to push a grocery cart % those casters follow the kpcp. -t makes you the boss and not the wheels when you try to steer. >ove the kpcp behind the contact patch and you have a wheel that's trying to be driven from behind % would be like trying to keep that caster on the grocery car from spinning around when you start pulling on it after you've been pushing it. Too much forward caster 4- think it's called positive % never can remember which is which5 and you start getting a contact patch that's overbearing and takes control % makes the car over steer and a bitch to steer. >ove the top of the king pin backward too far and then you end up swinging the contact patch around the kpcp % and you start inducing scrub and the car will develop a push. !sually the optimum setting is somewhere around 8 degrees of negative caster. :ow let's toss in 9amber. The main idea of camber is to keep the contact patch as large as possible in corners. % back to our perfect suspension. As the car chassis goes into a left hand turn" the chassis would roll about it's longitudinal a6is to the right % now our tires are leaning to the right and we're turning left % contact patch would move towards the inside of the right tire and the outside of the left tire % problem is" since we're turning left" we want the outer 4right5 tire's contact patch to move towards the -:3-)C of the tire because the tire's profile will roll and we're trying to load the tread with as

even of a load as possible. Cver watch a 9A(T car on an oval; They have the right side tire leaning in and the left side tire leaning out % so when the car is at full lateral load" the tires are actually sitting flat against the surface. $ull contact patch has been achieved. !.T /A%T 0there's more-1 <e changed the length of the upper a%arm 4shorter5 to make camber % now our system's not a parallelogram anymore % hey" looks like we've induced a bit of ackerman" eh; )amn= 3o now we've got to go back and adjust the length of the tie rods to make up for the change. :ow comes the fun stuff.... Take a piece of paper and draw two circles % -'ll wait % go get your paper" compass" ruler and pencil. )raw a +? circle and then using the same center point" draw a .? circle. )one; Eood. :ow" draw a horiHontal line thru the center point. :e6t draw a horiHontal line two inches above and two inches below the first line. )raw vertical lines thru the points where the upper and lower horiHontal lines pass through each circle. :ow" measure the distance on the center horiHontal line from where the vertical line and the +? circle cross the horHontal line 4hey" it turns out to be e6actly & inch= % just did it in A9A)5 % do the same for the .? circle % it's ./*..?. 3o" if we have a shorter upper arm 4the +? circle5 than the lower arm 4.? circle5" you can see that the 10(-I0:TAL T(AVCL of the upper arm is 8,J greater than the lower arm. Euess what's just happened as the suspension goes through it's travel 4the upper and lower horiHontal lines indicate full compression and e6tension" respectively5. -t induces % anyone; % 9A> C(=== Fou can use this to design a system that makes the camber change as the suspension goes thru it's motion % and since the suspension on the outside of the car 4during a turn5 compresses % and the chassis rolls to the outside % we make the contact patch stay nice and big and under the tire instead of moving out towards the outside of the tire. 2retty cool" eh; <e're still assuming that the suspension arms are on parallel planes to each other and the tie rods. The change in camber is the same amount eDually above and below the horHontal line. y varying the distance between the chassis mounting points you can design in the amount of induced camber thru the suspension travel. >ake them wider than the spindle's mounting points and you move the caster changes down lower in the suspension's movement % move them closer together and you move it up. 4or is it e6actly the other way around; -'m not gonna bother trying to draw it out on A9A) % but - hope you get the picture5. :ow" here comes the really fun stuff. <e can make the 9A3TC( change as the suspension goes thru it's travel too= 4oooohhh" ahhhh5 (emember" we started out with a completely parallel system. Cven the four mounting points of the a%arms on the chassis 4each side5 were all eDual distance % but what happens if % 4we're looking at the right side of the car now5 our lower a%arm is horiHontal and our upper a%arm is

slightly tilted % the front mounting points of the a%arms are +? apart and the rear are +.+? apart. :ow the arms move in different angular planes. 0ur lower a%arm's ball joint moves perfectly vertical. but the upper a%arm's ball joint now moves on a plain that's 4hang on % more A9A) work5 % uh - think it's &B degrees from vertical. 3o" what's our spindle gonna do as we compress the suspension; 4we're assuming that at full e6tension that the angle between the two ball joints is 7, degrees from horiHontal. 3o" we've induced &B degrees of caster into the suspension at full compression. <hat you do is make it so that as the suspension compresses" you loose a bit of caster % this keeps the contact patch behind the kpcp and keeps the front wheels from becoming over steering monsters when landing off of jumps or during braking and such. 0nce again" to try to deal with ackerman with the huge amounts of changes in long travel suspension is damn near impossible. Fou have to get CVC(FT1-:E CL3C set up first. y that time" ..whew... The application that was mentioned in ackerman tuning was in vehicles that have very small 4in comparison5 suspension travel. :ow Fou Know. 4#