2002 warrior shock and shackle on 85 tri z

[TRI-CYCLE]

Just finished an all day project.

Bought a 2002 warrior shock wishbone and shackle off eBay. Started experimenting and bolted the warrior shock and longer shackle to my factory 85 tri z swinger.

I love the stance ( lower) and feel of the warrior shock. I weigh 148lbs so me being to heavy for bike is doubtful id think. But I notice the shackle/swing arm mount hits the bottom of gas tank/skid plate before the shock bottoms out.

Takes quite a bit of pressure before it hits.. but it does.. is there a way to prevent this with a slightly shorter shackle or newer swing arm? Trying to avoid reforming the tank and skid plate to make work. Thanks for advice fellas!

[barnett468]

Just finished an all day project.

Bought a 2002 warrior shock wishbone and shackle off eBay. Started experimenting and bolted the warrior shock and longer shackle to my factory 85 tri z swinger.

I love the stance ( lower) and feel of the warrior shock. I weigh 148lbs so me being to heavy for bike is doubtful id think. But I notice the shackle/swing arm mount hits the bottom of gas tank/skid plate before the shock bottoms out.

Takes quite a bit of pressure before it hits.. but it does.. is there a way to prevent this with a slightly shorter shackle or newer swing arm? Trying to avoid reforming the tank and skid plate to make work. Thanks for advice fellas!

Hello


No matter what you do if you change any linkage you will end up either reducing the total travel or raising the back of the bike up. You need to put a spacer on your shock shaft under the foam bottoming cushion to reduce travel. It will now bottom out sooner and harder. If you don't like the bottoming then you need to get a new stiffer spring and use less pre load if its straight wound or a more progressive spring rate if it's a progressive wound spring. Easy deal.

[barnett468]

Hello


If it has adjustable damping you can use the spacer then try increasing the compression damping before buying a new spring.

[oldskool83]

prob was not a good mod, plus would need revalved and anything else. warriors have no suspension travel, a 660R shock would be better i think. to do swaps like this ya gotta think in depth about design. I would of prob tried 660r 01 shock with a longer bottle revalve and sprung. its not get a works shock and or rebuild yours. Z's do sit high

[TRI-CYCLE]

Definitely can't afford a works shock. Looked into them often but can't find one under $500 even used. I was mostly just curious if a banshee.. or any other model quad, etc might run a slightly shorter shackle that was still longer then the factory z shackle. But understand that's a long shot hope.
I ride this z as if it were a race quad. Jumping is my style of riding so suspension travel is important. The warrior shock I think has plenty to offer for my size, but was super excited to lower it a bit.

Mainly what you guys are saying is I need to increase the compression of the spring to make it "stiffer" by what I'm assuming is as easy as tightening up the adjustable nuts on top of shock downwards.. and if that doesn't work, take more drastic measures by experimenting with a stiffer coil (given I run a spacer if needed)?

I would of loved to run a 660 shock, but only found write up of them installed on 86 model tri z's and was unsure if the difference in swingarm shape between the 2 years would interfere with running the raptor shock.

I'm learning as I go so bare with me. Thanks guys

[barnett468]

Hello


"Mainly what you guys are saying is I need to increase the compression of the spring to make it "stiffer" by what I'm assuming is as easy as tightening up the adjustable nuts on top of shock downwards.. and if that doesn't work, take more drastic measures by experimenting with a stiffer coil (given I run a spacer if needed)?"


NO, Please re-read my post again slowly. Spacer to reduce travel first to keep shackle from hitting. Spring and dampen as necessary after wards.

[barnett468]

Hello

You can certainly try increasing preload as a mickey mouse "fix" but If you increase existing spring preload so it NEVER bottoms again your bike will be very high in the rear and be so stiff that your first spinal veterbrae is going to meet your first one. Do you have good health insurance?

[barnett468]

Hello

Not to mention that the substantially increased "effective" spring rate may over ride your rebound damping to the degree that it continually tries to kick you over the handle bars when ever you hit a bump.

Yup Works Perf, used lots of them there's not much better.

[TRI-CYCLE]

Ok. Caught what youre saying now. What's a good thing to use as a spacer, or does somebody already make these? Here's a few pics.. if they upload correctly

[TRI-CYCLE]

Ok. Caught what youre saying now. What's a good thing to use as a spacer, or does somebody already make these?

[barnett468]

Ok. Caught what youre saying now. What's a good thing to use as a spacer, or does somebody already make these?

Hello


Nice bikes. No one makes a spacer you will need to calculate the length needed and have one made, should cost around $30.00 or less, very, very easy deal. Please send me a clear close up of your bottoming cushion and shock eye.

Put bike on stand with a bit of weight on front wheels and rear wheels barely touching ground.

Remove shock spring.

Replace shock and mounting bolts but not NUTS.

Use a jack or tie down to raise the rear axle.

Stop when your linkage hits or tires hit fenders etc.

Lower axle 1”.

Very, very, carefully measure length of shock eye to eye. If you are off by ¼” this will translate into about ½ inch of wheel travel depending upon your leverage ratios. If you are off slightly it us easily corrected later.

If you can remove what ever link is hitting do so now.

Put a bike on ground with a 150 lb person then check shock length again. If this is too hard then simply put back on stand and remove shock.

Measure length of bottoming cushion and tell me what it is. They typically compress by 70% so I’ll just use that as the compressed number.

There should be a nut on the shock shaft under cushion locking shock eye to shaft. What is the od and height of that nut from the bottom flat surface of the shock eye?

I will have you buy a couple flat washers to shim spacer later if necessary..

I will give you the exact specs for the spacer. The machine shop will clearly understand them you do not need to.

When you get to removing the shock eye from shaft I will tell you how to do it. They often use industrial loctite on them so it may feel like it is stripping the threads when you remove it. Don’t worry you are not.

[Bryan Raffa]

I would not use the warrior Y link it is shorter ..on a already 1/4" shorter shock .. your better off running the Z link and lowering it by makein a longer dog bone link.. if thats is what your after lowering it..

[TRI-CYCLE]

Thanks for the compliments and very detailed advice. The more I think about it the more I've decided to just put the stock shackle back in place. This will allow full compression of suspension which I need most.

I'm not running the warrior y link, just the warrior shackle and shock. Tri z Y link. I'm sure this same thing has been tried a million times, I just can't justify doing all the work for less suspension travel though. Back to the drawing board...

[oldskool83]

1st what I do when swaping shock is fine lenght of travel and eye to eye lenght of shock its self. then start getting all the same info from other machines you think may work. It will take some time but wright it all down. No use shock is going to just make a great rider, most need rebuild by 10 years. with out knowing much about yamahas but knowing enough I think you should get 660r shock 2001, with remote rezzy bottle, then swap out the line for your triz line, mount it up and see where it falls. Maybe with some spacers or a custom linkage you will be fine. ebay "ask seller a question" is you best friend for finding dimension of shocks before buying. google is best for finnding lenght of travel per the specs of the machines you may want to use.

[Rigaman]

I saw a tri-z with a Yamaha R1 street bike shock mounted on it. Fit perfect. I am not sure how it handled and how much travel it had, but couldnt be alot...