23" Front Tire on 85 Tri-Z.

[BigGreenMachine]

that tri-z is nice, how are those GBC Dirt devils on the back?

[Wickedfinger]

... they were a great tire and I'd mount them up again in a second. A little on the heavy side though - but 6-ply!. Awesome in the snow and mud.

[Jeb]

Cool Wicked! I always loved the look of your old Z but I never noticed the R front set-up!

[Jeb]

can you put up some pics of the z setting down on the ground?

Here ya go. Sorry it took so long. I lowered it in these pics using my adjustable linkage strut and slid the forks up in the clamps. I hate to admit it, but the sad thing is I haven't got to really ride it yet and try it out.

[Billy Golightly]

Wow Jeb thats sweet looking! Looks like the perfect setup for a flat track race. That adjustable linkage strut, how does it work? I've been looking at my Z and figured probably the easiest way to lower it some would be to take the bottom bolts out of the carrier and make a bracket where you could let it twist up some. Not a whole lot, inch or or inch and a half max.

I got the Durablue +4 under my Z and man its a whole new machine now. It rails so well, I know it slides better then my trx250R now. I'll get some pictures soon and also demonstrate the lowering method I'm talking about. Yours looks killer!

[Jeb]

Thanks Billy! Flat track is about all it's good for. Not much ground clearance under that linkage.

Now for the lowering...

When I got my Z a few years ago I noticed it was low and wide. Somebody years before had made a new linkage strut to replace the small dog bone in the linkage. The original one was a piece of 3/8" thick steel poorly torch cut into a long oval shape and two holes drilled through it. Then for spacers, it was stacks of washers taped together with electrical tape! That "set-up" replaced the little dog bone and lowered the rear end. On the steel one, If i remember right it was 1.5" added between the holes compared to the stock dog bone. Anyway, after seeing this one and seeing that you can get basically the same kind of adjustable strut aftermarket for Banshees, I took the same idea and made a new one out of aluminum that uses a split bushing design instead of taped together washer stacks for spacers. Plus the aluminum is 3/4" thick and looks better. The bushings are tool steel and have a head on them. You place one in each side of the holes in the adjustable strut, place it in the clevis's on the swingarm and the linkage arm underneath. Then you tighten up your mounting bolts and the clevis's tighten up against the two bushings leaving the aluminum piece to freely spin around the bushings. If you wanted to get real trick, you could machine it for needle bearings. I just grease it good. Also, I found with the west coast swingarm I could space the holes and extra two inches instead of 1.5. On the stock swingarm I had in the begining, any more than 1.5" and the shock spring starts contacting the front part of the swingarm. With the west coast swingarm there's tons more clearance so you don't have that problem and it can go lower. so with the two inch space I had plenty of room to put a hole in the center which has the same spacing as the little stock dog bone so you can switch back to stock height fairly quickly.

I wrote up a post in the past with pics but I just looked it up and the pics are gone. Attached are some I just took.

As for the extra axle width, I don't have an extended axle but I do have some RK extensions. They were on the Z when I got it. These are the only pair I've ever seen. They are cast aluminum and pretty cool because you don't have to remove the stock studs from the wheel hubs. Just bolt the extension to the hub and the wheel to the extension. I recently gave them a bead blasting and then a new coat of gold paint with some black to accent. They are each about 3.5" wide.

[Jeb]

Billy, here's the CAD models to show how the split bushing works. very simple. The "chain link" shape of the strut in these pics is my second generation. I gave it that shape just for a little style. I've got the blank squared up and ready to go just need to send it through the CNC department someday!

[BigGreenMachine]

Very nice, that Z looks awsome. Very nice design work on the link, split bushings just like the suspension bushings used in the eye on lifted 4WD truck leaf springs. Should work great.

[Jeb]

Thanks! The link does work good. I've been running it off and on about a year now.