Put 80 miiles on my 97 XLT with xtra 12 today and toward the end the rear suspension would not spring back up. If lifted it up it would stay until I sat on it again. Snowing pretty good during the ride. I have it back in the garage thawing out now. Any idea the cause. Seemed to happen rather quick. I am thinking the shocks.
97 XLT Suspension
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You should grease all the pivot points on the rear suspension (skid) and if that doesn't fix it you should get new springs! The springs won't cost to much, and they will really bring it back to life.
Ok, done and seems to have solved the problem of the suspension being able to move freely. One fitting was hard to reach and water came out when I greased it. I think that was the main culprit. The water must have been freezing then binding.
One more question. When the sled is just sitting with no weight on it the suspension is not fully extended. It may have been like this before (I am a novice) but I am thinking that it should be extended all of the way. It is probably about 5 inches down. I adjusted the torsion springs to the stiffer setting but it did not seem to do much. Should the suspension be fully extended just sitting there? I did not replace the springs yet.
One more question. When the sled is just sitting with no weight on it the suspension is not fully extended. It may have been like this before (I am a novice) but I am thinking that it should be extended all of the way. It is probably about 5 inches down. I adjusted the torsion springs to the stiffer setting but it did not seem to do much. Should the suspension be fully extended just sitting there? I did not replace the springs yet.
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It should sit almost all the way up without a rider and then sag a little when the rider is on it, but 5 inches without weight sounds like too much. Are your front springs jacked up past half way? I had a guy that rebuilds shocks and races sleds tell me he's seen Indys that will sag in the back if the fronts are jacked way up for some reason. I have no idea if it's true or not, I had mine about 1/3 of the way up most of the time. I did have mine go soft a couple years ago, the shocks were all ready for a rebuild at that time, but it would still sit up on it's own and then sink too far when I got on it. Even then the stiffener block made a big difference until I got them rebuilt.
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Shocks don't hold weight! They dampen rate of travel. Springs hold weight. You definitely need new springs!
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Exactly :thumbsup:
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