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Turbo S Suspension changes. Step 1...and a word of caution.

Flyinbowtie

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I have another thread in the other OHV section, I purchased a 2019 Polaris Turbo S 2 set with the Fox Live Valve system that Polaris calls Dynamix.
The car has metal doors, an aftermarket cage, aftermarket seats, and about 100lbs of stuff in the bed, + or - depending on the ride we are going on.
Polaris has a long standing tradition of putting crap springs on their machines, and they continued this tradition with this car, and with the ProXp from what I have read. All of these manufacturers have their things, chineseum springs is one of Polaris.
The Live Valve suspension is real. The first time you drive a car with it you will agree.
Honda has it on the Talon, and the other day Can Am announced they have it available, and took the next step by adding rebound to the electronics. Frankly, I didn't know the Polaris system wasn't covering rebound, it rides that well. Amazing.
Amazing, that is, until the springs go to hell.
Everyone should know that the dual spring set ip on Polaris is not a true dual rate deal. There are no crossovers to control the spring action, the small springs at the top of the shock are merely tenders; they keep the stack in line when the shock moves to full extension. You ride on the main spring, all the time. On the Turbo S they changed this a wee bit...the stock "tender" spring actually is not in full coil bind, you have roughly 2 inches of spring before it goes to bind.
On my car that took about 250 miles.
Here is a pic of the car with the bed empty, but the new cage on. Look at the upper spring. You can see it is already giving up This was at 200 miles.
rear shock (3).jpg


Load the bed up and then wife and I and at 400 miles we were in full coil bind. The Dynamix system still compensates for a lot of the issues, but I could tell when set on comfort we were losing the compliance provided by that spring.

Then started the research. Way back when I did the work on my XP1k and I posted the thread on it's suspension I used ED the Suspension Guy to set it up. I was very happy with his work and right after I bought this car I let him know I had it, he told me a set of springs would probably fix the vast majority of my complaints. I told him I would be in touch.
When it came time to jump, last March, I could not get him to respond ot text, call, PM or email. Ultimately, after over a month and a half of trying I gave up.
I went directly to Eibach and began looking at their offerings.
Eibach offers many spring kits and products for these machines. I don't fly the car (on purpose) and told the tech all the info I could about our riding style, where we ride. He gave me two options, the Stage 2 kit or the stage 3 kit.
I then spoke to Craig at Pro UTV parts.com.
Craig is a straight shooter, and drives these things, so he isn't just a salesman.
We had a hiccup with a part number, but that was worked out and he made it right. Ultimately, I chose to go with the Stage 2 kit. These kits come with 8 springs, spring sliders, and crossover nuts. Eibach makes you look up directions on their website, which is a pain in the ass.
You will need a spring compressor to get the rear new rear springs collapsed enough to get the cup back on. I recommend the Shankly unit sold on amazon.
Here are a couple more pics of the car with the new rears on.
closeupnew.jpg


The difference is pretty obvious.

From the back of the car...note that it is loaded, about 80 lbs in it. Eibach suggests 2.30ish inches of preload as a starting point to get back to the 16.5 inch ride height. It is set now at 2.75 inches of preload, and is at the 16.5 mark.
rear suspension.jpg


Just running around the property I can tell the compliance in comfort mode is back. We ride in comfort unless running fast in the dunes o flying across a desert trail, I bump it up to sport mode at that point. Will have to wait until we get out to ride again for a full review, but I expect good things. crossovers in rear and the front settings are at Eibach's suggestions.

A word of caution...if you have a 2020 Turbo S 4 seater the kits listed for the 18-19 cars will NOT fit your ride. Polaris changed the shock bodies on the rear and the crossovers and shock sliders will not fit. I suggest using Craig at Pro UTV to buy the Eibach kits, he has very good prices and will discount you below the price on his web site. Make dang sure you have the right part number kit for your car. Eibach's part numbering system is screwball as heck.
The bad news is that COVID has hit Eibach like everyone else.
Stage 3 kit for my car is backordred through July 27th, probably longer.
Craig just happened to have a Stage 2 kit in stock, I got lucky. If you are a SoCal type guy and planning to do this come fall, I would think about getting on the backorder list now. I suspect spring kits for the Can Ams are also backordered, plan ahead.
 

rivermobster

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Awesome write up brother!

I have a question though...

Almost three inches of preload seems massive to me. Why wouldn't Eiebach supply spring with the correct ride heights with zero pre-load??

By the way, our lunch spot closed up about 8 months ago. The business that replaced it pretty much sucks. ☹️
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Awesome write up brother!

I have a question though...

Almost three inches of preload seems massive to me. Why wouldn't Eiebach supply spring with the correct ride heights with zero pre-load??

By the way, our lunch spot closed up about 8 months ago. The business that replaced it pretty much sucks. ☹

A couple reasons. Main one is the massive amount of droop travel these things have, relative to your average car or truck. Under droop the springs are still in tension and don't flop loose. These cars have 18-20 inches of suspension travel and a shock with a foot or more of stroke. If the springs had 0 or even near 0 preload, when we jumped the car the springs would fall off their perches. We don't want that.

Yes you could use a low rate tender spring like what is there stock, but it just collapses over time. Instead going to a true dual rate spring setup allows you to make the ride more compliant on initial bump travel.

Also consider the cars are pretty light, and softly sprung. With light springs you need more preload anyway to maintain a given ride height.

Great info as usual @Flyinbowtie !
 
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rivermobster

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A couple reasons. Main one is the massive amount of droop travel these things have, relative to your average car or truck. Under droop the springs are still in tension and don't flop loose. These cars have 18-20 inches of suspension travel and a shock with a foot or more of stroke. If the springs had 0 or even near 0 preload, when we jumped the car the springs would fall off their perches. We don't want that.

Yes you could use a low rate tender spring like what is there stock, but it just collapses over time. Instead going to a true dual rate spring setup allows you to make the ride more compliant on initial bump travel.

Also consider the cars are pretty light, and softly sprung. With light springs you need more preload anyway to maintain a given ride height.

Great info as usual @Flyinbowtie !

I always ran zero pre-load triple rate springs on long travel quads. Never had a perch fall out.

But long travel on a quad is probably about a quarter of the travel on one one of these things. The difference really Is massive.

I'm sure shock valving tech is probably light years ahead of what it was 20 years ago. That also has to count for a lot on how the springs are set up these days.

Sure as shit can't argue about how well these things ride. Pretty amazing.
 

Flyinbowtie

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Wow Joe, that sucks. I think about that place every now and then. With the MIL gone I don't see us in SoCal anytime soon, but if we were I would definitely try to plot a trip over there.
LOF pretty much covered it on the preload deal. The spring stack is 28 inches tall when unloaded. I think that is about 2 inches taller than the stock crap, but can't remember. I can measure them if you need to know.Two strong guys could probably put the perch/mount on without a compressor, but I am getting old and work alone almost all the time. This spring package is designed for the weight I have in it and 99lb in the bed. That is almost exactly what I have in there.
The Dynamix system requires that you measure the ride height with the ignition on, and the system in "comfort" mode, with all the crap and people on board. This is in the directions from Eibach. The rear secondary spring in this kit is much lighter than the one in the Stage 3. As you know, I want this thing to ride as good as possible, I don't race it. Officially. LOL
The front springs do go together without a compressor, just back the preload all the way out.
I have the fronts at Eibach's suggested numbers, and the car is at the desired ride height.

LOF it sounds like you are moving towards buying a new machine. A lot of people are struggling with the choice between the Turbo S and the Pro XP. If you want the Pro, wait til the 72 wide Dynamix car is released. If you are leaning towards the Turbo S, I think you will be happy. My son has a 19 Turbo S 4 seater and absolutely loves it. I drove it in the sand a couple weeks ago and it is different than my short-coupled 2 seater, but still very very cool.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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I always ran zero pre-load triple rate springs on long travel quads. Never had a perch fall out.

But long travel on a quad is probably about a quarter of the travel on one one of these things. The difference really Is massive.

I'm sure shock valving tech is probably light years ahead of what it was 20 years ago. That also has to count for a lot on how the springs are set up these days.

Sure as shit can't argue about how well these things ride. Pretty amazing.

Yea you are exactly right. Even on a quad you are only dealing with several inches of shock stroke, and they are light enough, barely any preload is needed. If you put any in it turns into a pogo stick :)
 

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LOF it sounds like you are moving towards buying a new machine. A lot of people are struggling with the choice between the Turbo S and the Pro XP. If you want the Pro, wait til the 72 wide Dynamix car is released. If you are leaning towards the Turbo S, I think you will be happy. My son has a 19 Turbo S 4 seater and absolutely loves it. I drove it in the sand a couple weeks ago and it is different than my short-coupled 2 seater, but still very very cool.

Yea, of course as soon as I get mine dialed, it is on to the next one. I put a deposit down for one of Robby Gordon’s 4 seat Speed UTVs.

Not going to sell my XP41K until it arrives though. If he delivers on what is promised in the Speed, it should be pretty good!
 

Flyinbowtie

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Yea, of course as soon as I get mine dialed, it is on to the next one. I put a deposit down for one of Robby Gordon’s 4 seat Speed UTVs.
Not going to sell my XP41K until it arrives though. If he delivers on what is promised in the Speed, it should be pretty good!

Yes, I had the XP1k perfect...then it went away, LOL.
Congrats on the Speed, like you said if it comes through it is gonna be a real game changer for most guys. I considered waiting, but I am a lot older than you and I no longer consider waiting a wise choice in things like this.
The wife says the first time we had it out the grin on my face was locked in from the first ride in the am til we parked it in the evening.
The ride, hopefully improved even more with this set up, is so good that I can actually drive the machine and not be in blinding pain 30 minutes into the ride and have to return to camp for a break for an hour, and a pain pill.
It really changed things that much for me.

Joe, ya need to get one of these things and start coming north on vacation. You would not believe the places we are finding and visiting. We are hoping to be moved over to Nevada within 18 months max, and there will be a place for your rig there, always.
One of my dearest friends and one of the guys I call "partner" is in the south Reno area now, and he bought a General, and tricked it all out. Looked cool as heck. He is not really a dune guy but likes to haul ass and has a screwed up neck and back.
One ride in the passenger seat of my Turbo S and he was pissed.
The following week he traded the General in and got the last 2 seat Turbo S Dynamix they had in the store in Reno. He was told they had sold 140 units in 45 days or some such craziness.
These things have evolved at an amazing rate. Think about the fact that the Rhino was the only way to go only 10-15 years ago.
And now we have these machines.
 
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rivermobster

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Yes, I had the XP1k perfect...then it went away, LOL.
Congrats on the Speed, like you said if it comes through it is gonna be a real game changer for most guys. I considered waiting, but I am a lot older than you and I no longer consider waiting a wise choice in things like this.
The wife says the first time we had it out the grin on my face was locked in from the first ride in the am til we parked it in the evening.
The ride, hopefully improved even more with this set up, is so good that I can actually drive the machine and not be in blinding pain 30 minutes into the ride and have to return to camp for a break for an hour, and a pain pill.
It really changed things that much for me.

Joe, ya need to get one of these things and start coming north on vacation. You would not believe the places we are finding and visiting. We are hoping to be moved over to Nevada within 18 months max, and there will be a place for your rig there, always.
One of my dearest friends and one of the guys I call "partner" is in the south Reno area now, and he bought a General, and tricked it all out. Looked cool as heck. He is not really a dune guy but likes to haul ass and has a screwed up neck and back.
One ride in the passenger seat of my Turbo S and he was pissed.
The following week he traded the General in and got the last 2 seat Turbo S Dynamix they had in the store in Reno. He was told they had sold 140 units in 45 days or some such craziness.
These things have evolved at an amazing rate. Think about the fact that the Rhino was the only way to go only 10-15 years ago.
And now we have these machines.

Jeff, something like that would be awesome to do. I might take you up on that offer.

Truthfully, I think about you just about every time I drive past the lunch spot. I'm always thinking that someday, I'll get a call or text from you, telling me your project is finally done. Hope you are chipping away at that in your spare time.

She probably won't remember me, but tell your wife I said hi. Sorry to hear about her mom.

You guys take care up there!
 
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