Bi-Polar Raptor

[RaptorVA]

Hi BEN,

Thanks for caring! HAHA. I will be putting them on this weekend. My shocks are Fox 3.0 now so curious what you mean by the "valve". Sorry I am not in the know on that. The good news is I found a fairly local guy here who rebuilds Fox shocks for an ATV shop here that I was able to have a good long conversation with. He has agreed to help me out and since I still have the OEM shocks sitting in my garage I am going to do those first and then do the 3.0's later. It looks like my stocker shocks are already mid perch from the previous owner. Based on my description of my ride quality he definitely thinks I am running on my springs alone. Based on my ride home yesterday I tend to agree with previous responses to my post that I am in need of a rebuild. I will also install the OEM wheels/tires and get a look at the brakes and lube the pins and such to see if the caliper drag persists. Obviously lots of variables here so I will report back when complete. We are supposed to get a couple of snowstorms this coming week that may slow me down a little but should have some solid answers in the next week or so.

 

[RaptorVA]

Sorry BEN, just reread your message. If you mean a Schrader valve then the 3.0's have it but the OEM's don't since they have never been rebuilt. I am not leaning toward a nitrogen fill issue at this point after speaking with the local shock dude

 

[B E N]

Yeah your on it. I didn't realize you had 3.0's. Since you have someone local that can do the work that will be a great resource.

 

[RaptorVA]

Sure will. I will post when I have some answers.

 

[RaptorVA]

OEM shocks getting rebuilt right now. I hope to have them back this coming week. It was really nice not to have to ship them anywhere as I was able to meet the guy about 35 miles away from me. Hopefully he does a good job since I have the 3.0's to do yet and another older set of 2.0's from my Jeep. Wish me luck and I will post up results

 

[RaptorVA]

Getting the shocks back this coming Tuesday. I didn't change to my OEM wheel tire setup yet since we had snow and those tire would not be good in the dry let alone snow! Should be able to get it all done this coming week and then I will post results. One question though, back in the day there used to be machines that shaved tires for track use but you could also have tires "rounded", anyone heard of that nowadays? I have so much tread left on the ridge grapplers I would hate to just toss them.

 

[RaptorVA]

Rebuilt OEM shocks back on. Truck feels better but not fantastic. Weather is still bad here so didn't want to put the old, worn out OEM tires/wheels back on since I will need some traction in this mess. I am considering a road force balance on my "street" wheel/tire setup while I decide what tires to go on the OEM's next. If tires are truly out of round will road force balancing help the situation or am I throwing $$ away? I still don't know if they are the culprits or something else. Until running into my current issues I have been happy with the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I know others don't like them but would appreciate other opinions for winter/off road driving combination. Thanks everyone for reading

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Rebuilt OEM shocks back on. Truck feels better but not fantastic. Weather is still bad here so didn't want to put the old, worn out OEM tires/wheels back on since I will need some traction in this mess. I am considering a road force balance on my "street" wheel/tire setup while I decide what tires to go on the OEM's next. If tires are truly out of round will road force balancing help the situation or am I throwing $$ away? I still don't know if they are the culprits or something else. Until running into my current issues I have been happy with the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I know others don't like them but would appreciate other opinions for winter/off road driving combination. Thanks everyone for reading

I think it's worth getting them balanced and then try rotating them more often, like every 5000k until they are used up. What tire pressure are you using now? If you are not carrying any load, should be just below 40ish psi.

 

[RaptorVA]

I run the street tires at 38-39 psi. I actually took them down to 36 psi to see if it would help and it didn't. I religiously rotate every 5K so no change from your advice. The tires look great with no cupping or feathering at all. Seems like they would show some weird wear patterns if they were out of round wouldn't they? I did just have them balanced about a month ago and that didn't seem to help which is why I asked about the road force balance. Any suggestion on new tires for the stockers? I will probably get some in the next couple weeks.

 

[B E N]

Did you try the other tires, or do any other diagnostics?