[Deadman]

I always thought that softer torsion springs meant a "Soft-Plush" ride, and stiff springs meant stiff and rough.
Well I called Ross at Hygear becuase he is revalving my shocks.

He informed me that a Stiffer spring will ride softer and more plush than a soft spring.....

Well it all made sense when he explained it. I guess in laymans terms it all comes down to looking at your coupler blocks when you are sitting on the sled. He said that the Suspension rides Soft and Plush when the coupler blocks are not coupling. SO this means that a stiffer spring makes the coupler block move forward and away from the coupling. When the suspension colapses and couples it gets much STIFFER. So basically a stiff torsion spring will make your sled ride the best in the small studder bumps. (Wierd hey?

)

I tried exactely as he said, and he is 100% correct. My springs allowed my blocks to lay back and be coupled when I was just sitting on the sled. SO I cranked the stock springs wayyyyyy up, and the blocks centered themselves and it rode 100% better.

I'm not saying this is breaking news, but I never really understood exactely how the suspension worked with the coupling effect.

Hopefully this can help someone get a better ride quality!

 

[MX-Z Man]

Now you're getting there - and I'll take it one step farther. If you have to crank up your stock springs past position #3, you really need to go to a heavier spring. Think about it this way; with the spring on 3 you've closed up the spring rate too tight. Lets say the spring has a rate of (and I'm just throwing numbers out, as BRP doesn't publish rates for the torsion springs to my knowledge) 150/300. If you're set on position #1 you have the full range. Now crank those blocks up to position #4 and your spring now has an effective rate of say 225/300. In reality you only have 75lbs to work with. Now go to a heavier spring, and lets say thats a 200/375 spring. With the blocks on position #1 you are starting at the same rate as the original spring, however this time your finish rate is 375 instead of 300. You now have an effective spring load of 175lbs to work with vs the 75 in the original example. This means you'll run more plush yet also be far more resistant to bottoming at the same time. I've always said my sled rides like a Caddy and handles like a Corvette. Sometimes spring rates alone won't do it all, and thats where shock valving comes in, but thats for another time.

Getting the right spring & shock balance is awesome. The sled I currently own is the most perfectly dialed in sled I have ever been on, period. It takes a while, but it's also fun to do. Some guys like clutching, I like working with my suspension set-ups.

Now take the info you've learned and start thinking about how the rest of the suspension acts and reacts together. Think it through and think about what you want it to do and what you can do to get it there. It's amazing how well you can get a good set-up to work, and the SCIII is a great suspension.

 

[Deadman]

Ross is Tweaking me another Shock set-up to try! He's awesome!

 

[gman086]

Ross is the man!

Yup and I'll add that as long as you get the blocks to the front you don't need torsion spring spacers (if you go stiffer you'll be too stiff with the spacers, stock springs probably benefit from spacers).

I'm also doing a relocation of the front shock mount on the skid as an experiment for better deep snow handling per Ross. Will report back soon!

A lot of peeps ripped me for using HyGear because of their cost. Yeah well Ross has already sent me three sets of springs and my sled is totally dialed with no extra charge. Tell me again how HyGear is a bad deal??? LMAO! You get what you pay for and Ross is the BEST!

G MAN