Polaris RZR
Long Travel Kit Review
Stock RZR on the left. Long Travel RZR on the right (Fireball
Racing+6")
Stock Polaris RZR - Before Long Travel
Polaris RZR after Fireball Racing +6" Long Travel
Part of this review appeared in Side x Side Action Magazine -
March 2008
Digital Edition of RZR Long Travel Review
Information
After taking
a Polaris RZR for a spin during the UTV Rally in Moab, I was could see what
the hype was about. Then a friend bought a turnkey long travel RZR at the
Sand Sports Super Show and I got to see it in action at Sand Mountain the
following weekend. I was sold and soon was headed to Glamis to ride my new
bone stock Polaris RZR.
I’ve got to
say that I was very impressed with the capabilities of the RZR in stock
form. But after duning the RZR all over Glamis for the weekend, I had a good
idea of what needed to be done to turn it into a vehicle more suited to my
use. First up was long travel which we’ll cover here, but look in future
issues where we’ll cover roll cage, bumpers, lights, seats & harnesses and
some performance parts.
Long Travel:
The
suspension on the RZR has 9” of front wheel travel and 9.5” of rear wheel
travel and does a pretty fair job for a stock UTV. The RZR is 50” wide as it
comes from the factory, so it feels a bit tippy on side hills or when power
sliding the rear end.
There are a
few ways to approach improving the suspension and handling capabilities of
your RZR:
-
Aftermarket shocks:
New shocks are a great way to improve ride quality. If you keep the
stock arms, an aftermarket shock will not increase the amount of wheel
travel, but will help smooth out your ride.
-
Wheel
spacers or offset wheels:
Moving your wheels outward with spacers or new wheels is an easy way to
increase track width for added stability, but they also put more stress
on hubs and spindles. They also increase the amount of force applied to
your shocks and springs, so adjustments will need to be made.
-
Long
Travel:
A long travel kit uses longer arms and longer shocks to increase the
track width and the amount of wheel travel. The ride quality and
capability is improved with aftermarket shocks – rough terrain is
smoothed out, and getting air in your UTV isn’t quite as scary. The
biggest downside to a long travel kit is cost.
Increasing
track width is nice for stability, but remember that a +6” long travel kit
will actually increase the track width by 12” – your RZR is now 62” instead
of 50”. If you ride on ATV trails, your RZR will now be too wide to fit.
The areas
that I ride in are open to full-sized vehicles, so I was not too concerned
about increasing my track width, so I decided a long travel kit was the best
solution for the type of riding I do.
After
researching long travel kits for a while, I settled on a +6” kit from
Fireball Racing. Fireball Racing has been building suspension and
performance parts for ATVs since the 1980’s and they expanded into the UTV
market a few years back with a mid and a long travel kit for the Yamaha
Rhino.
Long Travel Kit
Components:
- +6 inch
chromoly a-arms
- +1 inch
forward and +2 inch rearward – 80” wheelbase
- 14 inches
of wheel travel
- 300m
axles
- Hardened
steel heim joints
- Extended
tie rods
- Rear
upper shock mount gusset
- Rear
a-arm mount gusset
- Braided
brake lines
- Bilstein
aluminum shocks with Eibach springs
Ride Review
After the
installation, we headed to Sand Mountain to test everything out. Wow! The
RZR was fun in stock form, but this was big fun. I was able to drive faster
and with much more confidence and comfort. The extra travel felt great after
catching a bit of air. The shocks helped to smooth out the torn up dunes.
And the steering geometry was very nice.
Other Photos:
Installation:
Installing a
long travel kit typically does not require any special tools, but being
mechanically inclined does help. The
Fireball Racing kit installed
easily with the exception separating the stock rear axles from the inner
CVs. All the other CVs popped right off, but the rear, inner CVs needed more
persuasion. But after that, the kit went in place very nicely. The fit and
finish of the arms was very impressive and the arms all slid into place with
ease. The one big difference between installing a long travel kit on a Rhino
versus a RZR is the RZR’s need all new extended brake lines. Figure on an
extra hour or so to install and then bleed the brake lines, plus a little
more cost.
Lift the RZR and take the wheels off
Remove cotter pin, large hub nut, tie rod end (front) and brake
caliper from all four corners
Remove hubs
Remove spindles from arms
Remove Axles - They come out of the differentials with a little
tug
Remove Arms
Remove bands off all CV boots
Remove old axles from CVs - You can save and resuse old CV
grease if RZR is fairly new
The CVs on the inner rear (differential side) may not come off
as easily as the others. If so, the only way to remove the CV is to get
the balls out first, then pop the star with a brass hammer.
Install new axles, clean and install boots
Band CV boots
Steering stop added to limit turning - Stock front axles bind
under full turn
Install new tie rod extenders
Install new extended brake lines
Install new axles/CVs
Install new long travel arms
Install spindles
Install hubs
Install brake calipers
Attach tie rods
Install shocks
Install rear upper shock mount support
Install rear lower arm mount support bracket
Bleed brakes
Lube arm bushings
Set alignment
Contact Info:
Fireball Racing
Website:
www.fireball-racing.com
Location: Prather, CA
Phone: (559) 324-9533
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