What is going on, guys?
It is Wilson from Function Powersports.
Today
we're going to be running
over all things suspension on your UTV.
So if you've got a side by side,
you've been looking at
maybe lifting it or doing a portal kit
or you need to
know if you want forward
arms or you're just looking for that
extra additional ground clearance.
We're going to cover
the different options
in today's video,
and we're actually going
to install some of these things.
We're going to have banker in the garage
put it on Chris's 22 RZR XP 1000.
Let's get into this.
All right. So when it comes
to upgrading the suspension on your UTV.
Typically you're trying
to answer one of three questions.
One, I want it to look cool, right?
Jack it to the sky.
Bigger just looks better.
It's just a fact.
We all know that.
Two, you're
looking for an additional ground
clearance, right?
So say you're going over rocky terrains.
You're scraping arms
or scraping trailing arms.
You're looking for just that extra lift
when it comes to actually riding
and using a machine.
Or three,
you're looking to add
a bigger wheel and tire,
whether that's for esthetics,
whether that's for better traction
out on the trails or on the rocks.
You may just be looking for that
bigger wheel and tire.
Well, we're going to cover
each of those different sections
and what options you have
that might best suit
the needs
that you're going to need for your UTV.
All right. The first option,
not really a focus for us
today is a spring spacer kit.
It’s a little piece of aluminum
that goes in between
the shock of the mounting point.
It lifts it may be one inch. Sometimes 2.
It’s cheap, easy, but not kind of really
what we're focusing on today,
but that is definitely the entry
level option.
All right. So next up is the most common way
to lift your UTV.
And that's going to be a bracket
lift kit.
And these come in all different sizes.
You have a small kit, you have a big kit.
Small, typically 3” to 5“.
Big is going to be 6” to 10”.
A bracket lift kit
essentially moves
the shock mounting points
in a way
where it pushes
the arms
down, allows you to get a little bit
more clearance, whether,
like I said, whether that's 3” to 5”
in a small lift kit,
which is pretty basic.
When you get into the 6” to 10”,
you need to start
looking at other things like axles
because that is actually going
to change the geometry of your
suspension a ton.
All right. And finally, we're
going to be coming down to portals.
Now, portals are the stuff
that you're going to see
on the big machines.
There's a few advantages,
maybe some disadvantages
when it comes to portals.
One of the cons being
they are expensive, right,
$3,000, $4,000 or $5,000.
But they are made for a reason
and for a purpose.
A portal lift kit
actually allows you to
not alter
the suspension geometry
because
they bolt right on the hub, right?
So they're replacing the hub
and the axle actually
goes straight into them where it would
in a factory system
and then it pulls it down
and then where
the wheel actually mounts to
it is 4”, 6”, 8”, 10”,
however big the actual portal
is, it’s mounted down here.
So you get that lift,
but the suspension geometry
stays the same.
One of the other benefits
that you gain with the portals,
you get your gear reduction
built into the portal.
So obviously when you're running
one of those big set ups,
whether it's,
you know, 44 inch tires or 50 inch tires,
you need that gear reduction
because the UTV is not set up to spin
that big of a wheel.
So you get that 30, 40, 50, 60%
gear reduction,
which allows you
to still create that torque,
that low end torque that you need
for getting through mud.
But it is an easy way.
And again,
it saves the suspension
geometry that you're looking for,
but it is the cost of entry
for these things
is going to be
two, three,
four times
as much as, say, a bracket lift kit.
So if you're looking
for that big suspension lift
because you're doing mud,
a portal
just might be the right one for you.
But one of the things
we didn't talk about was arms.
Rear trailing arms, right?
So this is for that guy
who maybe doesn't really
want that lift too much,
but they're looking for that extra
ground clearance.
So or maybe just running a little bit
bigger of a tire, maybe you can.
This is the difference
between running a 32 and a 35 or a 33,
right. Because you're going to have
a little bit more
a little bit more clearance
in that wheel well.
So companies
like High Lifter make like a forward arm.
Right. They're going to actually push
the suspension
ward actually rake it forward
I think about inch and a half
on one of their ones
for, say, the XP 1000,
which that's actually
what we're putting on today,
is one of their APEXX kits.
So it's going to actually push it forward
an inch and a half.
I think it allows clearance
for up to 34 and a half inch tires
without a lift involved.
So they're going to be stronger,
more durable, able to handle more.
Two, they're going to give you that
that more ground clearance.
So you're not scraping on rocks.
You're not getting stuck on rocks.
You can clear a little bit more things.
Same thing with the rear trailing arm.
It's going to give you that better
rear entry
for your tires
when it comes,
when you're actually coming into rocks
or going down,
whatever it is, you're not scraping it
right up,
right in front of the back wheel
where the factory one actually has it.
So you're going to get more clearance
in the rear, more clearance in the front.
So if you're not looking
to do a full lift
kit, arms, rear trailing arms, definitely
a good plus for you.
It's not really an extreme upgrade,
but it's definitely a beneficial one.
All right. So now, you know, a little bit
more about the suspension upgrades.
We're actually going to be
installing some of these on Chris's
RZR XP 1000. It's a 2022 model.
We have the APEXX
front
upper and lower control arms or arms,
we have the rear trailing arm
and we have
the signature series
3-5 inch lift kit, all from High Lifter.
They were awesome
to send that stuff out to us.
So we're going to actually have
banker install it.
I'm not going to install it because
I don't want to install it.