Hey All.
New to the forum here. Looking for some model specific help on a 2007 525 IRS I picked up. I've mostly been a dirt bike guy most of my life (29 years of off road riding), but have had a number of quads over the years, from way back in the day with the early suzuki quadracer 250s, to some more recent CanAm Outlander 1000's and a number of sport and utility quads in between.
When I rode the 525 the first time, it felt very "darty". I've never experienced any quad that was near this sensitive. I noticed it had some minimal play in the tie rod ends and the a-arm bushings, so I assumed freshening up the front and getting the toe set would help. So I brought it home, pulled the front apart, replaced the following on the front (The rear was tight):
All a-arm bushings and pins
All ball joints
All tie rod ends including the center link
Steering column bushings
Wheel bearings have no play. The front end is now super tight.
I found some help in some forums on suggested toe (forget if it was in or out on this one as I've tried all combinations since, and last I messed with it was about 3 months ago).
I took it out and still twitchy/darty as hell. To the point I don't feel safe getting out of third gear. And I've tried toe in, toe out, no toe and it varies it slightly, but none of them eliminated it. It seems to be the worst either on hard acceleration or deceleration.
I am hypothesizing that the super soft stock spring rates are allowing way too much travel during on/off throttle transitions with my fat 265 lbs ass on there. And when moving the suspension through its travel when I had the shocks off , I see the steering geometry is materially impacted depending on where the arms are in the range.
So to confirm I just didn't have a tweaked machine, I test rode another bone stock one recently and it was already pretty tight on the bushing/balljoint/tie rod front, and it did the same exact thing.
So my question is does anyone else here have first hand experience with this particular machine and can confirm that it is ultra sensitive to have the right shocks and spring rates in order to make it rideable without crapping your pants with it darting left and right.
I don't mind investing in the shocks, I just don't want to invest in them and not solve the problem. Since I've never experienced a quad with this level of sensitivity, I'm hoping to get some education here.
And I do all trail riding, hence the reason for wanting the IRS vs a SRA. And while the Outlanders were great machines, they were too big and kind of boring without real clutches and gears to run through.
I love this IRS for lots of reasons, just need to get the steering issue resolved.
Thanks in advance for the help.
New to the forum here. Looking for some model specific help on a 2007 525 IRS I picked up. I've mostly been a dirt bike guy most of my life (29 years of off road riding), but have had a number of quads over the years, from way back in the day with the early suzuki quadracer 250s, to some more recent CanAm Outlander 1000's and a number of sport and utility quads in between.
When I rode the 525 the first time, it felt very "darty". I've never experienced any quad that was near this sensitive. I noticed it had some minimal play in the tie rod ends and the a-arm bushings, so I assumed freshening up the front and getting the toe set would help. So I brought it home, pulled the front apart, replaced the following on the front (The rear was tight):
All a-arm bushings and pins
All ball joints
All tie rod ends including the center link
Steering column bushings
Wheel bearings have no play. The front end is now super tight.
I found some help in some forums on suggested toe (forget if it was in or out on this one as I've tried all combinations since, and last I messed with it was about 3 months ago).
I took it out and still twitchy/darty as hell. To the point I don't feel safe getting out of third gear. And I've tried toe in, toe out, no toe and it varies it slightly, but none of them eliminated it. It seems to be the worst either on hard acceleration or deceleration.
I am hypothesizing that the super soft stock spring rates are allowing way too much travel during on/off throttle transitions with my fat 265 lbs ass on there. And when moving the suspension through its travel when I had the shocks off , I see the steering geometry is materially impacted depending on where the arms are in the range.
So to confirm I just didn't have a tweaked machine, I test rode another bone stock one recently and it was already pretty tight on the bushing/balljoint/tie rod front, and it did the same exact thing.
So my question is does anyone else here have first hand experience with this particular machine and can confirm that it is ultra sensitive to have the right shocks and spring rates in order to make it rideable without crapping your pants with it darting left and right.
I don't mind investing in the shocks, I just don't want to invest in them and not solve the problem. Since I've never experienced a quad with this level of sensitivity, I'm hoping to get some education here.
And I do all trail riding, hence the reason for wanting the IRS vs a SRA. And while the Outlanders were great machines, they were too big and kind of boring without real clutches and gears to run through.
I love this IRS for lots of reasons, just need to get the steering issue resolved.
Thanks in advance for the help.
