Suzuki Tri runner, rear suspension problems...

[hawaiirider]

im making great progress on my quadrunner 160 to tri runner conversion. i decided to use a 200x rear shock i had laying around instead of the lt160's wimpy rear shock, it was a good amount of fabbing to get it in there.
Problem is even with preload all the way backed off its super stiff, im guessing because of the shock mount locations differ alot from the 200x's. is there a way to weaken the x spring? can i buy a softer one? im pretty sure the x had a 600lb spring not even sure what i would buy any help is appreciated!220982

[fabiodriven]

Your picture is tiny, I can't see what is going on there. If the 200X has linkage designed into the rear suspension, then you will need linkage on your new build. If you take a shock that requires a mechanical advantage in order to operate it and hook it up direct, it will not work.

[hawaiirider]

ahh, i put the same shock on my XLE street trike w no linkage and it worked real good so the linkage doesnt concern me a bit, its how to soften or obtain a softer spring cheaply, this is supposed to be a budget build...

[fabiodriven]

If it's any help I have an XR200 shock sitting around I can't do anything with. The eyelet hole in the body is blown out but the rest is usable.

[onformula1]

Post some better pictures, are using a linkage setup on it?

[fabiodriven]

It was sold to me as an 83 XR200 shock I believe. I don't know if those had any linkage or not. I never ended up using it for anything. It was sold to me as being in "good usable condition". Upon its arrival, it was clear that the Heim joint in the body of the shock had long been worn out and lost so the repair was to use a couple of steel sleeves from the hardware store with the slack taken up by aluminum foil. I took pictures and complained and they refunded my money and told me to keep the shock. I initially was buying it to lower the rear of my 650, but I ended up using a lowering link instead which worked great, so the shock is just sitting there taking up space.

[oldskool83]

The shock location is on too much of a vertical angle. it will just POGO stick and wont be any better then some 2ply 22in balloon tires. You need to lower your angle and upload photos that are larger then 1inch by 1inch. It's 2015 and I know phones take better photos even the $40 flip phones like I own.

83 XR200R's used a linkage...every XR200R used a linkage up until 2002 when they got discontinued. To fix the shock you need to remove the stock rubber shock bushing and have one machined out of delron, then insert a steel sleeve and your shock is better then new. I do this do all the worn out shocks I see. If you cant do this, send the shock over to a machine ship...they can do it and its nothing more then a few bucks.

[fabiodriven]

Oldskool has a point, that picture is terrible. From what he's saying I could have told you the same thing but I couldn't see a thing in your picture. I don't think this shock is going to help you, you need to figure out a mechanical advantage to make a shock work right.

[hawaiirider]

how do i improve the picture quality, my phone is a smartphone and uploads awesome pics on fb, there always tiny on here, sorry im kind of computer illeteriate.... anyways the stock shock was mounted like that, i used the stock mounts for my x shock. the stock shock works fairly well suprisingly, i was just looking to improve it a little by the slightly longer (1inch) 200x shock but its spring is much stiffer. the xr shock probably uses a softer spring due to it uses a floating link like a 350x, the 200x did not. i put a 350x rear shock on my 200x and had the opposite problem, it was way too soft.
thanks to fabiodriven for helpn me out, maybe ill be able to post some better pix of the tri-runner soon:beer

[fabiodriven]

I don't mind sending out the shock, I've no use of it, however it's going to need a linkage or a very drastic angle or something. The XR does have linkage in its rear suspension so you're going to end up with the same problem. It may very well be easier to find a shock from a machine without linkage than to get the appropriate mechanical advantage with these shocks.