[Bildo]

So ive looked and tried finding the answer but can not. My question is, I want the Satv high clearance arms for my 2016 sport limited with elkas on it. The site says the rears aren't compatible with elkas. I'm wondering what the issue is,is there a way to make it work? Has anyone with elkas successfully done this mod?

 

[Dallas NC]

I recently did the SATV long travel kit (same A arms as the kit you are looking at) on a 2014 Wildcat Trail. Somehow, dummy me missed that you could not run Elka's on SATV's website. We bought Elka's for a Sport machine when we did the conversion. We recently experienced a right rear axle issue (circle clip malfunction) and coincidently, our machine is apart on the car lift. After reading your post, I did notice where the powdercoat was scrapped off on top of the right rear A arm (thankfully not the left yet). I did just now remove the spring and reconnect the shock, A arms and knuckle to check clearances and travels. Bottom of nitrogen canister can contact top of upper A arm when urethane stop bushing on shock shaft is compressed approximately 3/8". There is at least another 1/2" of compression left at the urethane stop bushing on the shock. Mathematically this calculates to approximately 3/16" of collision using measurements from shock angle and travels.

Thank you for your post, otherwise I would have completely missed this until severe shock damage occurred. Not exactly sure what our long term fix is going to be yet (most likely heating and indenting A-arm tube), however we will be making an aluminum clamp on spacer for the bottom of the shock shaft to decrease shock travel 3/4" for the short term solution.

Front high clearance A arms will work with Elka's, no problem there. It seems to be the issue explained above with the upper rears that are the problem.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[Bildo]

Thanks for your reply, at least now I know the cause and that with this temporary spacer can work, even though it reduces a bit of travel until a better/more tested fix can be found.
I'm glad you seen my post and it may have saved you major shock problem.

 

[Bildo]

Also,one question. The rear kit claims 2.5 inch of extra clearance. Is this clearance for the arms alone or is this like an actual lift measured under the cat. Will I gain about that much clearance at the skid plate? Thanks

 

[Dallas NC]

Sorry, I can't answer your question as we went from Trail to Sport with the conversion. I can say with front springs at 1" shy of full preload and rears within a couple of turns of full preload, we have 16" of ground clearance loaded with me, wife and gear measured from the floor to the skid plate at front and back. We are running 30" Maxxis Carnivores, they also added ground clearance (previous tires were 27" Bighorns). As a stock trail with the 27" bighorns, we previously had shy of 10" fully loaded.

As to the upper A arms, seems the long term solution is going to be a form tool that I'm making to put in the 50 ton press to add a concave radius in the tube where the shock intersects. I'll take a few photos over the weekend and let you know how it turns out. Photo of A arm and shock:

 

[Brettm57]

"We recently experienced a right rear axle issue (circle clip malfunction)"

Dallas NC - can I ask what happened here?

 

[Dallas NC]

Axle popped out somewhere toward the end of a 100 mile ride and didn't catch it before destroying axle end. Machine did make it all the way back to camp, we'll call that a win.

After inspecting the circle clip, there were two small shavings sticking in the grease inside the transaxle, at the open bore past the spline. examining the circle clip, it appears they were shaved from it on installation as the usually round shaped clip has a flat spot on outside perimeter (looking at under magnification). Circle clip was formed into the groove and did not have any "spring" to it. Hardness files I have show the clip is almost soft, compared to the stock ones that were on the original Trail axles. SATV sent me a replacement axle, circle clip on it is comparable to hardness of stock, so we should be good to go.

If anyone is using Rhino 2.0 axles from SATV on the rear for these machines, beware they do not come with the 1-1/4 ID x 1/16" o-ring that seals dirt out of the transaxle spline.