Skidoo XM raptor shock setup thread

[maxwell]

Since there are going to be a lot of us running around with raptor shocks on our Xms this season I figured I would make a calibration thread. Please post your calibrations, what's working what's not, your approximate rider weight with gear. Length of xm. Clicker positions, spring settings, rear coil block settings etc.


So far I have my fronts dialled in AWESOME.

Fronts:

Rider weight 200lbs

Xm 163

Clicker 9-10 springs on softest setting

Amazing in the stutter bumps on the trail up to 1ft. No bottoming or feedback in the bars what so ever in any conditions.


Rears:

Haven't dialed in a calibration here yet. On clicker two on both rears. Torsion springs at 1 and front track shock on stiff setting.

This doesn't work good in the bumps. Way to stiff and rough in the bumps. Didn't have time to loosen my front track shock but I think that's the problem. Will find out next ride


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[maxwell]

ok. Did some more testing on the weekend. Leaving my front setup for now. worked AWESOME on some huge bumps on the trail. i beat my riding crew to the truck by 10 minutes and felt like i could go back up LOL.

Rears: soft spring setting and clicker 2 from the soft end on both rear shocks. again i dont think i have the rear 100% yet but damn is it close! unbelievable how well these work with a little tweaking.

 

[UkrainianMudKing]

Rider weight 220lbs

XM 163


Fronts:
Clicker 9-10 springs on softest setting


Rears:

Haven't dialed in a calibration here yet. On clicker three on both rears. Torsion springs at 2 and front track shock tightened four turns.

The fronts are perfect however I am still working on the rears.

 

[deaner]

Yeah Im curious to hear feedback on this stuff. Have been thinking about investing in a set that I would just take off and put on each new sled. Had the Toms rear skid and Evol Rs all the way around on my last sled. Was an improvement but wouldnt do it again. I think it was mostly the air shocks. Just not a fan.

So do the raptors make a night and day difference, or are they just an improvement?

 

[maxwell]

Yeah Im curious to hear feedback on this stuff. Have been thinking about investing in a set that I would just take off and put on each new sled. Had the Toms rear skid and Evol Rs all the way around on my last sled. Was an improvement but wouldnt do it again. I think it was mostly the air shocks. Just not a fan.

So do the raptors make a night and day difference, or are they just an improvement?

my fronts right now are absolutely night and day difference. i will be throwing them on every sled from now on. you can mash into a mogul at full blast of any size and your wrists barely even move. where as the factory shocks bottom and send the pain right into your wrists. so incredibly smooth through the moguls. and the faster you go the better it seems to get. the way i have mine set there is also very little feedback. the sled will track straight right through any chitstorm of moguls. i found my stock one could send me flying any direction and really get a guy out of shape fast. i even came flying off a few bumps and landed in the bottom of the mogul a few times and nothing. if i did that on my stock shocks i would be over the bars and my sled running over me.

the rears i am still working on. they are deffinetly an improvement the way i have them set right now but not night and day. the big difference is they are not bottoming when hitting the big stuff. i have confidence that i will be able to get them night and day difference with a little more work. i can cruise through 2ft moguls right now no problem at almost any speed. and i think with just the fronts the rear end with factory shocks would not be able to keep up at all. the problem with the rear shocks is there is so much adjustability. for a guy like me i am no suspension expert and there is alot of combinations.

- front shock spring adjustment
-front track clicker adjustment
-limiter strap adjustment
- torsion spring adjustment
- rear shock clicker adjustment

so there is so many contributing factors that make it more difficult to tune ( for me)

ideally i want my sled to be perfect on the moguled out trails and im sure in the alpine it will be just fine because its mostly powder riding. but a quick adjustment on the rear shock could keep the front end down if needed.

like i was saying earlier. i wasnt trying all that hard, and im extremely out of shape. and i beat my crew to the truck on a 9km trail by 10 min. Not saying the trail is a race at all but you can actually move through the moguls at a relatively quick speed for long durations of time

 

[Depsnolvr]

I too have been messing with my setup. I have my fronts working great like the rest. But i admit, I had issues with the rears. I called jake at raptor and he was awesome to talk to. My initial thought was that they were just too stiff, so i kept backing off the clickers. Jake mentioned this action was likely causing me to go to far into the stroke on the shock and actually making them seem stiff.

my front track shock shock is set to 8.25" and on clicker 5 and my rear shock is actually set on clicker 10 right now. Ill likely back off a couple clicks on the rear for the next ride. My torsion springs are on 1.

Getting much happier with them as I learn how to use them. I am completely shock retarded so am learning as i go. Part of my issue is that I really do like my sleds soft (so stock suspension worked previously), but then i expected it to absorb massive bumps as well......best of both worlds...I may be getting there?

 

[Team Pigeon]

Is a rear skid rear shock torsion spring available?
The whole wrist pain eliminated comment has gotten me interested again.

 

[Biggs456]

Just a quick follow up request from me and others that may come across this thread.

Sounds like everyone was able to dial fronts easily with our shocks. What was the verdict on getting the rears dialed?

 

[Depsnolvr]

Just a quick follow up request from me and others that may come across this thread.

Sounds like everyone was able to dial fronts easily with our shocks. What was the verdict on getting the rears dialed?

Hi Jonathon. Nice to see you guys are watching this. I was very happy with them at the end of the season and I believe the Maxwell clan were too. I did end up backing the rears off a bit although still ran with very soft torsion springs all season. I was very impressed and even more satisfied with the willingness of the raptor folks to answer my questions. The 14xm is now gone and a 15 on the way. Hoping to run the raptors again but we will see if that's doo'able :d

 

[maxwell]

Totally satisfied with my fronts I've got them dialed in great just adjust clicker position for siZe of bumps. I do have one question though for the fronts. I ran them all last season on soft spring setting. What are the pros and cons of adjusting the front spring pressure? Never tried it.




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[Biggs456]

Totally satisfied with my fronts I've got them dialed in great just adjust clicker position for siZe of bumps. I do have one question though for the fronts. I ran them all last season on soft spring setting. What are the pros and cons of adjusting the front spring pressure? Never tried it.

Additional spring preload can be beneficial if you want a more positive feel which will in turn make the skis bite harder. Biggest draw back is you can experience heavier steering and potentially darting in some conditions.

 

[stormtrooper]

Totally satisfied with my fronts I've got them dialed in great just adjust clicker position for siZe of bumps. I do have one question though for the fronts. I ran them all last season on soft spring setting. What are the pros and cons of adjusting the front spring pressure? Never tried it.




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I'm not an expert but I am pretty sure you want to run them as soft as you can and not bottom out for the conditions you are riding in. Front to back you want to be balanced as we'll. If you really stiffen the front, you will want to stiffen the back as we'll. There is a lot of things that play in when you start considering weight transfer, ski pressure, bumps, trenching, etc. I don't think you'll find one setup that will be great for washboard and deep snow.

 

[Stg2Suby]

Any suggestions on spring preloads and clicker settings for Raptors on 2013 XM 154? I'm 230# with gear. Any comments on rear torsion springs? Stock are 1.27 and I'll probably get the Doo optional 1.44, although 1.35 is available too. I have an email out to Jake just wanted to ask here as well as well. Thanks!

 

[Biggs456]

Any suggestions on spring preloads and clicker settings for Raptors on 2013 XM 154? I'm 230# with gear. Any comments on rear torsion springs? Stock are 1.27 and I'll probably get the Doo optional 1.44, although 1.35 is available too. I have an email out to Jake just wanted to ask here as well as well. Thanks!

Did you get an email back from Jake? It's been crazy busy around here so I just want to make sure we got back to you. If not, I can track him down and get you some info.

Did you thumb through the setup and tuning instructions that came with the shocks?

 

[Stg2Suby]

^ thanks yes I did get the emailed setup info from you guys

 

[duffmannt]

Did you get an email back from Jake? It's been crazy busy around here so I just want to make sure we got back to you. If not, I can track him down and get you some info.

Did you thumb through the setup and tuning instructions that came with the shocks?

Jonathon,

Any chance you or someone you know could provide us with some real R+D info on the new XM-ACE setup?

 

[Biggs456]

Jonathon,

Any chance you or someone you know could provide us with some real R+D info on the new XM-ACE setup?

I'm in and out of cell service today but go ahead with any questions you have and I will get them answered as best I can. What type of R&D info are you looking for?

Jonathon
Raptor Performance Shocks

 

[duffmannt]

I'm in and out of cell service today but go ahead with any questions you have and I will get them answered as best I can. What type of R&D info are you looking for?

Jonathon
Raptor Performance Shocks

Was looking for some rider feedback on comparison to the Raptor with torsion spring set up. Will you guys be offering a deal for those of us who bought the Raptor shocks last year and would like to upgrade to this kit? Is there any difference in feel to the extra degree of T-motion in the skid? Does the shock operate to the other coil overs? 20 clicker adjustments? Thanks.

 

[Biggs456]

Was looking for some rider feedback on comparison to the Raptor with torsion spring set up. Will you guys be offering a deal for those of us who bought the Raptor shocks last year and would like to upgrade to this kit? Is there any difference in feel to the extra degree of T-motion in the skid? Does the shock operate to the other coil overs? 20 clicker adjustments? Thanks.

Great questions Duffmannt!

First off, we did the development testing ourselves last winter so we don't have a bunch of rider feedback other than our own yet but that is going to change quickly with the great snow conditions being seen all over. That being said, we found that the the coilover spring gives us much more tunability over the torsion spring which is something we are always after when riding. That's just who we are.

As far as the angle of the T-motion, we tested going further and didn't like the feel. Little more tendancy to wash out when we pushed too far on the angle. We didn't do anything to revolutionize the t-motion here other than make it a little more robust and lightweight. We did design it so that it can be configured as locked out which is what we had some guys asking for, but typically guys who like the t-motion are planning on sticking with it.

On the 174 it definitely had a big impact in ride quality over stock. It changed the vehicle completely. That longer suspension with the rear shock laid down a little more and the correct valving was really impressive. It was equally impressive on the shorter XM models.

As far as comparing the XM ACE kit to our shock package for the torsion spring setup, we know that both do ride extremely well and both have their place. The Ace kit is definitely for the rider who's looking to further tune their rear skid, wants to reduce the skid weight(4 lbs) and not have to deal with the torsion springs.

Ace kit shock has all of our standard coilover shock features.(5/8 nitride shafts, Anti-Pack Valve, SicCoat, 20 position clickers, high flow piston, premium quality oil, huge range of adjustability, etc...)

We can definitely work something out for guys wanting to upgrade that already have the Raptor non-sprung rear shock. Most guys will just sell the rear shock and put it towards the kit but we've taken a couple on trade as well. Unfortunately it's so different from the new Ace package shock that we can't rebuild it and change components economically. Just give us a call and we can discuss trade in value.

Hopefully that helps!

 

[t300]

Back to the top. Any favorite settings for the food lovers? 235 plus gear. New to me 14 xm. Have 4 days On it. Couldn’t get front end up over obstacles so loosened limiter one then I couldn’t steer. Then all the snow melted. For this year Added torsion spring spacers, moved skid to t3 spec and added zrp rear arm. Just reset to raptor instructions. Factory spring preload, fronts on clicker 10. Front skid shock on clicker 4 and rear on 10. Limiters one looser than stock I think, one strap had been replaced by the previous owner so not positive which strap is factory, they are slightly different. Strap measures about 7.5” ctc

Edit. Measured skid front shock spring it’s at 10.25 which is 2” more than raptor baseline of 8.25