Crutchfield Shock Absorber Reviews

[outlandish]

Here is a review fromtom9933, a Grizzly owner off another site:

Grizz Crutchfields

Well like many of you I was not happy with the stock shocks on my Grizzly. So after trying several different settings with the stock shocks I finally decided to look into an aftermarket set. I talked to the various manufacturers and after talking to Ed at Crutchfield Performance about his new front upgrade package I was sold. What makes the Crutchfield kit unique is that Ed not only changes the front shocks to a much better Bilstien set, but he also made a custom bracket that allows the use of longer shocks.




Ed not only shipped the order very quickly but it was also very nicely packed! I was also very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the shocks and bracket. By comparison the stock shocks look rather wimpy.



The installation of the shocks and bracket is pretty straight forward and other than a little wrangling to mount the bracket it's very easy. In my case I found that I had to raise the battery box about an inch to get the bracket to slide into place. This took a bit of work, but was not terribly difficult.

I talked to Ed after installing my set and it sounds like there is a way to mount the bracket without removing any of the body work. Ed mentioned trying to put up a video that would show how to accomplish the installation without raising the battery box.

Once the shocks and bracket were installed I measured my ground clearance and to my surprise the setting was nearly identical to what I had started with. The shocks have an adjustment ring on them, but the setting that Ed set them to turned out to be right on the money.

After a bit of riding I found that the shocks made a very noticeable difference. Not only does the quad respond much better to rough terrain and jumps but it also steers much easier. I also found that when I launched the quad over larger jumps that the front of the quad settled very nicely and did not bottom out. Now because I still have the stock rear shocks I have noticed a slight bucking from the rear of the machine when hitting the larger jumps, but I believe that will pass with the installation of a set of rear shocks.

Overall the shocks are an excellent upgrade and they are very well made. It should also be noted that Crutchfield performance is also a sponsor of this site which earns extra points in my book



Left Side



Right Side

[outlandish]

A Review from ohp800max:

Well, I finally put enough miles on my Crutchfield Stage2 Extremes to give a good opinion on them. I have the Extremes on the front and rear. The rear has the one inch extension bracket.

First off, I have heard and seen the horror stories of the Crutchfield's popping out the rear CV joints. This made me more than a little nervous on my first few outings, especially for what these shocks cost. However, I now have over 900 miles on the Crutchfield's. 530 of those miles coming last week from a five day ride in the Taylor Park, Colorado area. The following are the observations I have observed with the Crutchfield's over stock.

1. The bike rides level and has almost 12 INCHES of ground clearance! YES, 12 inches!

2. No more nosedive, whether riding solo or two up!

3. I can go 15 to 25 mph faster over the same obstacles that killed the stock shocks!

4. More stable upper end (65-75mph)

5. No more hard lean in corners!

6. After rough 100 mile days, no shock fade. They didn't even get hot!

We drive several of the same areas in Colorado each year. Taylor Pass, Tin cup, St. Elmo, Aspen, Hanod: Pass, etc. Some of you guys may be familiar with Taylor Pass. There is a five mile stretch of rocks and bolders that just kills ATV's! It is also one of the 10 toughest trails according to AMA. Last year, I had to stop on occassion just to wring my arms and shoulders out. It is a grinder, to say the least. This year, no one could stay up with me and everyone had to pick their lines in order to make it. With the Crutchfield's, I just straddled the rocks and gave it gas! I only hit the Richochet's twice over the course of five days and over 500 miles! This is really incredible since I almost killed my Richochet's last year with the stock shocks and terrible ground clearance. I was five minutes ahead of the rest of the group when they finally finished the trail! The improved GC is awesome!

A few days later, we got on some nice twisty, technical trails. Our leader was on a Yamaha Grizzly and he is an ex Moto guy who really knows how to ride. My wife sat this ride out to go shopping, so he and I decided to hook it up for the day. He could not get away from me on the Technical trailsand I was always on his ass in the big rocky stuff, since he had to pick his lines and I just drove over everything. He commented that he thought there may be some paint transfer on the back of his bike and he couldn't believe a bike as big as the Outty could handle that good! Once again, most of the credit goes to the shocks. I must also add that the PSS helps a hell of a lot also!

All in all, it was a great test of these shocks and so far, so good. We had 12 bikes in our group and the Outty was head and shoulders above all the rest, whether riding technical trails, rock gardens, or climbing to 13,000 feet, the Outty just outperformed the other bikes. The others in the group would give the same statements. Of the bikes in our group, we had two Rincons go down, one Grizzly, one Artic Cat, and one Polaris. So far, this is the second trip to Colorado for the Outty with over 1000 miles of extremely harsh riding and ZERO problems. I just turned 3000 miles and am looking forward to 3000 more on this great ATV! This also tallies about 900 mile on the Crutchfield's. I will keep you posted on how they stand the test of time. So far, worth every penny!



OHP800MAX