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Alba Racing +2 A Arms Update

10K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  gramirez71 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey all,

I just want to let you all know an update on my A arm upgrade.

A couple years ago I got a set of +2 standard travel A arms from Alba Racing. I ride almost exclusively woods and trails and they have held up great for that. However, I went to a motocross track with some friends a couple weekends ago. I looked at my quad's front end a few days ago and noticed my front tires were leaning outward and upon closer inspection I saw that both lower arms were bent. I never crashed the quad at the track or anything but I did have a couple landings that I came up a bit short and landed rough on a tabletop.

Now some good news. I called Alba and told them the story of what happened and they were good about hearing me out. They hooked me up with some new lower arms (the uppers look good). What surprised me was they are sending me a set of their standard-travel, long-travel adjustable lower arms instead of the ones I had - and at a decent price. The adjustable arms are a "gullwing" style - basically they are bent so as to provide higher ground clearance. Sounds great to me! Now I am setup for long travel shocks if I decide to switch as well.

What I want to say most is:
1. Don't jump big with stock shocks and extended arms - even if you don't think you're being rough on the suspension, you probably are.

2. Alba Racing customer support seems top-notch. (I withhold a bit of praise as I just got the replacement order placed today and they say the arms should show up in a few days - I'll see how it plays out.)

3. Looks like I have some work ahead of me in terms of shocks and what I want to do.

Anyways,

Have a good day, all
:beer:

Chops
 
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#3 ·
ive got some alba extended long travel a-arms for a few years now they have held up well. i have done a little bit of moto (nothing super crazy) and regular jumps with them with no issues. Good to hear about their customer service.
 
#5 ·
Judging by your sig, ian, you have long travel shocks. My problem is I'm using standard travel stockers on my ride. I think I just went a bit too hard for the suspension I have. I was told I should re-valve at minimum, or more preferably, get long travel shocks. That will be a while out for me, though. They are very spendy.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Pics:

This is how they looked originally. Notice how they are straight right next to the shock mount.

Hard to tell in photos, but the wheel leans outward now. That's how I noticed the problem initially. Pardon the dirt everywhere. I just had it out riding and it was really wet and muddy out.

This side isn't as bent as the other.

Pretty noticeable bend right by the shock mount. The lower ball joint is also shot. I can wiggle the hub and see the joint slide.

Overall photo. The left wheel is noticeably out of alignment here, but the photo angle probably amplifies it a bit.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
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#7 ·
***UPDATE***

The new lower arms showed up today.

Good on ya, Alba! Many thanks!


Now to find time to put them on and re-align everything...


Chops


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#8 ·
Looks good. Have fun!!


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#9 · (Edited)

How's this look? lol

I should finally have time to get the other arm on this weekend and do a quick tune-up. Just thought this pic looked goofy as heck.
 
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#11 ·
Well, I managed to get the other arm on this weekend. Pics to come. A few things:

1. The new arms came with new metal sleeves in the frame-to-arm mounts. I was having a heck of a time installing the new arm as it would not fit into the frame mounts. Turns out the new sleeves are a bit longer than the old ones. It was so tough to try and put the arm into the mount that I feared I had tweaked my frame. I ended up re-using the old sleeves and the arms just slid right in to the frame mount.

2. The new arms have nylon lock-nuts for the ball joints instead of castle nuts with cotter pins. The lock-nuts are spec'ed to be torqued at 50ft-lbs per the installation instructions - seems excessive as the stock ball joint torque is 18 ft-lbs, but these have no cotter pin I guess. I ended up stripping one of the lock nuts trying to torque it to spec. Thankfully, I was able to find a replacement in the local hardware store.

After these minor issues, I got both arms on and torqued to spec. I was hoping things would magically be aligned as before, but more realistically, I expected to have to realign the front end. The real world strikes again - steering was waaaay off. I had to adjust camber and toe in. Thing is, after I realigned everything, I popped the gas tank and seat back on and took it for a short ride minus the front plastics and I forgot that I had the mounting bolts for the plastics loosely in the frame and of course one of them unthreaded itself and got lost somewhere.

At least ordering a new nut and bolt gave me an excuse to finally order a Clymer manual as well. All good things I guess.


Good day, folks!


Chops
 
#12 · (Edited)


Here's the new arms on and all aligned. Ready to ride!





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#13 ·
Hey all,

I just want to let you all know an update on my A arm upgrade.

A couple years ago I got a set of +2 standard travel A arms from Alba Racing. I ride almost exclusively woods and trails and they have held up great for that. However, I went to a motocross track with some friends a couple weekends ago. I looked at my quad's front end a few days ago and noticed my front tires were leaning outward and upon closer inspection I saw that both lower arms were bent. I never crashed the quad at the track or anything but I did have a couple landings that I came up a bit short and landed rough on a tabletop.

Now some good news. I called Alba and told them the story of what happened and they were good about hearing me out. They hooked me up with some new lower arms (the uppers look good). What surprised me was they are sending me a set of their standard-travel, long-travel adjustable lower arms instead of the ones I had - and at a decent price. The adjustable arms are a "gullwing" style - basically they are bent so as to provide higher ground clearance. Sounds great to me! Now I am setup for long travel shocks if I decide to switch as well.

What I want to say most is:
1. Don't jump big with stock shocks and extended arms - even if you don't think you're being rough on the suspension, you probably are.

2. Alba Racing customer support seems top-notch. (I withhold a bit of praise as I just got the replacement order placed today and they say the arms should show up in a few days - I'll see how it plays out.)

3. Looks like I have some work ahead of me in terms of shocks and what I want to do.

Anyways,

Have a good day, all
🍺

Chops
How do the Alba A Arms compare to the Houser Racing A Arms ? My goal is to use the stock shocks on my 2020 Raptor 700R. Any recmmendations would be welcome....Thanks !
 
#14 ·
I haven't got the Houser arms so I don't know how they compare but if you're going with Alba, those gullwing arms are better than the straight ones. I bent a set of the straight ones. I'm running stock shocks on mine but would like to get long travel shocks.

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