burhead Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 I am looking for info on upgrading my banshee's suspension. I have a 96 that I bought as a basket case and the a arms and shocks are toast. I was going to replace the a arms with some after market and then replace the shocks later. I started seeing that some have put a arms and shocks from a yfz 450 on their bikes. I tried doing a search but my searches returned nothing. Is this a pretty straightforward swap? I do mostly trail riding and my bike has very minor motor mods done to it. This bike tends to be a handful in its current state and a suspension/brake upgrade is definitely in order. Thanks for any info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbcmudtruck Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 I tried to search for you as well, something must be wrong with the search engine because there are tons of posts about the swap. Bottom line, don't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry's Shee Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 Half way down this page there is a post with 23 pages, tried to link but failed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry's Shee Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 Half way down this page there is a post with 23 pages, tried to link but failed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burhead Posted September 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 Just to be clear I want to swap the a arms and all. I know I have read about people doing just the shocks and I can see why that is a bad idea. But are you saying that the complete conversion is a bad idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullthrottle02 Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 link 1 link 2 link 3 I am always changing crap around and trying new things. I am currently running this conversion. I have the yfz arms, spindles, hubs, banshee +2 tie-rods, and ltr 450 shocks to bring it back up to stock height. It works pretty good, a lot better than stock, and I haven't had any of the issues others have stated in other threads. I would suggest keeping the yfz parts on yfz's and saving up a little more money to buy banshee specific parts. You will be better off in the long run. I have no regrets by any means, but when I go to give the banshee a new face lift this winter we will be swapping her back over. If you do decide to move forward with this conversion make sure you have a great set of spindles. Any excessive play will be mutiplied 10x when installed on a banshee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedd1 Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 The 450 set up works fine if you use the entire 450 front end. Arms, shocks, spindles, and all. Probably not as good as a high end aftermarket set up but tons better than stock. I did the deed a couple years ago. My only complaint is that it is W I D E. LOOK HERE I have all these parts in a box.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rideSAND Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 i have the same setup but i got all my stuff off of a raptor 700 including calipers and everything. with the raptor shocks it sits higher and the camber is alot better than yfz shocks. the brakes are a huge improvement over stock and i havent noticed any turning issues or anything, it rides smooth and handles the woops and tight trails great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf44 Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 I did it with my latest build. Used the complete YFZ frontend. I like it and dont like it. Great for regular riding and duneing and performs great in rough and whooped up dunes, but i didnt like it in soft steep sand and treeshots. Seemed to push and was hard to turn. Also you lose even more turn radius. Looks badass though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXBlessedWithDeathXx Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 I did the conversion and love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snopczynski Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 so what if you have Tim at Stellar build banshee arms set up fort yfz450 shocks? Is that banshee geometry with yfz450 travel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burhead Posted September 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 thanks for all the replies. I am currently in afghanistan so I won't get at this for a few months yet. I am trying to gather info and parts for now. So for the raptor guys, will any year raptor parts fit? What would be the best year for the yfz to get the parts from? I also found the thread below and it was very helpful but it is long and kind of bounces all over the place. Most of my riding with this bike is done in tight sandy wooded trails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burhead Posted September 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Also one other thing. I have been reading that the upper ball joints aren't serviceable. Does this mean they aren't replaceable without buy a new upper. Sorry but I come from a history of polaris 2 strokes and dual a arm setups are new to me. Part of my reason for looking at this mod in the first place is to get a arms that have removable ball joints. As I stated earlier mine are toast and while I didn't tear it down to look, I was told that stock banshee arms have non replaceable ball joints. Are the YFZ's the same way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry's Shee Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 YFZ lowers are replacable but not uppers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbcmudtruck Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Yes, Steller can make you some arms to fit YFZ shocks. Another site sponser, Fireball Racing, has offered them for a few years now. It would be alot better to get banshee geometry arms made for YFZ shocks. YFZ shocks are pretty good shocks and they are cheap. As far as YFZ arms,,, they belong on a YFZ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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