Ok,

I have a 98 XC700, stock xtra10 in the rear, extended to 136 low miles, great sled. The problem, its STIFF as hell. So my question....Do I get an edge skid? or do I try the fox pps route? other options?

Also I see that mcb performance sells an xtra10 coupling kit by A.D. Boivin anyone try it?

Thanks guys

Have you ever removed the suspension and put it back in? What do you mean by stiff?...i guess i want to make sure that you are still getting travel out of it and that it is just not liek jammed. I know when we put my buddies xtra-10 in his xlt we put it in once and the suspension wouldnt move at all. I think this was mainly because we had to drill holes and he drilled the back ones a little off.

But, i dont see how it can be too stiff. Do you know if the heavy duty springs are on it? Have you tried putting the springs on low. If you put the springs on low and they are the regular springs you should be able to jump on it and have it compress fairly easily a few inches. Maybe just a little more explanation as to what your problem is, then the guys around here should be able to get you set up.

Oh its been in and out quite a few times. springs have been set on all settings from high to low

98 xc 600/700's have a rep for being rock hard in the rear.

Have the same sled and the same suspension (non pps). I do not have the 136 extensions though. A buddy of mine also has the Xtra-10 on his 440. We found the same things to be the major sources of problems on both of our suspensions. If you can find and edge and extesions go that route. Otherwise pull the skid out of there and take a look at the front and rear torque arms. On the front one: the upper mounting shaft will will flex and cause cracks in the tubing right were the reinforcements attach. The lower mount, that has the two idler wheels, will also break and bind the suspension. The rear torque arm seems to hold up fine.

While it is out, unbolt the torque arms from the rails, pull the inner shafts out of the rails and clean off all of the old grease with solvent before putting them back in. All of that old solidified grease starts binding like an SOB. When you re-grease it, use Mobil 1 synthetic grease. That stuff doesnt get so hard when the temp is near zero.

On mine, I back front and rear limiter straps out all the way out. The rear torque arm should stay mounted in the middle of the 3 holes. As far as the scissor stops go on the non-pps Xtra-10, I typically run less coupling. Was just working on my sled tonight but didn't look at the suspension so I am going to guess the front is on medium or high and the rear is on medium. I'll check it out tomorrow.

At 165lbs I leave my spings, the standard .421 diameter, set to medium. Still a stiff riding sled but it will handle the really big stuff with ease. That suspension is much better the faster you go. Foot and a half washboard at 60 is better than 6 inch at 20.

There are also optional sprins as mentioned. A softer .406 diam and a stiffer .431, the stiffer one may be a square spring. Haven't seen it but do recall that.

Some of the above may be old news but figured I'd put it all out there for someone in the future. Let us know what you find with yours. - Jeff

This sled is seriously stiff for some reason. I know, I've rode it. XCdrit is a buddy of mine and that xtra10 just seems to bounce off everything, even at speed. Its not bad by any means, but it makes rough trails a pretty good beating. Hopefully the problem can be aided or we may be doing a great deal of :beerchug: before riding.

Good luck,
Dan

I know what your talking about. I had the same problem with my 1999 XC700. I love the sled. Never had any problems with it. The X-tra 10 suspension in it just beat me to death though. From the day it was new it just rode stiff. And we don't have groomed trails here. I went with the edge swap. What a difference.

Check for siezed cross shafts as stated by Jeffxc7. I had a 98 and had a hard time keeping it stiff enuf, had it cranked high on all settings- 180 lb rider! Make sure the shocks are connected to the right linkage- it can be done wrong. Are shock's fresh? I would think the extensions would loosen it up, try taking rear coupling blocks all the way out.

Put an edge skid in. You will love the ride. I have one on my98xc700, what a difference.
I feel the ride is equal to anything out there. Just make sure you have your shocks done
by a person, that knows what they are doing. If you have any questions contact me or look
at all the other posts on this subject. Alan T. :div20:

If you enjoy the sled otherwise, and plan on keeping it long enough to justify spending some money on it, go for the Edge. You'll never look back. They really do work great.

From what I've heard, problems with stiff 98's mostly has to do with a very stiff front arm spring, 180# or 200#, along with the non-rebuildable shock.
On my 99 xcsp, the dealer was unable to keep the PPS1 shock working for more than 200 miles at a time, so I put in a regular fox. Then I found the suspension too stiff , without the softer mid-zone on the PPS.
(When the PPS worked right I found the skid very comfortable, and capable, when tightly coupled)

I then put in a 140# front track spring from Deycore. A little on the soft side, but allows me to use all of the front arm travel. (a 160# would have been perfect)
For setup, I prefer to loosen up on the limiter straps and front spring preload until spring is rattling, then adding preload until it feels right (ie don't bottom too much)

I had the same issue with my 98 XCR 440's and my 00' 700. The fix is to loosen the rear limiter strap as much as you can, move the rear scissor stops to the farthest hole BACK, drop the spring blocks and loosen the front rear shock collar as much as you can BUT still tight enough to not let the keeper fall out(the adjustable one closest to the engine with the black plastic cover on it). The collar is super easy to turn if its not corroded. Just tip the sled on its side and get in there.

I did this and it made a night and day difference and took me 20 minutes to do everything. However, I am a pretty light guy at 160 lbs. I run fresh shocks and have never bottomed out with this set up. A heavier guy may want to run the same setup but buy the heavy duty springs.

I've done nearly the same thing also, but I'm heavier and went with the overload rear springs and it hooks up great and gives a much better ride.