Yamaha Rhino Long Travel Kits

Posted on November 17, 2013

Yamaha Rhino’s come stock with fully independent four-wheel suspension: Double-wishbones front and rear deliver 7.3 inches of wheel travel and 12.1 inches of ground clearance. Stock Rhino’s have a 75″ wheelbase, and are 54.5″ wide. Decent for easy trail rides, but with stock-width a-arms, it feels like it could tip on side hills, or run out of suspension going through the whoops, jumping or hitting a witches eye. So if you are serious about taking your Rhino for hard dune rides, either invest in some aftermarket suspension, or know the vehicle’s limits.

Although long travel kits are far from cheap, they are the bestway to improve your Rhino’s suspension. Approaching the goal of longtravel in steps can result in more expense because stock length shocks will notwork (the only exception to this is Lonestar Racing MTS mid-travel kit). It is a hard pill to swallow, but if you want to get to long travel,you will save money in the long run by waiting until you can buy a full longtravel kit.

If a long travel kit is just out of reach, but you still want toincrease your track width for more stability in the dunes, you can try offsetwheels and/or wheel spacers.

Most of the long travel kits increase wheeltravel, front and rear track width and stretch the wheelbase. Long travel kits are now available fromseveral manufacturers.

What is included in a Rhino Long Travel Kit?

Before you go running off to buy one of these long travel kits,it is best to understand what is included so that you can make side by sidecomparisons.

A-Arms – A few different types of a-arms are outthere. Most are made from chromoly tubing, others are boxed, and a few aremade from billet aluminum or mild steel. Each material type has pros and cons.Ask questions about why a particular material and arm design was chosen.

Some kits come powder coated in a standard color.Others come unfinished or offer custom colors.

A-Arm Hardware – Inner and outer a-arm hardware istypically replaced. The majority of long travel kits come with new bushings (Delron,Daystar, etc.) on the inner side of the a-arm, but some come with heims. On the outer or spindle side, some kits use heims, others use uni-balls, and afew reuse the OEM ball joint. There are pluses and minuses to each type of setupand quality can vary from heim to heim and bushing to bushing, so ask questions.

Axles – When you extend the wheels out, you are going toneed new axles. There are two approaches to this. The cheaper routeis to reuse the stock CVs and just replace the axles (for example – Gear Onemakes a 300m axle for Rhinos). The more expensive routeis new axles and CVs. Many builders use Gorilla Axles & CVs. Steppingup to Gorilla Axles & CVs will increase strength and is much easier toinstall. The cost to step up to Gorilla Axles and CVs varies, but expect to payup to $1,500 more.

Tie Rods – Some kits come with tie rod extenders. A few come with new tie rods.

Shocks – All of the kits include new coilover shocks. Several shock manufacturers have developed Rhino specific shocks, so there are many options and prices out there. Long travel kit manufacturers will tend tohave a favorite. If you don’t want to mess around with shock valving, stick withwhat the manufacturer recommends. Shock selection can greatly affect not onlythe cost, but also the performance of the kit.

Front Shock Tower – A few of the kits have optional fronts hock towers that raises the upper shock mount location and allows for a longer shock and more wheel travel. Some welding may be necessary.

Spindles – Stock spindles aren’t typically replaced, buta few manufacturers are now offering new spindles as an option. If you race orlike to jump, you should look into new spindles.

Frame Gussets – Long travel kits put more stress on thefactory mounting locations. Several manufacturers are now offering bolt-on orweld-on gussets to help beef up the stock frame in critical areas.

Other things to ask:

Does the kit affect ride height? This not only affects how the Rhino will handle, but also if it will make it inside your toy hauler.
Make sure your kit is “bolt-on” with no welding required.
Will my OEM wheels will fit?
Will the OEM rear sway bar work?
Does the kit put extra stress on OEM parts that do not get replaced?

Spotlight on Rhino Products

Here are the products that we have chosen to use on the DuneGuide.com Project Rhino:

Long Travel Kit – Mason Motorsports – +6″ Arms
Shocks/Springs – Elka Suspension – 46mm Elka Elite
Axles – Gorilla Axle
Tie Rods – Lonestar Racing
Front & Rear Differential Support and Frame Gussets – Lonestar Racing

Yamaha Rhino Long Travel Kits

ADub Motorsports

Billet aluminum arms
A-Arm width:
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel: 13″
Shocks: King

ATVonics

A-Arm width: +6″
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks: KING, FOX, ELKA or Walker Evans

Bad Ass Golf

A-Arm width: +6″ per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks:

Bulletproof Suspension

A-Arm width: +6″ per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel: 14″
Shocks: Fox

CRS Manufacturing

A-Arm width: +6 inches per side
Wheelbase: +0″ front and +2″ rear
Wheel travel: 15″
Shocks:

Custom Creations

A-Arm width: +6 inches per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks: Fox Air Shox

Direct Concept Engineering

A-Arm width: +6″ per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel: 14″
Shocks: Radflo

Dragon Fire Racing

A-Arm width: +3.5″ wider per side
Wheelbase: 1″ forward and 1″ back
Wheel travel: 13″
Shocks: Fox

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side
Wheelbase: 1″ forward and 1.5″ back
Wheel travel: 14″
Shocks: Fox

Excessive Suspension Engineering – ESE

A-Arm width: +6 inches per side
Wheelbase: 2″ forward and 2″ back
Wheel travel: 15″
Shocks: Radflo

Fabtech Motorsports

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side
Wheelbase: +2″ front, +2″ rear
Wheel travel: 13″
Shocks: Fabtech Dirtlogic

Also manufacture Control Arm Frame Gussets and Rear Differential Support Kits.

Fireball Racing

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel: 16″
Shocks: Bilstein by MicroTouch

A-Arm width: +4″ wider per side
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks: Bilstein by MicroTouch

FST Motorsports

A-Arm width: +6.5 wider per side.
Wheelbase: 2″ forward, 2″ rear
Wheel Travel:
Shocks: Dual rate King

Shock relocation brackets

Fulcrum Fabrication

Billet aluminum long travel kit.
A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +2″ wheelbase (rear only)
Wheel travel: 13″ wheel travel
Shocks:

HCR Racing

A-Arm width: +6″
Wheelbase: +1″ forward and 1″ rearward
Wheel Travel: 15″
Shocks: King

Website: www.hcrracing.com
Location: Cedar City, UT
Phone: 602-568-3944

Herrmann Racing

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +2″ wheelbase.
Wheel Travel: 13″
Shocks: Fox

HRT Motorsports

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +2″ wheelbase.
Wheel Travel: 14″
Shocks: Fox

iShock

+6 i2500LT:
A-Arm width: +6 wider per side.
Wheelbase: 2″ forward, 2″ rear
Wheel Travel: 14″
Shocks: iShock

+3.5 i2500LT:
A-Arm width: +3.5″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +1″ rear
Wheel Travel: 12″
Shocks: iShock

Laeger Racing

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase:
Wheel Travel:
Shocks: Elka

Lonestar Racing

XTR Long travel:
A-Arm width: +6.5 wider per side.
Wheelbase: 2 forward, and 2 rear.
Wheel Travel: 15.5 of rear, 14.25 front.
Shocks: Your choice

MTS Mid travel:
A-Arm width: +3″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: 1″ forward and 1″ backward.
Wheel Travel: 10″
Shocks: Stock length will work

Website: www.lsracing.com
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Long Travel Industries

A-Arm width: + 5 wider per side.
Wheelbase: Forward 2” and back 2”.
Wheel travel: 14
Shocks: King

Magnum Offroad

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side
Wheelbase: Forward 2” and back 2”.
Wheel travel: 14″
Shocks: Fox

Website: www.magnumoffroad.com

Mason Motorsports – Now at SDR Motorsports

Fully boxed A-arms made of 4130 chromoly.
A-Arm width: + 6″wider per side.
Wheelbase: 4″ longer
Wheel travel: 14 1/2″
Shocks: Fox, Elka

PEM Products

Made from billet aluminum.
A-Arm width: +4″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: Forward 2” and back 2”.
Wheel travel: 11.5
Shocks: Walker Evan’s Racing

Mafia Industries – Rhino Mafia (Sinister)

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +2″
Wheel travel: 14″ in front (with upper mount relocate kit), 16″ rear.
Shocks: Fox

Front shock tower mount available.

Rancho Suspension

A-Arm width: +4″
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks: Rancho Suspension

RhinoTech

A-Arm width: +4″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: +1″
Wheel travel: 12″
Shocks: King

Front shock tower mount.

SDR Motorsports

Fully boxed A-arms made of 4130 chromoly.
A-Arm width: + 6″wider per side.
Wheelbase: 4″ longer
Wheel travel: 14 1/2″
Shocks: Fox, Elka

Website: www.sdrmotorsports.com

Shaw’z Metal Fabrications

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side
Wheelbase: +4″
Wheel travel: 14″
Shocks: Fox

SoCal Fab

Single Shock and Dual Shock w/ Bypass kits available
A-Arm width:+6″ wider per side.
Wheelbase: 2″ forward and 2″ backward
Wheel travel: 14.5″
Shocks: Elka, King, Walker Evans, Fox

A-Arm width: +4″ wider per side.
Wheelbase:
Wheel travel:
Shocks:

Also manufacture Rhino spindles.