Yamaha Rhino Long Travel Kits
 Rhino with Mason Motorsports long travel arms, Elka Elite shocks and Gorilla Axles
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. Afew come with new tie rods.
Shocks – All of the kits include new coilover shocks.Several shock manufacturers have developed Rhino specific shocks, so there aremany 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 frontshock towers that raises the upper shock mount location and allows for a longershock and morewheel 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:
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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.
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Make sure your kit is “bolt-on” with no welding required.
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Will my OEM wheels will fit?
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Will the OEM rear sway bar work?
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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.comProject Rhino:
Yamaha Rhino Long Travel Kits
Billet aluminum arms A-Arm width: Wheelbase: Wheel travel: 13″ Shocks: King
A-Arm width: +6″ Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks: KING, FOX, ELKA or Walker Evans
A-Arm width: +6″ per side Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks:

A-Arm width: +6″ per side Wheelbase: Wheel travel: 14″ Shocks: Fox
A-Arm width: +6 inches per side Wheelbase: +0″ front and +2″ rear Wheel travel: 15″ Shocks:

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

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

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

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


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.

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

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


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

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

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

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


+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

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



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


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

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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



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
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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.

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

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

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


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Shaw’z Metal Fabrications
A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side Wheelbase: +4″ Wheel travel: 14″ Shocks: Fox


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. (Coming soon) Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks:
Also manufacture Rhino spindles.

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So-Cal Offroad and Custom
A-Arm width: +6.5″ wider per side. Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks:
Website: eBay Phone: (661) 948-8037
A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side. Wheelbase: Wheel travel: 13″ Shocks:

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Spectrum Sand Sports / LTRhino.com
A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side. Wheelbase: 2″ forward and 2″ backward Wheel travel: 12″ Shocks:

A-Arm width: +4″ wider per side. Wheelbase: +1″ wheelbase. Wheel Travel: 13″ Shocks: Fox

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Speed Unlimited Motorsports
A-Arm width: Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks:

A-Arm width: Wheelbase: Wheel travel: 14.5″ Shocks:

Billet aluminum 6061 control arms A-Arm width: +6.25″ wider per side Wheelbase: +1″ forward and 2″ back
ward Wheel travel: 13 1/2″ Shocks: King

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side Wheelbase: +2″ forward and 2″ back
ward Wheel travel: 16″ Shocks: King, Fox

A-Arm width: +6″ wider per side Wheelbase: +2″ forward and 2″ back
ward Wheel travel: Shocks: Elka, King, Fox


A-Arm width: Wheelbase: Wheel travel: Shocks: King, Walker Evans Racing

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Xtreme Machine & Fabrication
A-Arm width: +6″ Wheelbase: +2″ back Wheel travel: 13 3/4″ Shocks: WER

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