We show you an ideal shock setup on our Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo R X rs with FOX
Story & Photos: Casey Cordeiro
More than likely, stock machines come with a very conservative suspension setup. This has been the case since suspension starting evolving back in the 70’s and 80’s (Anyone remember the original Honda ProLink on their quads? Talk about a game changer…). Even today, the most sophisticated suspension systems on the most expensive UTV’s come with settings that aren’t necessarily ideal. This isn’t done to deter you from buying the vehicle, but it is in an effort to make the vehicle as safe as possible right from the factory. Luckily for us, modern suspension systems, like the FOX setup found on the Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo R X rs lineup, are highly adjustable, perfect for allowing you to do some fine tuning when you buy a machine like this. In addition to the X3, the Yamaha YXZ1000R SE versions come with fully adjustable FOX shocks, as does the Textron Off Road Wildcat X premium lineup with their top-notch Elka shocks. For this story, we’ll focus on the Maverick X3 shocks for an overview of what the shocks do, how to get the most out of the different adjustments they offer, and what some baseline settings are that we have found based on our experience with the X3 lineup.
The X rs comes with top-of-the-line FOX shocks straight from the factory. They are of the Podium RC2 variety, which means they come with adjustments for Preload, High Speed Compression, Low Speed Compression, and Rebound. We’ll also talk about the cross-over nuts that come on the shock body, too. Adjusting all 4 of the aforementioned settings to be completely in sync with one another can absolutely be challenging, but that is why we are here (insert sly smiley face here…). So, let’s go over a brief overview of each setting and then dive into the baseline settings that we have found to work on our X3 X rs.
First, let’s talk about Preload (Installed Spring Length). Preload is the simplest setting on your shocks because it adjusts ride height and gives you the proper SAG dimension. Almost every shock, no matter how technologically advanced it is, comes with some kind of preload adjustment. The adjusters for Preload come in different forms, but our X3 has threaded collars, 2 of them to be exact, that allow you to adjust the ride height of the vehicle. Increasing or decreasing the ride height can be easily done by threading the collars up or down on the shock body, thus increasing or decreasing the ground clearance of the machine.
In conjunction with the ride height adjustments, these X3 shocks come with cross-over nuts that essentially allow you to control when the shock collar in between the upper and lower springs (typically called primary and secondary springs) stops so that only the bottom (heavier) spring is being compressed. Adjusting when the top (lighter) spring stops compressing allows you to dial in how your vehicle handles over larger hits and big bumps and keeps the shock in an ideal spot in the stroke.
Next up is Low Speed Compression (LSC). This adjustment allows you to control the amount of resistance to the slow speed bumps/hits in the trail. For example, less Low Speed Compression means there is less resistance, meaning you will get a more supple and smoother ride over the little chop, thus increasing traction and ride compliance. Turning the dial IN turns the Low Speed Compression up, meaning you are going to get a rougher ride but less dive/squat.
High Speed Compression (HSC) is the setting that controls the amount of resistance in the big hits, like jumping, attacking whoops, traversing uneven and gnarly terrain, etc… This comes in to play when the shock is significantly compressed. High Speed Compression adjusts the amount of resistance as the shock compresses, thus making it more difficult for the shock to fully compress. Turning the 17mm nut in on the top of the X3 X rs shock gives you more compression, thus making it more difficult for the shock to fully compress.
Last but not least, let’s talk Rebound. The rebound adjusts the rate at which the spring stored energy is released, or essentially how quickly or slowly the shock decompresses. If you have the rebound to slow, the shock will “pack up” and stay compressed for too long, thus lessening the amount of usable travel available for the next obstacle. If the rebound is too fast, you will have a bucking sensation because the shock isnt’ using enough of the available travel. A screw on the bottom of the shock controls this setting – dialing it in increases the rebound and effectively allows the shock to decompress faster. Dialing the screw out decreases the speed at which the shock decompresses.
When combined and if tuned correctly, all of these shock adjustments work in sync to keep the shock in the ideal position, thus giving you the most balanced ride and handling characteristics whether you are going slow or fast. Getting your ride “dialed in” can take a lot of fine tuning, note taking, and research. This is also why there are a lot of shock tuning specialists out in the off-road world, and we recommend setting up a time with one of these knowledgeable tuners if you don’t want to tackle this challenge yourself.
After speaking with FOX about their stock settings for the Maverick X3 Turbo R X rs, they gave us a link to their website that has a good baseline setting for us to adjust from. Here is the LINK TO THAT PAGE. This info is also described in the FOX-supplied diagram on these pages.
We made those adjustments, which detailed out the measuring processes, etc… After more testing and 100 additional miles on our X3, we came to the conclusion that we actually didn’t prefer their settings in our harsh, whooped-out desert terrain. So, after many “let’s break out the tools” conversations, here are the ideal settings we came up with:
Front
Preload (Installed Spring Length): 23”
Crossover measurement: 2.5”
High Speed Compression: 3.25 turns
Low Speed Compression: 3 turns
Rebound: 12 clicks
Rear
Preload (Installed Spring Length): 31”
Crossover measurement: 6”
High Speed Compression: 3.5 turns
Low Speed Compression: 3.5 turns
Rebound: 18 clicks
Note: All adjuster positions are measured from the fully closed (clockwise) position. Measurements are taken with the vehicle jacked up fully off the ground with springs decompressed all the way. For specific instructions on how to measure these, please see the attached diagram from FOX.
Please note that these are just guidelines and you’re preference will probably be different than ours. Also, note that not every terrain is the same. We were pushing the car hard through whooped-out desert hard pack and loose loamy washes and found these settings to give the Maverick X3 X rs much better driving dynamics than the stock settings.
We’ll have more tech articles like this in the near future, and we hope you find them valuable and knowledgeable. Happy tuning!