High Lifters High Clearance A-arms
If you have been an offroader for very long I am sure you have learned in time that 99.9 if not 100 percent of the time when you get stuck its due to lack of ground clearance! Traction plays a part but unless you are on ice ground clearance plays the bigger part on an ATV or SidexSide. The easiest way to gain ground clearance is larger tires and next is a lift kit, larger tires give more clearance between the hub center and ground while a lift actually moves the shock mounting points both to achieve the much needed ground clearance. However with tires and lifts you can only go so big till you start putting excess strain on the suspension components plus they both raise the machines center of gravity which could cause problems in off camber situations. Well companies like High Lifter are always working on ways for us to get the most out of our bikes and all the while keeping them as reliable as possible. With these arms they did just that.
These arms are made from heavy-duty 1 1/16” steel tubing for strength and come powder coated Polaris black or Polaris orange which ever you choose. These arms accept factory ball joints and bushing so no special part numbers to remember and no special parts to order when the time comes. I went with the Front forward High Clearance arms so not only did I gain the extra ground clearance of the arched arms but I can also run a larger tire due to the additional 1.5" forward hub and all is gained without raising the machines center of gravity and without changing suspension geometry..
The front kit contained both new upper and lower a-arms, new grease zerks, and new bolts/nuts for the lower shock mount. This kit was a pretty simple install just by disassembling the front suspension and reassembling it with the new components which it was time to due for preventative maintenance anyway. I say this because the front diff is a dry socket which means water and mud can enter the axle splines and wash out any and all grease which could cause the splines to rust and seize inside the diff. So every couple hundred miles I try to pull the front suspension apart to clean and grease everything. The front arms do not include balljoints and bushings as stock balljoints and bushings can be reused if they are in good shape. My bushings where still in good shape so I reused them but I installed new Quadboss balljoints as the factory ball joints had play in them. I also found the shock mounts where a little wider than the lower shock bushings so I installed a small washer on each side of the shock for a tight fit.
The High lifter rear lower high clearance arms are sold separately from the front so I picked up a set of those as well for maximum clearance from front to rear. These arms are 1 1/16” x .120 wall steel DOM tubing with a dual bend design for 2" of additional clearance. The rears like the fronts include a new shock bolt because the High lifter mount is a lot thicker than the thin stock mount so the stock bolt is not long enough. The rears also use the factory bushings so install was as simple as removing the lower a-arms and then installing the new High lifter High Clearance lower arms..
In conclusion for maximum clearance in the mud the High lifter High Clearance control arms are a great way to get that much needed clearance. I do plan to run a steering stop on my setup because with the front suspension at full droop and the steering at full lock in either direction I found the brake calipers can bump the lower control arms.
