The Vacation riding season is here. It�s time to get your machine ready. Modifications and upgrades need to be addressed now, so you are ready for the first big ride of the warm season. Your list may contain new tires, exhaust system or maybe suspension modification. In my case, all I need is basic maintenance and a set of aftermarket A-arms. My Suzuki Z-400 is already set-up pretty well, sporting a full Titanium Yoshimura exhaust, skids, bumper, and nerf bars. The best up-grade at this point would be to improve handling and what better way to accomplish that, then a set of Ricky Stator A-arms. Times have changed for Ricky Stator,
in years past the Ricky Stator name was only associated with beefing up your ATV lighting. Oh, don�t get me wrong, you can still purchase premium Stators and lighting to boost your lighting needs but now you can also look to Ricky Stator for extended A-arms, better ball joints, stronger axles, new more powerful stators and quality flywheels. All these products can be purchased direct, I think you may be surprised at just how reasonably priced the product line is. Back in 1991 Rick was heavily into racing Baja in Mexico, that�s when he first started producing heavy-duty stators and better lighting for the TRX250R. The main facility is located in Santee, California with dealers also in Canada, Rick prides the
business on producing durable products for ATV�s at affordable prices. Should something happen to your stator be prepared to spend in excess of $300 for an OEM stator or you can look to Rick for a quality stator and pay much less. He produces stators for most machines and starting price is usually around $125.00. Some would say, �Why are the Ricky Stator products so cheap?� �Maybe the quality is less or he may use cheap material.� Believe us that is not the case, Rick has always been a powersports enthusiast and believes in helping other riders. His style may be different than most but if we had more business men like him the industry would be complete. How about this, Ricky Stator has actually set a new standard of excellence when it comes to ATV ball-joints; his design makes other manufacturers designs inferior. Rick uses a
base product made from 4130 alloy and each ball joint boss is threaded for strength, and reduces any chance of a loose ball-joint. The Ricky Stator ball-joint is a true ball-joint, by this I mean the product uses a complete round ball sitting inside the housing and most ball-joints are only half round with a spring inside keeping pressure on the cup and the ball. This type depends on grease for lubrication, not Ricks; his are made completely round with a round cup which fits
nicely inside the ball-joint cup. These ball-joints produce the largest amount of angle movement and have set the standard for other aftermarket A-arm manufacturers who now use his superior ball-joints. Ricks chromoly, plus 4� Axles start at $200.00 and are quality products. They are heat treated and have been Baja proven to be as strong as any $400.00 axle offered from various aftermarket manufacturers. In order to kept cost low, Rick has elected not to chrome his axles and not include a sprocket hub. You simply use your old hub. Rick is constantly asked, �Is there a guarantee on your axle?� �No guarantee, but we do stand behind our products�. �Call me if you bend one and we will work it out!� This helps keep the cost low by not offering the so-called guarantee other companies offer. Axles are available for the 400EX, Raptor, and Banshee. I think Ricky Stator looks to improve on products that he knows he can
improve on, like the Yamaha tie-rod. Rick
offers a Yamaha tie-rod kit. Stock Yamaha tie-rod ends screw into the tie rod. This makes for a very weak design. Rick came up with the idea to use a Honda style tie-rod and ends on the Yamaha tie-rod. The Honda style tie-rod ends screw onto (not into) the tie rod. This is a heavy-duty design that works very well. The tie-rod ends are already tapered, so no reaming of your stock spindles is necessary. Another product that Rick knew he could improve on is the ATV fly-wheel, most people lighten stock flywheels to make the engine rev faster. Not Rick, he manufacturers his own light weight flywheel that is balanced and built right. Most cost in the $125.00 range and that�s much cheaper than an OEM flywheel. Rick also produces high out-put lighting systems that match up perfectly with his high out-put stators, lighting products range from the large 8� frame or bar mount systems down to the small Illuminators.
The installation of Rick�s A-arms to the Suzuki Z-400 is quite simple. First, jack up the front of your ATV. Make sure the front tires are off of the ground. Now, remove both tie rods. You will be replacing the old rod with a new longer rod. Next, remove the upper and lower ball joints. We have found the Motion Pro ball joint separator works best for not damaging the rubber protecting boots. At this point, remove the lower shock bolts and inner A-arm bolts. This should allow your original A-arms to be freed. Note: The stock brake lines were still long enough for the extended A-arms and we did not replace
them with longer brake lines. Next, reassemble using the new Ricky Stator +2, +1 A-arms in the reverse order. Make sure to use lock-tight on suspension bolts and replace all cotter keys. 
Now that you have the a-arms and tie rods back on. You need to set up the front geometry. You need to install your wheels and tires. Put the quad on a level surface. Do not try to do this on a jack or stand. You will need a straight edge and an angle finder. The first thing to set is camber. Camber is the amount of degrees that the tire tilts out or in from the bottom of the tire. You have negative camber if the tire is tilted in at the top. You will want to set this depending on the type of riding that you do. For motocross you will want as much as 4.5 degrees of negative camber. The typical recreational rider is okay with between 0 and 3 degrees of negative camber. When we talked with Rick he recommended setting the camber at 0 degrees. He also explained the caster is preset due to the way the A-arms are made. Next, try to adjust the ball joints by eye. Twist the ball joints in or out trying to a line the wheels the best you can. Now, use your angle finder and straight edge to
measure the angle. If you need to adjust your camber, you will have to remove the upper ball joint and thread it in or out. Reconnect and measure again. When you have the camber set you can tighten up your ball joints and install the cotter keys. Also, tighten the jam nut on the a-arm and don't forget to grease the new a-arms. With camber set, you should proceed to set your toe. Toe is the relationship between the front of the tire and the rear of the tire, as with toe-in or toe-out. Tip: make sure to center up the screw thread on the tie-rod ends. You may need to adjust them in or out so it is important to give yourself room to thread in or out. Toe-in is when the front of the tire points in more than the rear. You should set your toe by giving a slight toe-in. Usually toe-in to 1/8" this will help when turning your ATV. The process is quite easy. Adjust your tie rods so that your tires are pointing straight ahead with your handlebars centered. Now, place a couple straight edges against the outside of the front tires. With a tape measure, measure the rear and then the front. You want the
front measurement to be 1/4" smaller. Adjust the left and right tie rods in equal amounts for best results. When you reach the desired measurement, tighten up the jam nuts and your toe is set. So, next time you hear �Ricky Stator� don�t just think lighting. He is much more!