I had a few spare minutes this morning, so I thought I’d put some of my upgrades on the Yeti. Nothing major – a new black roof panel, blue aluminium lockouts on the rear axle, and I added the aluminium shock caps to the front shocks.
A few tips:
The rear lockouts are a very simple update; just remove the rear wheels (make sure you don’t lose the axle pin), remove the two screws on the top and bottom of the plastic lockout, and pop on the new lockout. Replace the screws and wheel, and you’re done.
The roof panel is just as simple – four screws hold it on, although you might want to replace them with slightly longer screws if you’re putting a thicker panel on.
The front shocks will take a little bit longer, but only because they’re a little bit fiddly due to needing to screw things onto the shiny metal shock body. Here’s what you need to do:
- Remove the screw holding the top of the shock to the brace – you don’t need to remove the screw mounting the bottom of the shock to the a-arm. Note the washer on the screw -don’t lose it.
- Unscrew the old cap from the shock body – be careful not to let any of the oil leak out. This is best done with the shaft fully extended. The shock soul be able to stand upright if you lean it against the brace.
- Push the bushing out of the mounting hole on the old cap and fit it to the new cap.
- Remove the rubber volume compensation bladder from inside the shock cap, and insert it into the new cap.
- If you’re replacing the threaded collar, unscrew it (it needs to go all the way up the body and off the top) and screw on the new collar. The stock collar position is about two turns up from the bottom of the body.
- Screw the new cap on
- Mount the shock back on the brace – the flat side of the bushing goes against the brace, with the washer up against the screw head on the other side.
- Lastly, you can replace the bottom spring retainer by just pushing it up and off – remember that the bump stop goes above the retainer when you fit the new one.
