At its simplest, ride height is the distance between the skid plate and the ground on your vehicle (also known as ground clearance). Since you’ll most likely need to adjust it at some point –– even if you only ever run with stock suspension –– you may as well familiarize yourself with why & when you might need to check or change your ride height.
At Shock Therapy, we make sure to take everything into consideration when working on your vehicle in-house, so adjusting ride height immediately after it’s been to our shop won’t be necessary. You will want to check it, though, after driving another 200 miles to ensure the springs haven’t settled.
If you shipped your shocks to us for upgrades (i.e., only the shocks were sent to us for service, rather than the entire vehicle itself), it will be necessary to check ride height both when the shocks are re-installed on the vehicle, and then again after 200 miles of driving.
Accessories like roof racks, spare tires, coolers, tools and an aftermarket cage all add weight to your vehicle and can cause sagging springs and decreased ground clearance.
It’s important to check and adjust your ride height whenever you significantly alter the weight of the vehicle, whether by changing the accessory setup, or by adding extra passengers –– especially in the case of 4-seaters. Given that the location and respective weights added to the vehicle will have varying effects on ride height, small ride-to-ride changes in weight will not be worth compensating for, while some accessories (e.g., rear spare tire, cooler, winch, etc.) will have an outsized effect due to their leveraged position on the vehicle.
One simple way to see if your sport UTV needs more ride-height is to load it up like you are going for a ride with all your passengers and gear. Have someone take a look at the rear of the vehicle. If your radius rods are parallel to the ground like the above image, chances are you are sitting too low. In general, radius rods should be higher in the center of the vehicle than out by the tire.
Spare Tires have a huge impact on ride height and suspension performance. If you add a spare tire in the bed, you will need to check and adjust your ride height.
A best practice for those who run stock springs would also be to check ride height after every couple thousand miles of driving or so. Since stock springs use lower grade materials, the vehicles they support have a tendency to sag/settle over time. Increasing your ride height when this issue becomes present can work as a temporary solution.
However, if repeated sagging and ride height adjustments have been necessary for you in the past, it might be time to consider upgrading to a Dual-Rate Spring Kit –– whose higher grade materials don’t necessitate repeated adjustment, even after driving long distances, unless the weight of the vehicle itself has been altered substantially as outlined above.
When your vehicle sags or sits too low, your shocks will be more compressed than normal and closer to bump stage, where valving inside the shock compensates for what it expects to be more significant compression event –– treating small bumps as though they were large, and stiffening ride quality overall.
In addition, if you’re running Dual-Rate Springs, you may be sitting closer to the crossover ring. As a result, the suspension will transition to the lower and stiffer spring too early –– even just for small bumps. The result is a ride that is very harsh and a skid plate that hits obstacles more than it should with adequate ground clearance.
For more information on how to measure, adjust, and where to get the information to set your ride height, watch our video on the topic:
For more in-depth information on the topic, and adjusting ride heights based on the accessories that you've added to your vehicle, watch our live show:
And this customer goes through all the details on setting the ride-height on his Can-Am Maverick X3:
Spring Rate and Dual-Rate Spring Information:
Ride Heights by Manufacturer & Vehicle Model:
| POLARIS | Front Ride Height | Rear Ride Height |
| RZR Pro R Sport 74" 225HP | 18" | 18" |
| RZR Pro R Premium 74" 225HP | 18" | 18" |
| RZR Pro R Ultimate 74" 225HP | 18 1/2 | 18" |
| RZR Pro R Ultimate Launch Edition 74" 225HP | 18 1/2 | 18" |
| RZR Turbo S FOX 72" 168 HP | 16 | 16 |
| RZR Turbo S W/E Velocity 72" 168 HP | 16 | 16 |
| RZR Pro XP FOX 64" 181 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR Pro XP W/E 64" 181 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP 1000 W/E 64" 107 HP (2014-2016) | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP 1000 W/E 64" 110 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP 1000 W/E 64" 110 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP Turbo 2 W/E 64" 168 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP Turbo 4 W/E 64" 168 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP 1000 High Lifter 64" 110 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR XP 1000 Fox Edition Turbo 64" 168 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| RZR RS1 64" 110 HP | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| XP Turbo & XP 1000 Fox Edition | 14 1/2 | 14 |
| Polaris General 1000 Deluxe 60" 100 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Polaris General 1000 Deluxe Ride Command 60" 100 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Polaris General 4 XP 1000 Deluxe 60" 100 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Polaris General XP 1000 64" 100 HP | 14 | 14 |
| Polaris General XP 4 1000 64" 100 HP | 14 | 14 |
| RZR XP 900 2 64" 88 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Polaris RZR S 900 60" 75 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| KAWASAKI | ||
| Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 68.1" 112.6 HP | 15 | 15 |
| Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 ES 68.1" 112.6 HP | 15 | 15 |
| HONDA | ||
| Talon 1000 X 64" 104 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Talon 1000 X Fox Live Valve 64" 104 HP | 15 | 15 |
| Talon 1000 R 68.4" 105 HP | 15 | 15 |
| Talon 1000 R Fox Live Valve 68.4" 105 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 1/2 |
| Talon 1000 R Special Edition 68.4" 105 HP | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| Talon 1000 X-4 64" 104 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| Talon 1000 X-4 Fox Live Valve 64" 104 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| Talon 1000 X-4 Special Edition 64" 104 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| CAN-AM | ||
| Maverick X3 DS Turbo 64" 120HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 DS Turbo R 64" 172 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 DS Turbo RR 64" 195 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 RS Turbo R 72" 172 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 RS Turbo RR 72" 195 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 RS Turbo RR 72" 195 HP SS | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 XMR Turbo 64" 120 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 XMR Turbo RR 72" 195 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 RC Turbo 64" 120 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 RC Turbo RR 72" 195 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX DS Turbo 64" 120 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX DS Turbo R 64" 172 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX DS Turbo RR 64" 195 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX XRS Turbo R 72" 172 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX XRS Turbo RR 72" 195 HP | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX XRS Turbo RR 72" 195 HP SS | 16 | 15 1/2 |
| Maverick X3 MAX XRS XMR Turbo RR 72" 195 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Maverick Sport 60" 75HP | 12 1/2 | 12 |
| Maverick Sport DPS 60" 100 HP | 12 1/2 | 12 |
| Maverick Sport X XC 64" 100 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| Maverick Sport XMR 64" 100 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| Maverick Sport XRC 64" 100 HP | 14 | 13 3/4 |
| Maverick Sport Max DPS 60" 100 HP | 12 | 12 |
| Commander XT-P 64" 100 HP (2021+) | 14 1/4 | 14 |
| YAMAHA | ||
| Wolverine RMAX2 1000 64" 108 HP | 13 | 13 |
| Wolverine RMAX 2 1000 XT-R 64" 108 HP | 13 | 13 |
| Wolverine RMAX2 1000 SPORT 64" 108 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Wolverine RMAX4 1000 64" 108 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Wolverine RMAX4 1000 XT-R 64" 108 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| Wolverine RMAX4 1000 LE 64" 108 HP | 15 | 14 1/2 |
| YXZ 1000R 64" | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| YXZ 1000 R SE 64" | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| YXZ 1000 R SS 64" | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| YXZ 1000 R SS SE 64" | 13 1/2 | 13 |
| YXZ 1000 R SS XT-R | 13 1/2 | 13 |