Cognito RZR Suspension Kit
Another day where we continue to upgrade our 2020 Turbo S UTV Source build. We’ve already got a Cognito cage, Cognito Doors, Cognito window nets, and Cognito rear spare tire flip up. Today we will be ripping the stock suspension off and will be replacing this with the Cognito Suspension Kit.
- Cognito Turbo S Upper Arms
- Cognito Turbo S Lower Arms
- Cognito Turbo S Trailing Arms
- Cognito Turbo S Sway bar End Links
We start off by jacking the vehicle up and put the lower and the upper jack stands before we tear into it.
I got the front suspension off pretty easily. I did let the tie rod and the axles hang while the brake calipers rested on the ground.
Stock Arm vs. Cognito Arm
Let me show you the difference between the stock arm and the aftermarket Cognito upper arm.
You will notice a few things right off the bat. One, the Cognito arm is boxed. It’s also internally gusseted and it is edge welded all the way around.
The stock arm is not edge welded but instead, it is stitch welded with some sheet metal work for the doubling plate on it. It also runs with a factory ball joint.
There is nothing wrong with the factory ball joint or these arms on the whole. Compared to other arms out there these are actually pretty heavy-duty. But they do break and bend under considerable loads.
While on the other hand, in the Cognito kit you can see the edge which actually allows more heat penetration and fill weld on the overall design of it. You can see some machine work inside the arm which shows there is more material inside it as well.
The Cognito kit runs a larger bushing than the factory bushings. It runs a spherical bearing, better known as a uniball (which is replaceable). Overall it’s a pretty nice kit.
The Cognito kit came with the upper arm, the lower arm, instructions, and all the hardware required for installation.
The Lower Arm Installation
In the Cognito kit for the lower arm, you can adjust the camber. I didn’t know this until I read the directions.
From left to right, on a factory Polaris Turbo S, the camber is off. These shims allow you to shim out.
If you look inside the arm it notches into it. Then you can easily do your shim adjustments into the camber.
Once installed you can see the spherical bearings or uniballs 12-point hardware. I will attach the brake back when I get the other side back on.
Rear Suspension
Before I go into the rear suspension there are a couple of key points that I want to highlight. Here on the table, I’ve got the aftermarket Cognito replacement trailing arm and the factory Turbo S arm.
The stock trailing arm is stitch welded out and just looks unfinished.
The Cognito trailing arm is completely welded. It is boxed with a nice leave on the edges enough to fill it. The Cognito trailing arms have more strength where it’s needed which is right where the load is on the shock. There is more shoulder engagement for your bolt and it’s overly plated. They’ve also included brackets for your brake lines.
On the other hand, the factory hardware is super loose even when brand new. In the Cognito kit, you will notice the hardware is stainless. Therefore it’s spherical bearings look a lot stronger.
Once the rear suspension is also installed we are not going to run the factory sway bar end links back in. We will upgrade that as well.
Once done, I realized it was one of the easiest kits I’ve put on in a while. All the spherical bearings are already installed. You don’t have to press those in. You don’t have to change out the ball joints because this is a uniball kit. Everything literally slides right into the place.
The brake lines are all tapped in; I didn’t have to clearance any holes. I am pretty excited about this kit as it looks pretty good. I will take the sway bar out as I haven’t fixed it back in yet. I will put the Cognito machined ones in so that it gives me some more meat in this area.
This is the best time to address those sway bars. Which means we are going to continue on with this build. So, see you soon.