How to Choose the Right Dual Rate Spring Kit for Your UTV

Not All Dual Rate Spring Kits Are the Same — Here's How to Choose the Right One

If you've started shopping for a dual rate spring kit for your UTV, you've probably noticed there are a lot of options out there. Different brands, different spring rates, different price points — and very little explanation of what actually makes one kit better than another for your specific machine and riding style.

At Schmidty Racing Suspensions, we've been building and tuning UTV suspension for over a decade. Here's exactly what we look at when recommending a spring kit — and what you should look at too.

Step 1 — Match the Kit to Your Exact Vehicle Model

This is the most important factor and the one most buyers overlook. A dual rate spring kit designed for a Polaris Pro R will not work correctly on a Polaris Turbo R — even though both are Polaris RZR platforms. Each model has different shock stroke length, shock travel, motion ratio, and weight distribution. A spring kit engineered for the wrong model will either be too soft, too stiff, or sit at the wrong ride height regardless of how good the springs themselves are.

Schmidty Racing offers vehicle-specific dual rate spring kits for every major UTV platform:

If you don't see your vehicle listed, contact us at (602) 920-1337 — we cover more platforms than are listed here and can help find the right kit for your machine.

Step 2 — Know Your Actual Weight

Factory spring rates are designed for a theoretical average rider — typically around 180-200 pounds with no gear, no passengers, and no accessories. Real-world UTVs rarely match that spec.

Before choosing a spring kit, think honestly about your typical riding weight:

  • Your body weight plus riding gear
  • Passenger weight if you regularly ride two-up
  • Added accessories — roof, cage reinforcement, audio system, spare tires, cooler, tool kit
  • Fuel and water weight for longer rides

A fully loaded two-up UTV with accessories can easily weigh 400-500 pounds more than the same machine stock and solo. That difference requires meaningfully different spring rates to achieve the same ride quality and bottom-out resistance.

When you contact Schmidty Racing about a spring kit, telling us your actual riding weight is the single most important piece of information we need to make the right recommendation.

Step 3 — Consider Your Primary Terrain

The terrain you ride most often should influence your spring rate selection:

Desert High-Speed Riding

Fast desert riding puts the most demand on suspension. Big whoops, embedded rocks, and high-speed compressions require strong bottom-out resistance and higher spring rates to keep the suspension from blowing through its travel. Riders at places like the Arizona desert, Johnson Valley, or King of the Hammers terrain need stiffer main spring rates and more aggressive dual rate transitions.

Sand Dunes

Dune riding at Glamis, Dumont, Coos Bay, or St. Anthony involves large hits at speed but also a lot of soft terrain compression. A well-balanced dual rate setup with a soft tender spring for the initial stroke and a firm main spring for bottom-out protection works exceptionally well in sand. Our dual rate spring kits are proven in dune conditions by riders who push their machines hard.

Trail Riding

Technical trail riding benefits most from a soft initial spring rate for small bump compliance over roots, rocks, and ruts — with enough main spring rate to handle the occasional big hit. Riders who primarily trail ride can often run slightly softer main spring rates than desert or dune riders.

Mixed Terrain

Most riders do a mix of everything. The beauty of a well-engineered dual rate spring kit is that it handles mixed terrain better than any single spring rate — soft enough for trails, firm enough for desert, controlled enough for dunes.

Step 4 — Check Spring Quality

Spring quality varies enormously between manufacturers. Low-quality springs sag over time — losing rate and ride height after just a season of hard riding. When a spring sags, you lose both ride height and spring rate simultaneously, which brings back exactly the bottoming and wallowing you were trying to eliminate.

Signs of low-quality springs include:

  • Requiring excessive preload to achieve correct ride height
  • Ride height dropping noticeably after 20-30 hours of riding
  • Inconsistent spring rates between the left and right sides
  • Coil binding before the shock reaches full compression

At Schmidty Racing Suspensions, we use premium quality springs in every kit — and we back them with a lifetime warranty. That's not a marketing claim — it's a reflection of our confidence in the springs we choose. We encourage you to ask any competitor what springs they're using and whether they offer the same warranty. The best warranty you'll never need.

Step 5 — Understand the Crossover Collar

The crossover collar is the component that determines where in the shock stroke the dual rate transition occurs — the point at which the tender spring becomes inactive and only the main spring continues to compress. This transition point significantly affects how the suspension feels in real-world riding.

A crossover collar positioned to transition early in the stroke gives more firm feel overall. A collar positioned to transition later gives more plush initial feel with a later firmup. Schmidty Racing spring kits use factory crossover collars optimized for each platform's specific shock geometry — ensuring the transition point is exactly where it needs to be for that vehicle's suspension travel and geometry.

Step 6 — Think About Preload Requirements

One of the most overlooked aspects of spring kit quality is preload requirement. Some spring kits require significant preload — winding the preload collar down several turns — to achieve correct ride height. Excessive preload is problematic for two reasons:

  1. It accelerates wear on shock seals and the shock body threads
  2. It effectively stiffens the tender spring rate, reducing small bump compliance

A quality spring kit designed with the correct free length for your application should achieve correct ride height at minimal preload — typically just enough to remove spring float. If a spring kit requires more than a few turns of preload to sit at the right height, the springs were not correctly specified for that application.

What Results Should You Expect?

When you install the right dual rate spring kit for your machine, weight, and terrain, the results are immediate and dramatic:

  • Regained ride height — correct spring rates restore proper suspension geometry and ground clearance
  • Eliminated trail chatter — the soft tender spring soaks up small embedded rocks, ruts, and rough terrain that previously transmitted directly through the chassis
  • Dramatically improved bottom-out resistance — the stiffer main spring engages exactly when you need it, absorbing big hits that previously bottomed the suspension
  • Better high-speed stability — proper spring rates reduce chassis movement and body roll at speed
  • More confidence on any terrain — a properly sprung UTV encourages you to push harder because you know the suspension will handle what you throw at it

Ready to Find the Right Spring Kit for Your UTV?

Browse our complete selection of vehicle-specific dual rate spring kits below, or contact Schmidty Racing Suspensions directly at (602) 920-1337 or send us a message. Tell us your vehicle, your weight, and how you ride — and we'll make sure you get exactly the right kit.

Every Schmidty Racing spring kit ships with a lifetime warranty and installation instructions. Fast shipping from Mesa, AZ nationwide.

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