Hello, our machine has a very rough ride the up travel is only 1" and down is 1.25" and turning the only adjuster at the bottom of the shock makes no difference i removed the sway bar and this helped some if i crank down the spring to within 1" of running out of threads i get an additional  1/2" of up travel this also helps some but puts a very steep angle on the axel shafts my assessment is the shock body is too long ( 13.75" ) from the center of the top mounting bolt to bottom of shock body.

Please advise Thank you for any input.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

There is at least a several page response to this for the setting of the ride heights, compression and rebound setting of the OE...or any other shock. However all that would be predicated on having the correct shocks for the machine to start with. Is there any reason for you to think the shocks you have are not the ones that came with the machine. Being a 22 that makes it still the Gen-1 chassis. Same as my 2015. I worked long and close with Bandit UTV suspension to come up with a set of springs for the stock shocks that makes a major improvement in ride. From our testing they then came up with a shock set that even beats Elka is several ways..if you want to invest that much. I did on the front but still have the Bandit springs on the stock rears. Very happy with the setup but when I blow one of the rears they will get replaced.

In short in setting, the preload is set first for the load and with the unit loaded with what it will normally carry. The axle position should be in the center of its arc (50/50) to 10% more (60/40). Then the fronts adjusted so that the distance between the back of the center skid plate and the front are either level or the same or the front is not more then 1" lower. The compressions if you have them and they will be the top knob on the OE shocks. For average riding they should be turned all the way to "fast" then one to two clicks to the "slow" setting. Then rebound which is the lower valve. They go all the way to slow then open toward Fast two or three clicks. These are a good average setting.