I always thought the stock rear shocks were fine, they just weren't too pretty. After people kept posting on and on about how crappy they were and how much better progressive 412's were I decided to look into getting a set of rear 12.6" for my bike just didn't want to spend the $270 at JP cycles for them.. I happened to find what I thought was a great deal on ebay from a whole sale company for what was supposed to be a new set of 412's. that was 2 months ago. I put them on as soon as a got them they were in new condition, I set them to medium stiffness to carry my 270 pound self and they do seem like nice enough shocks, certainly a visual upgrade as well. Not enough difference IMO to justify spending $300 over stock but for the price I got them I wasnt complaining ,,


however 2 weeks ago ironically as soon as I installed a homemade pcv breather with the exit hose on the right side swig arm I noticed oil spray on the right rear axle & shock. Concerned about oil getting on my rear brakes I started to investigate and first suspected it was my pcv hose spitting, so I made a filter for the hose end. for the next week there was no change, still had oil spraying. I took a closer look and discovered the source of oil was the shock absorber, I bounced on the bike hard a few times and the oil was basically dripping from the shock.. this is after only about 1,000 miles on them tops. the oil is leaking from the top seal at the piston and leaking all the way down the shock body.


so of course I don't expect progressive to honor the warranty since I didn;t buy them from an authorized retailer and the ebay seller has a 30 day return policy so I don't really expect them to back me up either although I did ask and am holding the feedback over their head..


put my stockers with 22,000 miles back on and confirmed infact that the progressives were in fact installed correctly.. the stockers may not look as nice but at least they do not leak.


so I guess this was $150 down the drain..,, I don't think I'll bother with progressives again, next time I need shocks I'll just buy some Harley take offs..


maybe this was caused by the fact that these could have been sitting in storage for a few years?


maybe I can sale the left good one on ebay to someone with the same problems.

 

Have you contacted Progressive to see if they will warranty them? I've heard nothing but good from their customer service.

 

thanks for the suggestion, I haven't contacted them but it's worth a shot,, I still have the original box & everything so maybe they will help me out,,


I just looked at the box & it said they were manufactured on 9-9-2014, so they aren't even old shocks,,


thanks for the encouragement.

 

If Progressive won't help you (and my guess is they'll stand by their product), consider taking it to your local suspension joint (like for cars), and see if it can be rebuilt (most can) - the seal itself will only be a few bucks, add a few bucks for oil, and Progs are fairly simple so labour shouldn't be too bad. Just need the right tools, spring compressors and such (noting that if money is really tight Youtube has lots of diy solutions, some dodgier than others!).

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I have had my progressive 412s for 2 years with no troubles at all. I bet they will honor their warranty.

 

Well, you saved $120 by wasting $150. Maybe should have spent the $270 in the first place to get the shocks you wanted. You'd have had a warranty as well as knowing you got what you paid for. Do you even know if what you bought were new progressives? I've not heard of people having this problem. Not sure it's fair to compare them to 412s unless you know for a fact they are the same product. Sorry to hear you got a bad set of shocks. Not everybody likes Progressive shocks, but they don't have a rep for mechanical product failure or defects.

 

Also realize that 412's aren't much different than stockers. Models 430's and 440's are where you start to notice a big improvement over stock.

 

I had a similar experience. I bought my bike with the 412's installed though. They only lasted a month or so before dumping oil all over the swing arm. I bought a set of used lowering blocks, plasti-dipped the stock shocks, and have been riding it that way ever since.
Because I wasn't the original purchaser of the shocks, progressive didn't warranty them. I understand their point of view and can't fault them for it.
Based on my experience though, I doubt I'll buy anything from progressive in the future.

 

I've got the same Progressives 412 HD's on my 02 that I put on almost 8 years ago and no problems. The shocks are still working with no leaks. Give Progressive a shout maybe they can good will you a set.

 

Progressive does have an excellent long running reputation for competition shocks. I first encountered them some 30 years ago and that was because my friends rode dirt bike competitions and would not run with anything else. But these are harleys were taliking about, much heavier bikes meant for the road, and the 412's are the very bottom of the progressive product line. I bet if you ordered harley shocks they would be up around 220 to 270 and even more for a pair of premium shocks.It beats me how people can make lateral moves and expect stellar results.

Also regrerttably I fear you may have gotten knockoffs.
Sorry for your misfortunes and I hope it turns good for you!

Any way more to the point; progressive carries te warranty not the vendor so you will be in luck if they are original progressive shocks.