Cool will give that a go this w/e
Thanks again

 

When I filled the tubes I used a brake bleeder and had the suction hose set the exact length from the top of the tube, works well to get both levels correct and equal to each other.

 

That would certainly work. I use the Motion Pro tool. It sits square on the top of the fork tube and has measurement lines on the tube that goes down in the fork tube. Absolutely necessary? No, as stated it can be done properly a number of ways. I'm a tool junkie for anything that makes it fast and easy. I don't remember what it cost, but it was cheap.

 

Same Motion Pro tool here, too. I'm like you, I like good tools that make the job smooth and easy. Why make something to do the job when I can buy a sweet new tool?

 

I don't know SFA about working on forks so maybe you guys can help me out.

I have a 2002 FDX (with sidecar) and my left fork seal started leaking last year. It was also bottoming out on some of the bad bumps on my country road so I put in a set of Progressive 11-1523 springs and new seals a couple of weeks ago. I have never done forks before and the instructions from Progressive were pretty sparse (beyond the basic disassembly/reassembly) so I did a lot of guessing.

1. Spacer. I couldn't find any information on whether or not the spacer included with the springs was needed or not so I put it in.

2. I didn't see any mention of oil weight so I just put in what they gave me at the HD dealership.

3. I also couldn't find any information on how much oil to put in so I just dumped in the full container which brought the oil up to about 1" from the top.

It now ride stiff as hell! It is like a rigid front end but I don't know what I need to do to soften the ride.

What did I do wrong?

 

It certainly sounds like you've got WAY too much fluid in those fork tubes; this is what I was posting about earlier, the ride gets harsh and nasty.

A simple guess on spacer length would be with the spring installed and the slider fully extended the spacer should stick up above the edge of the fork tube 3/4" to 1". Not exactly scientific but it does give you a place to start and you can fine tune from there.

I don't know the fluid requirements on the 39mm tubes but with the 41mm tubes on my '03 Wide Glide it was 12 ounces as I recall. Do you have the SM for your '02? If you evenly split a 1 quart bottle of fluid that's 16 ounces in each tube and that seems to me it's well over the top for those 39mm tubes...

 

Ditto what TinCup says.
Fluid 150mm (5.9in) from top. Spacers stickin out 3/4-1in from top. Adjust stiffer or softer for your weight and riding style.

 

Thanks for the pointer guys.

The fluid requirement wasn't in the section on disassembly/assembly section of the manual but I found it in the "scheduled maintenance" section. I drained 14 Oz out of the forks and refilled to the specified 10.5 Oz level. Much better!

 

I already know what I may hear on my thoughts here. As an engineer who worked on nuc ships for half my life, I have a slightly different slant on some of this. First, the spring rates are important for load rating, and will translate to the operating height you measure by sitting on the bike. That will also relate to your tube length which adds preload. So, given a set of springs, do the sag test, and maybe modify the spacer if needed. This is obviously important to assure the ride height (rider and load on suspension), which then will allow room for full compression under heavy front end loads, like landing harshly. The spring rates are pretty standard, the total added load is small when compared to the bike weight....heavy rider and other loads will influence. But, once that is selected, and sag height is correct, then damping comes in. The harsh slamming described is not from springs, it is due to harsh damping. Std damping is from forcing oil thru the std damper tube holes, unless you have changed to another design....some of which require drilling these holes out completely (larger). Also, note that most designs have a final compression damper at the bottom of travel, in way of a beveled area that causes increasing damping as the shock bottoms...and this prevents actual metal to metal slamming in that event....common in all hydraulic designs. Then, we come to oil weight and amount. Heresy I know, but I don't think oil amount is critical, except to preventing complete hydraulic lock if way overfull, but this would be due to filling with the shock extended. Almost impossible if filling with shock fully collapsed. Also, I don't really care about this care of both sides being exactly the same. My rationale here is simple hydraulic damping due to fluid being forced quickly thru some form of restriction....damper tube, et al. But, my primary concern is viscosity. My dyna would slam over bridge transitions and rattle my teeth with the factory fill. I changed to 10 wt oil which corrected almost all of that. I will use 7 wt next fill. Smooth as a cat now, handles well, all fine for my mostly stock config.