I have been having some front end woes. Basically my suspension felt like crap. The other day I pulled the top cap off and made adjustments to the spacers to get my sag correct figuring this would help. Anyways, rode a couple hundred miles yesterday with the wife and the front end still felt like crap(really harsh). So today I investigated further. Well, the damn springs were installed upside down(progressive wound spring) and there was about 1.5"-2" too much fluid in them... Reinstalled the springs correctly and adjusted the fluid level...now the front rides beautifully! When I had my lowers powdercoated, I had a shop uninstall/install them as I did not have tools to do it myself(no impact wrench to remove the bolt from the bottom and could not get it to budge when I had tried). Man I hate having to repair someone else's work!
edit: it seems the springs are fine installed with the tighter wind of the springs either up or down so that turned out to be ok however still had way too much fluid in there.

 

Hey, at least you found it before it became a hazard! Good on you for doing a little digging and solving the problem.

Sharing it here will most likely help someone else. I still need to change my fork fluid and up the weight. Most people are going to 15W fork oil for the 49mm forks, right?

 

was this at an indy or dealership?

i always work on my jeep as much as possible, but i'm in an apt. and the bike will be down in the parking garage so theres only so much maintenance I can do on it there - was hoping the HD dealer service was good (though I don't know why since I hate auto dealer service or anyone else touching my jeep)

man I need a garage (with a house attached)

 

You could rent a storage unit...

Or find another rider with a garage and tools.

 

An indy did the work. What gets me is I was in the forks twice to get the sag right. Both times I did not think to check the spring orientation or check the fluid level. I have 41mm forks and I use 15 wt oil.

 

rounder - i have a ahrd tiome beleiving anything a shop tells me (bike or car) from years of results of misdiagnosis or bad repairs. I try to do most everythign myself, or at least get two shop opinons and if they concur, end up doing the work myself anyway.
i hear ya on front end riding harsh too - I mistakenly went to the HD Extra Heavy Duty (dont know the weight) about two years ago - front end was like a rock, so about 8 months ago i switched back to Heavy Duty (still dont know the weight) but my sag feels extreme - like almost at the bottom of the travel when riding it seems - harsh road conditions almost seem to bottom out and bump fork up - i wonder if I put springs in upside down - usually dont boner like that but possible - the 'tighter' winds on the stock spring are towards the top, right?

 

I think it may have had more to do with the fluid than the springs. It may be different on the newer bikes, I don't know for sure, but on my 98 and my buddies 2000, the progressive springs could go in either way according to the instructions.

 

The sag is set by spacer length, so if you are experiencing way too much sag, you need a longer spacer and the cap will compress the spring more to firm it up. Correct sag is as close to 33% of full travel of the front end. You need to measure your full travel, then you need to multiply that by.33. that is the total amount you want the forks to compress with combined bike weight and rider weight. If the sag is set right, and you still have issues with too soft front end, the springs are just too soft for your weight. Sometimes it can help to run a heavier oil. It is important to have the correct amount of oil in the fork as well. Too much and the oil will compress the air and not allow the suspension to travel it's full length. This was happening to me.

 

im going to dive into it this weekend - something aint right - maybe just too much fluid - I dont think its rider or bike weight - if anything both of us have lost lbs in the past year. Im going to check sag hopefully tonight and ill report

thanks for the feedback and suggestions chief!

 

+1.

I installed mine with the tighter wind down.