If you have a floor jack, you can make this simple jig to compress the shock for disassembly. See the photos. I used yellow pine 2x3's, a circular saw and decking screws. I made dado cuts (grooves) to provide strength. It worked really slick and was cheap to make. The shock disassembled is from my 2003 FLSTFI with 60k miles. I was experiencing a squeek as I rode. I thought it might be metal-on-metal rubbing inside the shocks. There was a lot of dirt and debris inside but I think the squeek actually came from the mounting bolt at the rear of the shock. I greased them up before assembly. No more squeek.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oxzrcuir9...YDs6WgIya?dl=0

 

Very Useful photos! I for one am glad I didn't have to tear down one to see whats in the middle part!! I have been known to do silly things like that before.

Thanks. Good solution for a fair number of jobs where a hydraulic press would be nice to have.

 

Thanks for taking the time to take pics and post. That's pretty neat

 

nice job...I'm thinking about taking mine apart to put the height adj kit in...what's the overall measurements an inside measurements in case I go this route? Thanks.