Hi, i have a 2009 Heritage and a 2011 Fatboy Lo with both 422 progressives mounted by dealer. i have a poor back and therefore thought i needed these and a mustang with backrest. i had since the beginning setting the shocks correctly. the sheet of paper supplied with it does to my opinion is not very helpfull. i looked on the internet and Youtube and so one. asked the dealer. my weight is 92 kg which is about 200 p i guess. i wanted to set it at the softest and then 1 full turn counterclockwise because of my weight. first i loosened the locknut and with the special wrench i turned the adjusting plate with holes but the srew turns also (the one that goes through the frame) and the bike will be lowered or put more higher depending which side you turn. so yesterday i put the shocks on my fatboy identical to my heritage (with measuring) but these shocks can stiffen the load or soften the load and you can lower the bike max 2 inch. which i do not want. this last is done with the standard lock nut on one side and the other nut on the other side of the frame. but if i want stock height and the preload as i mentionned earlier what can i do. i thought just loosen the lock nut and turn the shocks. can someone please explain to me in detail what i am doing wrong here please. do not sent me the manual sheet of progressive .... lol.... thanks in advance all !!

do you need the hold the middle nut and then tighten the preload with the wrench ?

 

Hope this might help. Good luck, Ride safe.

 

seen this video but they do not look like mine. the shock does but not the attachment to the frame does not.

 

All of the bolts circled in red should be left tight. Once they are installed and adjusted and torqued down they don't need to be touched again. The green jam nuts are loosened and then the large diameter ring with the holes is rotated as talked about in the video. After both sides are adjusted the same then you tighten the green circled jam nut against the large diameter ring. If any of the bolts circled in red are moving when you do your adjustment they haven't been tightened properly on the install.

 

hi, these are the ones i have. so you think the ones attached to the frame are not tighned enough ?

 

The adjustment disc should be all that is turning. If the shafts are turning and that is preventing the adjustment disc from moving put a wrench on the nut in front of the adjustment disc jam nut to hold the shaft in place and allow the disc to move on the threads. Sometimes they get a little corrosion on the threads due to where they are located on the bike and will stick, you may even need to pray a little WD40 on the threads to help it break loose.. Take a turn on the disc and watch to see that nothing else is turning on the mounting shaft after you put a wrench on the nut I mentioned. This is really a simple process, so hopefully these suggestions help.

Remember that it is possible to take to much preload out of the shock and then it will bottom out easily and make for a rough ride also Some people ride them set with to much preload and they are stiff so they go the complete opposite direction and take all the preload out and now the shock is bottoming out and the ride is still harsh and they blame it on the shocks. I had to adjust mine about 3 or 4 times to find the sweet spot. It is not air ride quality but a lot better than the stock HD shocks that were on there. Good luck on your project.....

 

thank you. you mean that small nut behind the adjustment disc jam nut. now i have it turned toward the other nut that is attached to the frame. i thought in this direction because the plate only may turn. but no one could answer me. not even the hd dealer. do you know how many turns it does from soft to hard ? is that 4 or 5 or ?
how do you know when the bike has reached the stock height is another question i have. against the retaining clip ?

 

as you said one has to find the sweet spot ! i weigh 200 lbs and think 1 full turn away from the softest setting would do the trick.

 

how many turns did you do ?

 

I believe mine are at 1 3/4 turns but it's a Springer so the suspension is kind of different from a bike with regular forks. I also never carry a passenger on my Softails, only on my RGS.

To set the ride height that is done when you install the shocks. The disc you are turning only effects preload on the shock. Moving the plates where the rubber bumpers go thru the frame adjusts the ride height. I believe its every 5/16" you move the bumpers raises the suspension 1"..