picked up a manual, man that looks like a pain in the azz. Is it as hard as it looks?

 

it's very easy. biggest pain is having to lay down sideways to do it.

 

I've tried it years ago and eneded up having to pay for the beers to have a couple friends come by and finish it for me...sounds like it was a cheap trade off but those boys could drink...lol...

 

im saying the same thing!!!

 

It's a pain. Hard to get to and not much room. The lock nut is a 1 1/8 inch...No I didn't have it. Spanner wrench is about $10..how often would you use it? Actually once ya figure out how to move around it is pretty straight forward for a Harley. You know, 10 minute job=one weekend.

 

You can get the HD softail shock wrench from your dealer for around $5 unless they're trying to stiff you on the price. The problem is having a thin enough large wrench to hold the other nut to keep it from moving. If you are trying to get any more than a turn or two you're going to run out of room with a standard width wrench. I managed a turn and a half before I had to stop. The only other option I saw was buying the open end wrench then grinding it thinner on a grinder or making your own out of thin steel.

 

Put the bike on a lift. A standatrd wrench to loosen the locknut works while using the spanner wrench. Took 15 to 20 minutes to do, had to loosen the pre-load after I lowered the bones.

 

I didn't know the pre-load on the stock shocks on my 99 Fatboy were adjustable til I got a service manual last week. If I could soften it some, that would be great on my back.

 

yeah +1, get it up on a bike jack, it's a nothin job if you've got the right wrench and a spanner. 20 min. max.

why not slam it while ur there?

 

If i was going to have a one time adjustment done i would get the dealer to do it free because i bought the bike from them