Hey Dude, listen, I would really prefer you get it "from the horses mouth" because it is an investment and that beneficial. Call JD and I guarantee you he will take your call and get you right. It sounds like your doing it right but when I do it I only give each switch one small burst downward after it has been fully lifted and I weigh 230. I will give you one example. On one of my last rides this year I took my Daughter out, she loves riding. We were on a road that I new was like a roller coaster, up and down, up and down. I could feel my swing arm absorbing it and I could feel it going up and down. I looked in my rear view mirrors and my Daughters shoulders never budged, she was riding flat as can be. It was a weird feeling having that swing arm do that yet neither of us were bouncing.

1 more tip is for me, I throw my bike in one of those deep long ruts you always have in the road. When I no longer feel it, slapping the bike around, I have hit my "sweet spot" and I'm good to go. I can throw my bike in a deep rut and one hand the bike and not even feel it.

 

I purchased these shocks to help with the travel the suspension has to prevent my Tsukayu bags from hitting the Pully cover and Axel cover. When I add weight (more bags or passenger I need to tighten up). I have a 2012 softail Deluxe w/ABS. I had Harley install shocks and it took them 6 hours because the ABS makes removing and installing difficult. (they only charged me 2.5 hours they also were not familiar with these shocks).
Now its February and I have bike in to get new tires and 10K oil/inspection. Harley just informed me the shock is leaking. I only put 300 miles on them. Progressive wants to rebuild so now I need them uninstalled, ship them and then reinstalled. Progressive will NOT pay for install or reinstall or shipping them back. So my $550 shocks will cost me (200 initial install and another 200 to reinstall). What the HELL! Anyone else have this problem????


Thanks
Gayle

 

Have you checked for yourself to confirm if there is in fact signs of leakage?

Your install, un-install, shipping, and re-install costs do not reflect poorly on the Progressive product, and this policy is the industry standard.

I don't have these shock, but do know that they enjoy good reviews and Progressive have a good reputation.

 

I've had mine for about a year and have put around 5000 miles on them.
I've never had any problem with them and I've been very happy with them.

First off if it took 6 hours a wrencher to install these I wouldn't let that wrench do anymore work on my bike.

You mentioned "they were not familiar with these shocks".
These install identically to the stock shocks other then routing and mounting the RAP.

So if they told you that they were not familiar with these shocks, then that means they aren't familiar with softail shocks in general.
I'm not an experienced bike mechanic and it only took me a couple of hours to remove the old shocks and install the 422 RAPs.

I don't have ABS but I'm not sure that would really have anything to do with the install.
The Shocks takeup the same space as the stock ones.

As for them "leaking"; I thought these were gas charged not hydraulic, so what's leaking?
If they are saying the gas is leaking then I wonder how they know that but I supposed that could happen.

As for Progessive paying for the de-installed, shipping and then re-installed; I'm not aware of any company that would do that.

I'm not sure why you don't do the work yourself because it should only take you an hour of so to pull the 422 RAPs off and that's adding some beer time in.

If you can't do the work yourself due to your limitations then you're pretty much just going to have to pay someone to pull them off for you and pay the price they want, but I certainly wouldn't pay $200 to have them removed and then $200 to have them re-installed.

 

I was the original poster of this thread.
Sorry to hear about your problems.
I have had these on my bike since they first came out in 2012 with no problems what's so ever.
My bike also has the ABS brakes and it was a slight inconvenience but not a big deal at all.
I don't think they even took me 6 hrs. to install and I had never installed shocks on any motorcycle before. I also took my time, bought the right tools (it's a special socket wrench adapter that costs maybe $20) and read a few posts on softail shock install and watched a few YouTube videos on it.

If you are somewhat mechanically inclined you might want to remove them on your own. It really isn't as bad as they made it sound. Plus once you have done something for the first time you now know what you are doing and every time you do it it gets easier to do so the reinstall won't be a problem. After doing mine I am confident that I could easily install softail shocks if I ever had to do them again. You might even find out if their so called mechanic installed them improperly that caused something to be misaligned or the hydrolic line was rubbing on something which caused their premature failure. If they do it they certainly aren't gonna take the blame. At least take it to a different shop and tell them to look if it was improperly installed. Then maybe you could take them to small claims court and recoup your install, shipping costs and reinstall money because of their mistake.

 

I appreciate all the comments. We are not totally incompetent but not having a lift the tools etc. prevents us from doing all work. Not something you just start to do at the spur of a moment. Bike went in for tires and 10K check. I asked them to re-adjust the height (since they lowered the bike more than stock the first time) and they saw the leak. They showed me because I have them now to send back. Its a Harley Dealer and yes I am beginning to have my doubts about all they do. On the other hand they have the bike now and I was taking advantage of some winter specials they had. So I am stuck. Not sure what labor they will be asking for this. I will put up a fuss because based on everyone's opinion lots of folks install shocks. Not sure what the ABS placement does but it seems to make getting at them much more difficult. Progressive said they would reseal them and change something that keeps them from leaking. We learn as we go along.
Thanks again!

 

Can someone tell me the part number for the progressive rap with standard springs. Everyone on ebay says all 422 w/rap are heavy duty springs part# 422-4102C. I called progressive and the tech the part# for the shocks w/rap is 422-4104C. I do NOT want heavy duty springs. Ain't not hang belly. Can anyone clear this up? Thanks much.

 

Google is your friend:

http://www.progressivesuspension.com...es-shocks-wrap

you can work it out from here. I hope.

 

The 4104C is the standard springs just as Progressive informed you.

 

Also note that the standard spring is for I believe a rider weight under 200 .lbs so as long as you don't exceed that they are the ones you want.
Of course you throw a passenger on unless you're Ethiopian you going to exceed 200 .lbs.

BTW; very happy with my 422 RAPs and if and when I get another softail they will be the first upgrade that I buy.