So I tore apart my Progressive rear shocks on my 89 Softail to find that there is no rebound damping left in the shocks, and oil in the cans. That explains why I have been bottoming out so often.

Now, where can I buy just shocks? The rest of the parts are fine. Springs, collars, snap rings etc.. Seems silly to buy everything when I only need one thing. That, and I am debating a set of stiffer rear springs to hold me (250#), so buying new complete units just to toss out the springs seems silly too.

 

I would send them back to progrssive and have them rebuild them

 

Call Progressive. They sell many items not listed on their web site.

 

+1 on calling Progressive. They're a good company who stands behind their products.

 

So, I called Progressive . I was not sure I had Progressive parts or not since they were not chromed like the pics online, they appear to be yellow phosphate coated, but is sounds like I have the older 413 setup, not the new shiny chrome 422's.

Per the technical rep's request, I took some pics of the model numbers stamped into the bottom of the shocks and emailed them to him. I guess we'll see what turns out.

Thanks for the feedback. I want to like this bike, motor is running strong, trans shifts fine (hard to find neutral though), but the suspension has been ticking me off. This is my first HD, and maybe it's the 23 year wait, but I'm a little down on it. I'm sure that will change once I get my forks (spewing oil from seals and the top plug, no damping) and rear springs working right.

 

With potentially 20+ year of shocks, and light springs, I would go for the new ones with heavy duty springs and call it a day.

 

U will get her right one day

 

So I shipped my shocks to Progressive, and they came back with a $350 repair bill plus $20 shipping.

I found a set of Airtail shocks New in box on ebay for $340 delivered. I sketched out the plumbing for a compressor/switch setup on the bike. Looks like I can build my own compressor/switch setup for about $100 in parts. The hardest part was remembering how to do pneumatic controls. I used to do it as a student engineer 16-17 years ago.. but I'm a little rusty. Once I get going on it, I'll probably start another thread, I'm sure others would love an onboard compressor option for less than $450-$550.

 

Keep us posted.

 

That's insane! You can buy new chrome 422's on ebay For another $25.00.