The original owner of my EGC had the bike lowered and when I first got the bike, the rear shocks bottomed out occasionally. 15k miles later, (30k on the bike) the shocks bottom out quite often when riding solo and 2up. It also felt like the rear end would 'wallow' a little in curves. I researched options for rear shocks and although some of the aftermarket shocks sound good, I'm not ready to spend the $$$ to change them. Since new shocks were not my first choice, I was very interested in the threads like this one, that talked about changing the oil in the shocks.

After reading as much as I could find about changing the shock oil, I decided to give it a try. I figured, if it didn't work I was simply back to the replacement option. So this afternoon, I removed the shocks, drained the oil out of them and refilled them with heaver shock oil. I intended to go with a 7.5 wt oil but the only thing I could find locally was AMSOIL Shock Therapy 10wt.

The results are absolutely AMAZING. The bike rides much smoother and once again actually absorbs the bumps in the road. I took the gf for a 50 mile test ride along a bunch of back roads. She also could not believe how much smoother the ride was. I had been riding with 25-30 lbs of air in the shocks. I put 15 lbs in for out test ride and I think it may be a tad too much. We never bottomed out once, even over some familar bumps that used to jar the spine. The bike feels much more stable in the curves also.

Changing out the oil wasn't too difficult. I built a quick-n-dirty jig from a 2x4, similar to the one in this thread. I also found a plastic 1/8 pipe to 1/4 tubing connector at Tractor Supply for under 2$ to connect some tubing to the shock. The steps I followed were this:

1- remove the air line
2 - remove the compression fitting from the shock
3- remove the shock from the bike
4- thread the plastic connector with tubing into the shock
5 - place the shock upside down in the jig.
6 - pump the shock several times to empty the existing oil
7- turn the shock right side up
8- insert funnel in tubing and pour new oil into funnel
9- gently pump shock to force air up through tubing and funnel and allow the vaccum to pull oil back into shock.
10- mount shock back on bike, replace air fitting (with thread sealer), trim air hose and insert back into air fitting.

I measured the oil when I drained the shocks. The left shock had 10oz in it but the right shock only had 8oz. (why doesn't that suprise me?) I refilled both shocks with 10oz of 10wt Shock Therapy.

I didn't get around to taking any pics but the above mentioned thread has great pics already. All total, I spent under 35$ for the oil and the parts to make the jig. This is turning out to be one of the "cheapest/most useful" mods I've done.

 

Congrats and good job. I made your thread a sticky for the future. I just bought my 01 Ultra and it prolly needs a good shock rejuvination since the ride is rather rough. Thanks!!!
Z

 

Bumped for the record

 

Bumped for referrence.

 

OK - this works great.

I had low expectations, and was really surprised at how well the bike rode. Now I'm 320lbs so stability out back and a better ride can make a big difference to someone like me. Especially when momma comes along, she's half my weight, and hates the harsh ride twice as much as me.

I can't report on two up yet, but a quick ten miles told me what I wanted to know. I hit some real rough roads and RR tracks i go over everyday on the way to work. I've tried diff air settings in 5 psi increments from 15 to 40 over those damn things - nothing worked well. Either too harsh or serious ***-smackin' action.

Well I used full 10 wt 'B' fork oil (HD)- 10 ozs both sides. I drained both into one collector to average the amounts. I plugged in 10 psi and it rode great out of the box. It seemed competent and handled fine if not firm. The rough road and tracks were shockingly dismissed with this change.

I've dropped it to about 7.5 psi and we'll see how we do. But it's true no bottoming, no harshness. I can't compare to a high dollar option (never had any) but I'm sure I've moved in the right direction.

I'll report back if I have any issues -

Could be > ALL TIME "BEST" DYI FOR BIGGEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT you can do.

Even more noticeable than front oil swap.

For sure - get a vacuum pump for brake bleeding - AutoZone $30 kit worked great and is good quality.

Brakes are next for me - you can really get in there to check them with shock outta the way - I'm overdue.

 

I changed the oil on my shocks (13" purchased used) with 10wt amsoil synthetic and I really like the results.

I am running 5psi air solo (200 lbs). I have not bottomed out yet in over 1k miles...

As I posted before, I also got the 2010 SE seat and my Street Glide seating height is the same if not lower than stock, with 1" more travel and better seat. How can I go wrong???

 

Excellent constructive thread. Have saved it for personal future reference

 

Awesome I will have to do this in the next week or so.......sounds like there are good results...

 

HA - went down a road I usually avoid at all cost. Speed limit is 55 on this two lane (neglected) road. This thing is kinked by heat and has tons of crappy fix its applied to it. I did 65-70; no kidding. Set up with 7-8 psi.

 

Placing my bookmark. Good stuff here.
Jerry