Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tonyp0811]

Anybody using 11.5-12 Progressive Shocks and have them bottom out?? I Purchased a pair of 412 HD 11.5's for my Copper and Onyx less then a week after I purcahsed the bike 11/23/07 ... I put about 600 miles on the bike since then.... It has bottomed out a ripped up the wire loom in the rear fender... Stealership won't warranty it blaming it on the shocks and progressive needs pictures to prove the bike has not been modified... Progressive told me that they have never had this happen b4....

[sadunbar]

Anybody using 11.5-12 Progressive Shocks and have them bottom out?? I Purchased a pair of 412 HD 11.5's for my Copper and Onyx less then a week after I purcahsed the bike 11/23/07 ... I put about 600 miles on the bike since then.... It has bottomed out a ripped up the wire loom in the rear fender... Stealership won't warranty it blaming it on the shocks and progressive needs pictures to prove the bike has not been modified... Progressive told me that they have never had this happen b4....

One my 2001 SERG (4 bikes ago), I had a pair of 11.5" Progressive 440 shocks installed.  On a light setting, riding 2-up and with luggage, I would bottom out the shocks.  If I dialed up the shock setting, it would make the ride a bit rougher, but would not bottom out.  I have never used the 412 shocks....

[Boatman]

Like Sadunbar stated, almost all of us with Progressives have the 440's..  Sorry I can't help but welcome to the site.  Nice looking Coppertop.

[SPIDERMAN]

Interesting. We had several threads on Progessive Suspension Shocks over the years on the site and the beef was always that they "clunked" when they topped out but never bottomed out. I wouldn't run anything but Progressive 440's, am a large person and even with the wife ridin two up have never had mine bottom out. You must have had them screwed all the way down to nothing with no dampening or anything set on them. Sorry to hear about your negative experience with this. As I've pointed out on another thread however, unless you're prepared to leave your ride exactly as H-D made it installing only those items from the H-D P&A catalogue listed as street legal and not affecting the warranty,you need to be prepared for stuff like this not to be covered. I sympathize, but I can also see the dealer's issue.

B B

[tonyp0811]

When I installed them.. I set them to 3.... I have rode 2 up on the bike twice.... I only weigh 190lbs... and my wife is 125lbs.... I have the Heavy duty rated 412's that are rated for someone 220lbs...Is it possible that the stops failed??

[Screamin]

What's the length of the stock shocks?

[tonyp0811]

I belive 13 inches

[sadunbar]

Interesting. We had several threads on Progessive Suspension Shocks over the years on the site and the beef was always that they "clunked" when they topped out but never bottomed out. I wouldn't run anything but Progressive 440's, am a large person and even with the wife ridin two up have never had mine bottom out. You must have had them screwed all the way down to nothing with no dampening or anything set on them. Sorry to hear about your negative experience with this. As I've pointed out on another thread however, unless you're prepared to leave your ride exactly as H-D made it installing only those items from the H-D P&A catalogue listed as street legal and not affecting the warranty,you need to be prepared for stuff like this not to be covered. I sympathize, but I can also see the dealer's issue.

B B

Maybe the 1 1/2" less travel of the 11 1/2" shock made the difference - that plus the difference between the 412's and 440's.      On my SERG, using the 11 1/2" 440's, I rode solo on the "2" setting very comfortably - excellent ride - but could not get away with it riding 2-up and loaded for travel.   I had to go to at least "4" or "5" setting....

[Midnight Rider]

Losing 1.5" of travel on the rear, I'm not really surprised that the tire got into the harness, and I'm not at all surprised about the dealer not covering it under warranty.  HD's "lowering" kit puts a 12" shock on the rear, and that is as low as I personally would go on a heavy touring bike, and even then you're going to lose some suspension quality just by giving up the inch of travel.  JMHO.

[sadunbar]

Losing 1.5" of travel on the rear, I'm not really surprised that the tire got into the harness, and I'm not at all surprised about the dealer not covering it under warranty.  HD's "lowering" kit puts a 12" shock on the rear, and that is as low as I personally would go on a heavy touring bike, and even then you're going to lose some suspension quality just by giving up the inch of travel.  JMHO.

You are exactly right, Terry.  That was my lesson learned on my SERG - which helped me make the decision to put the Legends Air Suspension on my SEUC - to help out my short legs when stopped or in stop and go traffic - and yet be able to ride at full suspension height!   My 5 11 height with 30" inseam doesn't get my feet planted on the ground at full stock height.  The Legends Air Suspension solution works perfectly for me... 

[Midnight Rider]

You are exactly right, Terry.  That was my lesson learned on my SERG - which helped me make the decision to put the Legends Air Suspension on my SEUC - to help out my short legs when stopped or in stop and go traffic - and yet be able to ride at full suspension height!   My 5 11 height with 30" inseam doesn't get my feet planted on the ground at full stock height.  The Legends Air Suspension solution works perfectly for me... 

Same here, Scott....with just barely more than a 29" inseam, I had to do something to make myself more comfortable when the bike isn't moving, and the Legends are just the ticket for me.  The cool thing with the Legends is that you quickly learn when/where to bleed a little air off to allow you to touch the ground comfortably, without having to slam it all the way down until you have to walk it around.  They are expensive, but I'm sure have saved me dropping the bike a couple of times, which could be even more costly. You should have seen me on the Duc MTS    I was on my tippy toes...thank goodness it only weighed 432lbs wet, but if I remember correctly, the seat height was around 32/33 inches.  I had to scoot up on the narrow part of the Corbin at every stop.

[LRebel]

I lowered the rear of my 08 SEUC with the Burly lowering kit  (lowered it by about 1 - 1 1/2 inch).  Riding two-up the tire was touching the fender when I hit a hard bump.  I had to air up the shocks to almost the maximum pressure to prevent the tire from touching the fender - Combine weight of wife & I is around 350 lbs.

I think the 08's have a higher seat height that some of the other bikes.  My 02 Ultra was probably two inches lower than my new 08.  I have a 33 inch inseam, but the 08 seemed too high until I put the Burly lowering kit on it. 

I have considered the Bitubo shocks, but am concerned about the tire hitting the fender.

[Johnny]

When I purchased 07 SEUC asked dealer to install air suspension system (was thinking about the Legend) dealer recommended the Progressive system over Legend.  It took 4-5 months to get the parts and the dealer spent several weeks trying to install the system.  I even made several calls to Progressive & talked to their head engineer & got dealer tech on conference call to resolve problems.  After going back and forth (dealer said system problem -Progessive said install problem) system never worked & I told dealer to remove so I could get my bike back.  Dealer suggested the 440s as an allternative - becaue I had them on my 04 SEEG & liked them said OK.

When I picked up the bike noticed it bottomed out at the driveway didnt pay much attention.  So happened it was same weekend for Birmingham trip last year so next day stiffened shocks and headed out.  Bike bottomed out every drive, speed bump, pot hole, etc, etc.  By the end of the weekend was totally disapointted.  Took bike back to dealer and found out they had put 11inch shocks on the bike where 13inches is the standard.  Told them to take of the progressives and put stock system back on which they did.  When I picked up the bike I asked for refund & they said what refund?  Talked with manager & got full refund because they recommended them and made decision to put 11 inchers on (also got refund for labor).

Lesson learned 11 inches no good on SEUC (I ride mostly 1 up)!!

[tonyp0811]

Had a set of lowering brackets (from solow.com) on my 06 Ultra droped the bike 1 1/4 inch only time I had problem with it bottoming out when dealer would do a service and release all the air in my suspension. They did the same thing...(And the same dealership gave me the same grief) Differnce was I had that Lowering Kit on the bike for 15,000 miles before it killed the Harness....And the big reason that the Harness failed was the dealership would release all the air from the rear shocks.  So this time I figured I would go with the what I was recommended by so many people,  but before I did I talked to Progressive twice before purchasing these current shocks to make sure they would not bottom out on the fender and wiring harness... Both times I was told they have stops built in them that would prevent it from bottoming out any the only difrence with the half inch was ride quality. 412 or 440's in the end unless the weight the shocks can handle are different what would it matter or unless one does not have stops where to other does... If it is b/c of that maybe Progressive will be kind enough to swap them out for me or at least give me my money back and I can get the HD ones and just shut my mouth...

[Chief]

Had a set of lowering brackets (from solow.com) on my 06 Ultra droped the bike 1 1/4 inch only time I had problem with it bottoming out when dealer would do a service and release all the air in my suspension. They did the same thing...(And the same dealership gave me the same grief) Differnce was I had that Lowering Kit on the bike for 15,000 miles before it killed the Harness....And the big reason that the Harness failed was the dealership would release all the air from the rear shocks.  So this time I figured I would go with the what I was recommended by so many people,  but before I did I talked to Progressive twice before purchasing these current shocks to make sure they would not bottom out on the fender and wiring harness... Both times I was told they have stops built in them that would prevent it from bottoming out any the only difrence with the half inch was ride quality. 412 or 440's in the end unless the weight the shocks can handle are different what would it matter or unless one does not have stops where to other does... If it is b/c of that maybe Progressive will be kind enough to swap them out for me or at least give me my money back and I can get the HD ones and just shut my mouth...

The only real way to tell if you'll have a problem is to mount the shocks without the springs to see where everything sits at full bottom. I don't know how the springs come off of the 412s, but they come of of the 440's pretty easily.

The stock height of the stock shocks is 13", so if you're running 11.5" shocks, the 1.5" would concern me as cutting it pretty close to a rub. Also, if the harness is not over to the side, but instead is stuck on right in the middle of the fender, it is more likely to get hit.

I'd be interested in your ground up harness tho.