Diy hydraulic lowering rear air shocks -monroe 785

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83gl1200

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Has anyone tried installing a monroe 785 based diy bagger style adjustable lowering air ride setup like this on an 1100 or 1200?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6zjIJWHtY

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6zjIJWHtY[/video]


It's based on using air shocks for early corvettes that have over 4" of adjustment range, they go from 9.75" to 14"
it's a common mod for harleys.
{My bike no longer has it's original air ride stuff, and I need to replace the progressive 412's I put on originally which are too low causing me to bottom out occasionally. But I didn't want to make the bike permanently sit taller, I like it lowered.}


I found the monroe's for under $50 a pair so I bought a set. Harley guys claim they ride better than anything else including stock showa air shocks.
Thought I'd give it a shot.

If anyone has any input or warnings or suggestions let me know.
 

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Sounds like an interesting mod. Car shock should have good dampening but cars have the springs separate from the shocks. So you'll be riding on air pressure alone unless you add springs.
 
Sounds like a great idea as far as the cash outlay!!! :shock: If they work as well as my auto fuel pumps do, will have to pick up a set or two for spares, might have a need myself or for someone else. :yes: New parts sell better, & kinda nice putting something on that's new & clean, for a change. Progressives are nicer than stock shocks, but stock shocks become progressives with their springs, dampers, & boots, but still have $200 in a set. Saving half is nice, & if your cans are in nice shape, things look great when your done. :party: But this open up a new avenue & worth a look, keep us informed! :doh:
 
Yes air pressure alone. When completely aired down they ride like a rigid.

They usually sell around $65 a pair. I chose these after seeing I would pay that much just for rusty used stock shocks with torn boots off eBay.

I can run them standalone with a fixed amount of air and save some cash up front, but in the long run this won't save me a dime because I'm going to want to add an air pump and dump valve and all the stuff it takes to fully utilize the adjustability on the fly. It will put the cost back up to $200 or so total.

They take more air pressure than stock (around 100lbs) so I dont think you would be able to use these with the stock honda air pump etc at all.

They're also not shiny and pretty like stock shocks.
 

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Can one of you guys tell me what the max amp draw would be from a proper gl1100 battery? And or with the bike on and off, using a relay.

I need to see what pump I would be limited to if I wasn't running a battery less than half the size I should be. I don't have the right battery to look at and I don't know if the stator limits power draw in that case with a relay straight from the battery.
 
83,one concern i have is,a sudden air loss,have you checked for fender clearance with the shocks bottomed out?
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=155151#p155151:7bkwweyf said:
Dusterdude » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:57 pm[/url]":7bkwweyf]
83,one concern i have is,a sudden air loss,have you checked for fender clearance with the shocks bottomed out?

I have to check when they get here and I get them on, next week sometime. I do intend to raise my rear fender if needed so it will drop all the way and not cause a crash and allow me to at least limp home. I think it might clear already but not sure. I don't have a stock rear fender, so it will be easy to raise if needed.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=155153#p155153:2cv3s7h1 said:
Dusterdude » Sat Aug 01, 2015 4:06 pm[/url]":2cv3s7h1]
Groovy,i think im going to put these on mine too

Cool.

Don't forget you'll need to chop your kickstand. Mine is already shortened for 11" shocks but it will need to be shortened again.
 
So I am looking at this, and the Monroe air shock idea, just wondering what benefit will I get with air shocks. And if they are so great why don't people fit them more on GL1000's.
 
well some kind of sit down spot has to be ..so one could ride it if air was gone ....still to me all kinds of beenies here to me....im sure being able to move the swing arm where you want it ...by push button is huge ..when working on the bike
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=155320#p155320:na8uj0zs said:
ianstaley » Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:13 am[/url]":na8uj0zs]
Well yeah I can see that, but I need new shocks so convince me over normal coil overs?
Having no experience with them on a bike I won't try to convince you. On a car if air is lost it just bounces a lot until you get the problem fixed. But the cars still have springs holding them up.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=155320#p155320:10vmgte3 said:
ianstaley » Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:13 am[/url]":10vmgte3]
Well yeah I can see that, but I need new shocks so convince me over normal coil overs?

More people haven't done it because as far as I can tell, gl owners didn't know about them until I just mentioned it. I searched the internet pretty thouroughly and could find no gl's using these.

Since nobody has done it, I'm sure not going to try to convince you either.

I would suggest you let someone else be the guinea pig and try to get more life out of what you have. There are little issues which have to be worked out like making sure they fit the gl1100 lower shock mounts or figuring out modding them to fit, making sure fender doesn't rub at full drop, finding places to fit the pump and other parts, and who knows what else since it has never been done on a gl before.

I'll be doing it on a gl1100, but I won't know about your 1000. I think the lower shock mount on a 1000 is completely different isn't it a clevis? If so I don't know how you would make these work. I was generally confident about trying it on my bike because it is already running harley shocks, and the shock mounts are similar on my bike (not yours).

Think about lower shock mount difference first and at least have that figured out in your head before wasting any money on something you don't even know will fit your bike.

I do not think you can expect to use these without the pump hardware and without cutting the kickstand on gl's, because the bike would simply fall over with a slow leak with normal kickstand.

Unless you like to blaze trails and figure it out on your own, you shouldn't even think about thinking about it.

Try to see if you can even find a version of these with lower clevis type mount which might fit the 1000. Gabriel hijackers are another brand to look through.

My shocks just came yesterday, I ordered my pump last night, but i still have to figure out all the other stuff I need before I can even test them.

Plus I need to find another side stand I can hack up before I try putting them on my bike. I want to chop a different kickstand in case I have to go back to my old shocks if i run into issues getting it all fitting and working.
 
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