The previous owner of my bike installed what looks like Progressive shocks, with the standard 5-position spring preload setting at the bottom shock collar. Well, even at the softest position, the ride was still a little harsh for my liking. So I found a set of stock GW air shocks on eBay, along with a set of 12" Harley air shocks, and to my surprise, they look almost identical (GW shock bodies are chrome, HD ones are black). The GW ones had the air lines attached, going in to a single air valve. I had to buy new air valves for the HD shocks, and since they were 2007 models versus 1983 for the GW ones, I attempted to install the HD ones. I knew the upper and lower mounting tabs were wider than stock, and that's where I ran into a problem.
At first glance, it seemed like the only way to get the air shocks to fit over the stock mounting bolts work were to remove the inner steel sleeve that was in the rubber bushings. Since the tabs were wider than stock, it didn't look like there would be enough thread left to mount the seat rail and backrest brackets to the top of the shocks. I thought that's an easy fix, just buy longer bolts. But no, these bolts are not threaded all the way down, like a normal bolt. Only the top portion of the bolt is threaded, and the unthreaded portion acts like a sleeve thru the stock rubber bushings. Also, the bottom left shock mount is different from the other three mounting points, in that it fits into a clevis / bracket / whatever you want to call it, and the bottom mounting tab on the HD air shock wouldn't fit.
So, after spending over $250 on two different sets of air shocks, I'm stuck with the "normal" spring shocks that were on the bike when I got it, lol! I've been having a heck of a time finding the right spanner wrench to adjust the collar, so I think I'm just going to guy a small pipe wrench, and use that from now on!
