Suspension.

[instructorpilot]

Well, won't have to worry about our air shocks becomming unavailable. I was working on my Harley Ultra, and 08 model, and guess what. The air shocks in the rear are excatlly the same as on our old GL's. Well their black but other than that, just the same. Isn't that interesting.
Al

 

[AApple]

That's kewl! :good:
Bet the Hardly parts guys are real proud of them, too. Wonder how many meeeelions of dollars they are at the dealer? :mrgreen: Maybe the owners won't like them, and swap them for something else, leaving us to grab the pull-offs for ourselves! :good:

 

[dan filipi]

Maybe the Harley shocks are rebuilt GW shocks :smilie_happy:

Al, are they the same length and mount?

 

[fastmover83]

We had a guy come into the shop yesterday to get a key for his Harley. You should of seen his face when we told him it was for a Honda Ignition. He sputtered for a while and then told us it was a custom bike and the builder probably put it on, Ya! right the guy builds such custom bikes the even changes the Ignition switch.

 

[instructorpilot]

That's kewl! :good:
Bet the Hardly parts guys are real proud of them, too. Wonder how many meeeelions of dollars they are at the dealer? :mrgreen: Maybe the owners won't like them, and swap them for something else, leaving us to grab the pull-offs for ourselves! :good:

They are excatlly the same. They use quick connect air fittings but the shocks are excatlly the same. I even compared the rubber bellows and they are identical. I was actually stunned by this discovery. I have GL1100 air shocks on the back of my CX500D so I am intimately familiar with them. I had the bags off of the Harley to replace the trunk mount with one that's a little farther back, more room for the passenger, and saw the shocks. Yanked one off the CX and other than color they are the same. Why do I have GL1100 shocks on a CX you ask.....Well it is a fully dressed CX, kind of my peresonal touring bike, and I ain't a little feller. When I rode the CX cross country last year the shocks were bottoming out. I don't have that problem on the GL1100 so when a nice set with the hoses and shrader valve came up on e-bay, I snagged them. They fit perfectally with no interference problems even though I have Vetter saddle bags. They are also the same length at the stock CX shocks. The only hassel was mounting the air line. Still working on that.
Al

 

[AApple]

I wonder if the spring rates are the same? I know the Hardly's use a different angle on the shocks, so I'm assuming the spring rates might be a bit lower. Who knows...they might be just the thing for us "larger" fellers with loaded 'Wings. :mrgreen:

 

[OldWrench]

One of my shocks on my 80 is leaking, went to our friendly Honda dealer regarding other parts and out of curiosity asked if the seals were still available for the rear shocks, looked it up and sure enough OEM seals $33.00 each, ordered two of them. You need air pressure to take them apart but sixty six bucks to rebuild both shocks is a good deal in my book. I’m not sure but I think there is also an O-Ring in the shock but the parts breakdown didn’t show it. The Honda service manual give exact instructions how to rebuild them.

 

[dan filipi]

AApple did his viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14
scroll down to Progressive Suspension installation pdf's

 

[AApple]

:shock: $33 EACH?!?!? Yimminy crickets!!!
Mine were like, $3 each! Genuine, Honda seals, in Honda packages. Wow...someone's making some dough!! :nea:

By all means, check out the way I did my rear shocks. MUCH less messier than using air pressure....trust me!(and safer, too)
If you're just replacing the seals, it's not too bad of a job, really. I changed the springs out, also, so that took a little longer. Mine are still working great, and no leaks!

One thing I don't think I ever mentioned in my "tutorial"...the actual shocks have holes in them at the tops. This is where the oil in the assy gets into the shocks. Before I did mine, I thought the shocks were sealed units, just like an automotive shock, and the oil in the air chamber was just an added cushion for the air suspension part. I found out the hard way that with the complete assembly torn down, you really do NOT want to push the shock stem down into the shock housing, and then pull Up on it... oh2: :head bang: Yeah...I took a bath in that nasty stuff! :blush: :sensored:

 

[OldWrench]

Wow Aapple that is great advice and thank you. You got the seals for 3 dollars each, you are so right they are cutting a fat profit off of that and I got screwed, going to have a talk with the Honda parts guy.

 

[AApple]

I got my seals and the Progressive rear spring kit from cheapcycleparts. I see the seals are now $10 each! Still better than $33! The seals they had in stock, but the spring kit was "on national back-order", which they told me about when I contacted them after a week or so, wondering why my "shipping info" still said parts were waiting to be shipped.
It did take a while to get the springs, but they did come once ccp got them from Progressive. :yahoo:

 

[hondaman]

I had a problem with bottoming out with the stock air shocks when I got mine. I tried 3 different pair of the same shocks, and they all did the same thing. I was looking through J.C.Whitney one day, and came across a set of standard coil shocks, that fit my GL1100. ($79.95 black shocks & cover, chrome springs, 4 position spring rate adjustment) GREAT!
It was a biggest single improvement in the ride and handling I have made to the bike. The shocks have been on for 5 years now, and have not needed to adjust them for passengers, or added luggage at all. Great shocks.
Hondaman

 

[Joep]

I have those shocks on JC's site and they now are about $91.. I have found Harleys lowering airshocks ( to 12 inches) for $125 on a site.. will have to research for that site again