Lowering a softail

G

Gary_M

Guest
Thinking about lowering my night train back end. I want the most economic solution. Has anyone done this and can point me the right way. :confused: Ive seen these stainless adjusters on Ebay. Are they any good and is it a DIY job you can tackle without a lift and specialist tools:confused:
 
Re: Lowering a softail

I've lowered my Softail both front and back. White Bros. on the front & the adjusters on the rear that replace the versions on your current shocks.

In order to fit the adjusters, you need to compress your current shocks, which cannot be done by hand (I tried and failed). I ended up taking my shocks to the local bike shop so that they could use their compression machine thingy!

Once on, you can alter the ride height by about 3". So yeah they work fine.
 
Last edited:
Re: Lowering a softail

You will need two lifts, or a lift & a jack.
The bike needs to be raised into the air to access the shocks & remove them. You also need to be able to support the rear wheel & be able to move the rear suspension up & down.
A press is needed to dismantle the shock.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Thanks for the advice. So definately a shop job then. My local indie charges ?50 an hour. What kind of money should I expect to part with:confused:
 
Re: Lowering a softail

At our shop we would charge you two hours for that job.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Might be worth lowering in stages rather than going for the full available amoutn in one go.

I dropped my Deuce by an inch at the rear and the ride is a lot "firmer" than it used to be. It's Ok but I'm not sure how much harder another inch would make it :confused:
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Paragon, I recommend that you purchase yourself a lift for ?50 or so as you're going to need one for even the most basic of maintenance i.e. changing wheels etc. Plus this way you can take the shocks off yourself & take then down to the shop & get them compressed for a tenner.

So instead of paying the garage for 2 hours work (?100), you're getting yourself a bike lift for keeps & only paying the shop a tenner - saving yourself about ?30. Win Win situation?
 
Last edited:
Re: Lowering a softail

I played about a set of kitted shocks that lowered on my softail back end 1 1/2", but I couldn't live with the reduced travel, combined with the 2" the forks are lowered, and the offset primaries, the bike would deck out very easily (espectially left handers). in the end I bit the bullet and converted the rear to a air-ride with a on board compressor,- so I could "sink" the bike frame rails to 2 1/2" of the ground, and rise it to normal when riding.- Unfortunately this isn't the cheap option.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

thinking of going down the custom softail route,have some ideas but don't really want to tackle it my self,but if a shop is going to charge ?50 per hour:eek::eek:
may have to look elsewhere, unless anyone has any suggestions.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Moley said:
Might be worth lowering in stages rather than going for the full available amoutn in one go.

I dropped my Deuce by an inch at the rear and the ride is a lot "firmer" than it used to be. It's Ok but I'm not sure how much harder another inch would make it :confused:
Click to expand...
Iron butt hard, there is no free lunch with softail rear suspension, what you gain one way you lose with the other.
Mate of mine has the Airtail rear on his Fatboy like LV, he loves it, best of both worlds. Makes his whole day to back up to the kerb at the bar then drop the bike with one push of a button.:D
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Phild said:
Iron butt hard, there is no free lunch with softail rear suspension, what you gain one way you lose with the other.
Click to expand...

I hadn't appreciated there was a comfort penalty. So do the adjusters just pre-load the shocks to gain travel? If so, does that reduce the service life of the suspension. And, how much discomfort are we talking about?
 
Re: Lowering a softail

You can't get something for nothing. If you lower the back end, then you reduce the amount of travel that the rear suspension has before it hits the bump stops. The nominal rear suspension travel on a Sotail is 4.3", so if you take 2" of that away, you have only 2.3" of bump before you hit the stops. Taking account of the fact that it's pretty easy to hit the stops (given our wonderful, taxpayer-funded, potholed roads) even with stock suspension, then you're going to be wrecking your back on anything but a billiard table surface. Course, you can up the pre-load, to minimise the chance of hitting the stops, but that just stiffens the suspension, so you don't gain a lot. Don't forget a shorter jiffy stand, otherwise it won't - (stand, that is).... :eek:
That's the attraction of the on board compressor air-ride. You can have suspension when you're riding, and look cool (allegedly ;) ) when you're parked up.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

I might be barking up the wrong tree here :eek: but are we talking about the type that consist of a pair of screwed rod adjusters????.
If so, I imagined that when they replace the original adjusters,that because they are longer,that they in effect 'push' the rear wheel further up into the rear fender area, which in turn lowers the overall seat height of the bike.
If this is the case then I cannot see why you lose any travel on the suspension:confused:

Am I being too simplistic or can somebody explain:confused:

Wacko,
:cool: dazed and confused
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Yes, and because the rear fork (swinging arm) is then 2" closer to the fender, it has 2" less to go before it bottoms out. The longer adjusters don't push the fork up: the weight of the bike just allows the frame to fall, relative to the swinging fork. Think about it like this: if you disconnected the suspension units completely, the bike would fall to it's maximum bounce setting, as the fork swung to its maximum travel, and hit the stops. That's taking 'lowering' to the extreme, and there's then zero suspension travel left.
Extending the adjusters doesn't reduce the travel in the suspension units themselves, but the limit of travel in the swinging fork is fixed, as if it went any further, the tyre would hit the fender.
 
Re: Lowering a softail

This is what it looks like. Part 11 is the 'bumper' that stops the swinging fork going too far. Extending the links gives you less travel before you hit this stop. You can't have lowered suspension and maintain the same level of suspension movement. With my stock FXST, riding two-up, we still hit the bump stops on anything but a minor pothole, with preload set at 2.
Neither of us are heavyweights either, and I had to buy a gel seat to save Nel's back...
bumper.jpg
 
Re: Lowering a softail

Well explained that man:) :)

Another question, how do you set the preload on a softail?
 
Re: Lowering a softail

RTFM? :D :D :D
There's a special Harley tool, cheap (?3.51) from Guernsey HD.
One locknut to release on each unit, then use special c-spanner to adjust in or out. 3 positions to choose from, including hard, very hard and bounce you off the seat hard... ;)
 
Re: Lowering a softail

As I kinda explained earlier - lowering my rear suspension only by an inch made a big difference to the look of the bike. In my opinion it looks much nicer - but then I'm a vain sod!

The first few potholes really jarred my spine (and made me realise I could probably never own a hardtail!) but once I got used to it things are generally OK. The odd bump goes right through me but generally I can handle it :rolleyes:

I was amazed at how much difference that inch of travel made tho :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top