Stock FLHT Suspension Upgrades

[djl]

Looking for a winter project and thought I would upgrade the suspension on my '02 FLHT.  Questions for those that have done this:

Is it worth the time and cost to upgrade the stock suspension?
What upgrades are most cost effective?
What upgrades work for front and rear?

[Mike52]

I think the simplest, lowest cost upgrade would be to freshen up the stock suspension, both front and rear. The rear shocks can be drained and refilled with oil (this was discussed in great length on the old board, I have the info saved on my home computer), the front could use some fresh fork oil, maybe an upgrade to Bel-Ray 20wt like I did to my Street Glide a couple of years ago. The cost for both of these are very cheap, the benefits would be huge. If you are looking to spend a lot of $$$ then you might consider new rear shocks and updating the forks to '06 internals or go aftermarket with Progressive or Race Tech, just depends on the $$$ you want to spend.

Mike

[Eglider05]

Looking for a winter project and thought I would upgrade the suspension on my '02 FLHT.  Questions for those that have done this:

Is it worth the time and cost to upgrade the stock suspension?
What upgrades are most cost effective?
What upgrades work for front and rear?

I've run Progressive 440's on my last 3 bikes and although they are better than stock (IMHO) I like my new Works Street Trackers even better. I also have Works dual rate springs up front and have a Bagger Brace. I did as Mike suggested and changed out to the 06 internals and went with Belray 15WT. In the spring I'll change to 20WT as I want to firm it up a bit.

This is not the cheapest way to go but not the most expensive either. The combination of the shocks, springs and stabilizer have really transformed the way the bike handles.

Rick

[PC_Hater]

Stock FL suspension front and rear is appallingly bad.
Depending on the roads you ride and how you ride changing to thicker oil in the forks and in the shocks might be all you need.
I have the full RaceTech package of fork springs and emulators at the front and Progressive 440s on the rear. The 440s still top-out over bumps just like the factory shocks do, but they do have reasonable damping. I find the topping-out irritating. The latest Ohlins shocks at twice the price are on my wish list. Sucking the oil out of my old air shocks and refilling with thicker oil is my Christmas project!

[FLTRI]

From a guy who typically does a lot of high speed road running with my FLHT and FLTR, I can say that when the shocks wear out the ride quality goes bad.
This is nothing different than a car with worn out shocks.
I have found that the newer iterations of factory air shocks have much better dampening than in the past, improving the ride over anything I've ridden with aftermarket stuff. (I daily ride many bikes with all kinds of add-on do-dads due to my occupation)
Also I find the ride quality is just as good with fresh stock air-shocks as with the high dollar non-air shocks, partly due to the stock air-shocks allow for air pressure preload (best progressive spring known).
These are the same shocks big Hondas have used for over 20years with success.

Case in point:
Customer's comment: "My bike was handling like crap with my Dunlops, but when I put Brand X on my bike it now feels like it is on rails. I will never use those junk Dunlops again."
What the rider was actually saying was that his bike felt like crap with worn out tires, and guess what? When new tires, any new tires, were installed the bike felt a bunch better. DUH!
Same goes with shocks, swingarm bushings, engine mounts, etc, etc.

My point? First replace your worn stuff with new. Then if it doesn't feel right try changing, but remember to compare new to new rather than worn out with new.

As always, JMHO, Bob

[road-dawgs1]

If ya got a crap load of money you can try a set of Ohlin's on the rear   If I could afford a pot to piss in, that's what I'd like to try for shocks on the rear.  I swapped out the front with a mix of SE fluid and type E which is kinda like going to a Bel Ray 15.  I should've thrown in the Progressive springs when I had it apart for the blacked out front end but I didn't.

[FLTRI]

If ya got a crap load of money you can try a set of Ohlin's on the rear   If I could afford a pot to piss in, that's what I'd like to try for shocks on the rear.  I swapped out the front with a mix of SE fluid and type E which is kinda like going to a Bel Ray 15.  I should've thrown in the Progressive springs when I had it apart for the blacked out front end but I didn't.

IMO, after working for years with Ohlins shock engineers at the race tracks when I was doing data acquisition for racing vehicles, I am convinced if anyone could make a shock that would actually work as advertised, they could.
Motorcycle performance shocks is their 40+year heritage and that says a lot to me. When they entered the automotive road racing arena (CART) in the 90's they simply blew the competition away. No other shock at the time worked as well.

Problem is all shocks, for racing or the street are a compromise. It is absolutely impossible to make a shock that will be ideal for all baggers due to, if nothing more, loaded weight varying up to 400+ lbs. One spring rate cannot do the whole job either. So the MOCO compromises with air-over-hydraulic shocks that the and preload can effectively be altered for virtually all loaded weights.

Is it ideal for any given weight at any point in time? Probably not. Is it a better compromise than an aftermarket non-air adjustable shock? IMO, yes.

JMHO, Bob

[djl]

I think what I am hearing is save some bucks by upgrading the rears to factory with later equipment but spend some money on the front and replace the internals.

[FLTRI]

Change 1 end at a time so you can effectively evaluate the changes. Sometimes a change will actually go too far in the intended direction or even the wrong direction.

[snoman]

  Stock shocks with a fluid change { belray 7, I think} made a  great improvement on my "02 classic. Generally ride without any air . Also did my Bud's '05 S.E. ultra { swapped his to 13" shocks I picked up off E-bay $50.} and he couldn't believe the difference. Said bike never rode , handled so good .
  Got all the info from posts by "texasbowhunter" .
   sno