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Installation of Progressive Suspension

Alright you have accumulated a few miles on the old Magna or you just want to upgrade the suspension for the performance aspect of it. Changing from stock to aftermarket suspension is something that anyone with a small amount of mechanical skill could complete.

Following are the instructions that I have put together after the installation on my 97' Magna as well as a buddies 96.These instructions are not meant to be exactly but this is what I did for my suspension.

Things NEEDED before starting:.......Tools required for the Installation:

Installation of Progressive Fork Springs:

Okay, with the above lists out of the way we are ready to get started.

1) Start by raising the bike off the ground and securing the bike to the lift.

2) Remove the (2) 12mm bolts that hold the brake caliper in place.

3) Remove the screw that holds the speedometer cable in place and remove the cable from the gear at the wheel.

4) Remove brake caliper from fork and disc. (Make sure you suspend the caliper with a bungy cord or something to keep from damaging the brake line)

5) Remove axle bolt and axle as well as the wheel.

6) Remove front fender from the bike.

7) Once the wheel and fender are off of the bike you will be able to access the drain plug at the bottom of the fork slider (96-up Models). Some previous models have the drain plug on the lower rear of both fork sliders.

8) Take your 6mm Allen Wrench and insert through the hole in the bottom of the fork slider (see photo above). Loosen and remove the drain bolt at the bottom of the fork slider.

9) Once the drain plug is removed you will want to remove the fork cap (with the 17mm socket) and pump the fork slider up and down on the fork tube to speed in the draining proccess. ( see photo below for fork cap )

Note:When removing the fork caps you will need to keep a constant pressure on them or they will shoot out of the fork tubes due to the pressure from the springs.

10) Allow forks to drain completely before starting re-installation.

11) If you plan on rebuilding the forks completely now is the time to do it. I chose not to do this, so my instructions will not cover any further dis-assembly of the forks.

12) While the forks are draining you can go ahead and cut your new spacers from the 1" PVC pipe if you have not already done so.

Note: Progressive recommends cutting the new spacer to 5.12" with adjustments to be made in 1/4" increments. I cut my spacers as well as my buddies to 5.25" for no better reason than ease of measurement. I have found that this pre load is above average and should be firm enough for almost all riders with the stock 10wt Fork Oil. If you want the ride to be firmer you can always switch to 15wt fork oil.

13) Okay, the forks have drained and you think it is time to start the process of re-assembling the forks. Not so quick though, you will most likely need to take a small screwdriver and dislodge the small copper sealing washer in the bottom of the fork sliders. Once you have this out you can go ahead and put the new sealing washer on the drain bolt. You will also need to compress the fork slider and remove the stock spacer as well as the a flat washer that goes between the fork springs and the spacer. Now take the old springs out and discard them.

14) Apply a small amount of the Blue Thread Lock (Medium Strength) and insert the bolt and washer through the bottom of the fork slider and tighten making sure not to cross thread the bolt. (see torque value for drain bolt in list below)

15) Compress fork slider all the way until it is at the top of its fork travel.

16) Add fresh Fork Oil, you will need to take measurements to ensure that you do not over fill the fork tubes. I made a little measurement stick and marked off 5.5" on the stick to use as a dip stick. Each fork should take almost 1/2 of the quart of fork oil. The Honda shop manual says that the fluid level should be set at 120mm (4.8") with the stock springs. Since the Progressive springs will displace more fork oil than the stock units we need to adjust and that is where we came up with 5.5" from the top of the fork tube until the dip stick reaches the top of the fluid.

Caution: Do not over fill the the forks with fluid since this could cause you to blow the fork seals on your first outing when you hit a major bump or pot hole. As you can see by the photo below, the Progressive Springs will displace more For Oil. (Progressive Springs are on the left and the stock units are on the right)

17) Okay, the fork oil level is set correctly and you are ready to drop the new Progressive Fork Springs into place along with the small flat washer that you saved from the stock springs.

18) Drop your new spacer into the fork tube. You will notice as with the stock spacer it sticks out of the tube and will need to be compressed into the fork tube while installing the fork caps.

Caution: Before installing the fork caps make sure you replace the O-ring on the fork cap and coat it with a thin film of fork oil. You will also need to keep a constant pressure on the cap and get it straight while threading. The cap could cross thread very easily since the cap is made out of aluminum, I recommend you get a helper at this stage.

19) Once the cap is back on you will want to snug it up and re-install everything in the reverse order of removal as far as the front fender, wheel, and brake assembly.

Below is a list of the torque values for all above mentioned bolts:

Axle Bolt	43 ft. lbs.
Axle Pinch Bolts	16 ft. lbs.
Speedometer Screw	2.9 ft. lbs.
Front Fender Bolt	9 ft. lbs.
Brake Caliper Bracket Bolt	22 ft. lbs.
Fork Socket Bolt (For Draining)	14 ft. lbs.
Fork Caps	17 ft. lbs.
Fork Socket Bolt (94-95 Models)	5.8 ft. lbs.

Installation of Progressive Rear Shocks:

Note: If you plan on doing any 2 up riding or touring as well as modifying the width of tire you run in the rear you will most likely want to get the rear shocks with HEAVY DUTY springs since the originals will allow the bike to bottom with the extra weight. You should also consider the HEAVY DUTY if you weight over 200 lbs.

Okay, so you have been bitten by all the talk about Progressive Suspension. Well I have to tell you that you cannot go wrong with this purchase even with the less expensive 412 Series rear shock. The 412's will cost about half of the 440's but offer less adjustment than the 440's. So, I guess it is all about what you are willing to spend.

1) Raise bike up slightly with lift or jack to take pressure off of the shocks.

Note: Raising the bike will save your fingers from the deadly force that the shocks can produce. In fact, I almost lost a couple of fingers on the first set of rear shocks I did. By raising the bike to where the rear tire is just touching the ground you should not have any problems with this though.

2) Remove Upper Shock Absorber bolt on one side.

It is best to do only one side at a time.

3) Carefully pull the top of the shock away from the bike making sure your hands are clear from fender encase the fender drops as you pull the shock off. This should not happen if you have followed the steps in #1 of this section.

4) Once the top is clear you can loosen the bolt at the bottom of the shock and remove the old shock absorber.

Repeat steps No.2,3 and 4 on the opposite side of the bike. Since the Progressive shocks seem to be a tad taller even in the stock length you may need to raise the bike slightly to allow the swingarm to drop a little to ease the installation of the new shocks.

Again it is probably best to re-install one side at a time.

5) Place new shock in lower mounting bracket and run bolt through and snug gently.

You will notice that progressive supplies spacers in this kit that should be used in the lower mounting bracket. You will need to make sure that it is not to small or to large for the bolt to go through.

6) Slide top of shock over mounting bracket and insert bolt and snug gently.

The reason you do not want to tighten these yet is because you will need this assembly to be flexible to a degree to allow you to get the opposite side on.

7) Repeat steps No. 5 & 6 om the other side of the bike. If you experience any difficulty getting the top of the shock mounted you may need to lower the bike slightly to allow some of the weight to compress the other shock. This should get you close enough that you can slip the top on the bracket.

Below are the toque values for the rear shocks:

Upper Shock Bolt	20 ft. lbs.
Lower Shock Bolt	27 ft. lbs.

Okay, you got everything back together I would go back through and make sure you have evrything torqued down. Once you are sure of this you will definetly want to take your bike out for a spin so that you can see what a great investment you just made.

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