Progressive springs for the maxim x

I used whatever was recommended in the service manual so most likely 15w will it be a problem with the progressive?

Ive never messed with rear shocks how do I know which spacer to use/where it goes?

I can take pics of what all came with them later if need be.

 

When you install the springs you put some tension on them so the suspension doesn't sag under the load of the bike alone. Depending on your riding style and, er, body mass, you might want more or less preload than spec. I keep my 650 Midnight at about 75lbs per fork or 150lbs total.

 

15wt fork oil is the way to go for sure.

Told you Powersport Superstore would come through for ya ;D

 

At the risk of looking incompetent... Im at a loss how do you do that?

 

You havent let me down yet. lol. They actually got here really fast.

I shouldnt have doubted lol

 

Maybe the X's specified 15wt, most xj's were spec'd with 10wt.

The progressive site says to resue the stock spacers - I did on my 750 too. My stock spacers were metal, and progressive included some plastic looking ones, but I just put the metal ones back in:


As for the rear shocks, I just put progressives on my 750 and i had to remove the grab rail and loosen up the mufflers a bit, picked out the proper sized bushings(mine were different side to side, so dont get excited and check one and do them both the same. In the past I've put bushings in pretty easily with a bench vise, but the progressives (mine at least) are super easy to swap in/out bushings.

The sticker faces out.

I removed the rear wheel to allow myself to easily move the swingarm to where it lined up easily.

Use a torque wrench on the bolts, as if they're too tight they sometimes can bind, and not allow the shock to move easily. IIRC the torque spec on my 750 was 21.7ft-lbs, but double check the X specs.

The fork spring box will come with directions in which way to put them into the fork tubes, then the spacer usually goes in next, followed by a little washer looking thing iirc, and then the cap.

Here's a decent video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kjuirr89jQ

You use the spanner wrench to move it between the settings (6 of them i think) the video shows a 430 series shock, but how to set the sag is still the same.

haha i try not to

Yeah, i too was weary when I looked at the TONS of bad reviews all over the net about them, but every order ive been more than satisfied, and a REAL person answers the phone when you call them, and its always the same guy too, whose name is Nick iirc.

I went back and double checked, and your bike specified 10wt as well, so if you replaced it with 15wt, you're already ahead of the game:

 

Rear preload was discussed above. The fronts are a bit different. You know those spacers between the springs and the fork caps? Well those can be swapped out, cut, or stacked to change your fork preload. This requires you to know the spring force (I forget the exact term here, but basically you need to know how much force it takes to compress the spring by X length).

Let's use the example of springs with a 100lb per inch spring force.
Let's assume you want 150 lbs of preload in the front end.
Two forks means 75 lbs per fork.

To achieve 150lbs preload on the front end, you need to compress each fork spring an inch and a half for when the fork is fully extended. If your progressive springs are an inch shorter than the inner length of the fork tube (meaning when placed inside, they would sit an inch lower than the bottom of the fork cap) then you would need a 2 1/2-inch spacer on each fork to create a 75-lb preload in each fork: 1 inch to take up the slack space and 1 1/2 inches to preload the forks.

When you go to put the caps on the end of the forks, you will absolutely want them clamped down, because that 75 lb preload means that it will take MORE THAN 75 lbs to compress the forks low enough to get the cap and circlip in to retain the fork springs in the fork tube. What I did was to install them in the triple trees just before installing the caps and I had a friend sit on the back seat of the bike with the bike on the center stand. I could then successfully put some sizeable force down on the fork caps to get them compressed and in place.