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Lowering kits

Discussion in 'Motorcycle Tech Talk' started by runforever, Aug 28, 2008.

  1. runforever

    runforever New Member

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    I have a dyna super glide and I want to lower it, what is that and how is it done?
  2. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    There are lowering kits to lower the rear of the bike, but I wouldn't recommend them 'cause they change the shock angle, the best way to lower the rear is with shorter shocks. Progressive suspension has lowering kits for the front end, which you change the springs to theirs and can lower the front 1" or 2" depending on the spacers you use.
    You can just do the rear and handling will be fine,or do front and rear and keep the bike level,but remember when you lower it ground clearance and lean angle will be reduced.:devil:
  3. cowboy

    cowboy Moderator Staff Member

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    I put A rear lowering kit on My Daughter's Sporty But she is light weight & I put A solo seat on it , thats what she wanted so she wont haul a lot of weight , If your going to ride two up & pack down for trips look into the shocks A bit pricy but better
  4. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Lowering kits from White Brothers have been around forever, they bolt to the swing arm and kick the shocks out to the rear, simple, cheap and easy, about 1 inch down.

    Ran them on my rk for a year, doesn't hurt anything but your butt if you hit something hard because you have less travel.

    They also make shorter front springs for the forks to lower the front.

    You can do HD shorter shocks or progressive etc. better way to do it because the shock angle is not changed but the White Brothers kits JMO work fine.
  5. SPORSTERBOY

    SPORSTERBOY New Member

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    I've done this every way possible, the adapter pieces are easy, easy to make also if you have the tools, they work ok but leave a nice visual of what you have done also it changes the angle of you shock, I would sugest for the best ride and visual would be to go with some shorter shocks, or if you like it bumpy and slammed you can go with the strutts, with the amount you are lowering I wouldn't do the front, you want to keep that clearance. and hope you have a good spring on your jiffy stand because if it has to much play it will drag on right hand turns. also it your running a chain you will have to remove some links, when I did this with a belt it worked fine with the same belt, me personally, after going rigid the hole shock thing felt a little to sway swish swash for me. but I don't do much long haullin.
  6. runforever

    runforever New Member

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    Dang I'm 5'5 and weigh 106 lbs, that dyna is a bite to push and maneuver. Not sure I like the idea of leaning angle being reduced either. Had a sportster already and that was to small. Smaller shocks, ?:fight:
  7. SPORSTERBOY

    SPORSTERBOY New Member

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    well your sittin pretty high, do you have to use your tipy toes at a stop, you prob will be alot more comfy with some shorter shocks, prob could go with some 11" eye to eye, and I wouldn't worrie about cornering angle stuff. I'm sitting about 2" in the rear and 3" in the front. you'll have a long ways to go. the only thing that scraps on mine is the jiffy stand stop, so I'm changing out to a springless. measure your shocks now and let us know what your at. one thing to watch is your fender clearance and belt gaurd and you will want to get some that are easy to adjust for 2 up
  8. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    You're riding a dyna so don't worry about losing lean angle they have good ground clearance to start. You could go with 11" shocks (I think stock are 13")on the rear and not have a problem with cornering, Sorry man if I gave you the wrong impression about reduced angle,but you'd have to be going pretty fast and cornering hard to scrape. When you lower a softail you gotta remember to slow down a bit on sharp turns,on a dyna you'll be fine.:devil:
  9. voodoochild

    voodoochild New Member

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    I have the progressive shocks on my Dyna cause I'm 5-6 and 165, I also had the H-D forward position seat installed and that helped too, it puts you 1" forward and 1" lower. I hate the shocks though. I did my 240 kit and the f'ing rear wheel bottoms out all the time, I even re-set my shocks to the 4th setting, and the damn thing still bottoms out with just me on it. Now I run the shocks on the 5th setting, the stiffest, and it's like ridin a freakin rigid....it hasn't bottomed out.....yet....but the damage is already been done. it chipped my fender on both sides, one from the chain guard hitting it and one from the bleeder screw on the caliper hitting it. I ain't happy.....:witsend: :mad: BUT, I lean that thing into turns and very rarely do I scrape anything 'cept for my pegs, which stick out farther than most because I added heel rests to them. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, just thought I'd add my .02
  10. Sleepy

    Sleepy Well-Known Member

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    I'd try a different seat first, see how that is. I'm guessing that you're not flat footing it at stops. I'm not a big fan of the lowering kits that use the stock length shock and angle it out more at the bottom to give you the lowering result because I believe that it takes the shock further away from what is already a borderline effective angle from the rear frame mount to the swingarm.....on Dynas. I put on works performance shocks on my old Dyna. It helped a little.
  11. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Hd makes the dyna low rider so the bike can be lower, you shouldn't have a major problem with lowering it

    we're just telling you to watch it as you will loose some lean angle over stock when you lower the bike but it's not the end of riding it hard.

    I would look into a lower narrower seat, hd's seats put you way up in the air and they are typically wide.

    Go try a Corbin seat, very narrow and thinner due to the hard closed cell foam. Takes a bit to get used to them but they will give you more clearance. Might be all you need.
  12. Antnyb

    Antnyb New Member

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    If you look in the Harley accessories cat they sell a shorter shock for the rear and a matched set of fork springs to lower your bike. Their set up runs about $600 uninstalled.
  13. runforever

    runforever New Member

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    Hey sportster nice bikes

    Anyway I measured the shocks, not the springs, and got 12". I also used spanner wrench and its at the lowest. I think I want to go with shocks, not lowering kits. If I go with shocks, can I use spanner wrench to raise them? Son is 5'10" 200 lbs, he doesn't like me messing with our bike.:eek:
  14. SPORSTERBOY

    SPORSTERBOY New Member

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    11" should work good for ya, if you look at my gallery, I made some 10.25" strutts for my sporty, so you can see how high it's still sitting, it came with 11" stock showas real stock was 13.5, as for the wrench, it should work, but you can get them where you can adjust it with your hand, progressive is the popular brand, there are places that will also take your old ones and shorten them for you.
  15. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    The adjustment on the shocks is for preload,not to raise and lower it. When you set it at the "lowest" that is the softest setting,so when you sat on it they compressed more,made it lower by compression only. Your son would bottom out quite easily on that setting. The only way to lower it is with shorter shocks and front springs.
    Before you order an HD lowering kit check out your local Indy for a set of Progressive Suspension 11" shocks and if you want you can get their front fork kit too,which will drop the front end 1" or 2" depending on the spacers used. You can set preload with the spanner wrench on them too.
    My opinion the Progressives will give you better ride quality than stock HD and you may be able to get them thru an Indy cheaper than buying "Genuine HD" thru the Stealership:devil:

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