Intruders-Alert

My son has a 2004 800 Intruder. I own a 2005 S83 and put progressive rear shocks on mine. I know the VS800 Shocks are 1/2" shorter than the 1400 shocks. We are wondering if by installing the 1400 shocks on his 800, if it would help increase the preload on his bike. His shocks are way to soft for his healthy size. We aren't worried about the extra 1/2" unless it will cause problems.

Has anyone done this and are there any issues that come out of doing this? Will they even mount up?

You should have no problems mounting them, maybe you will need a bushing or maybe not.
Just do it and see.

[emoji41]

Forge wrote:My son has a 2004 800 Intruder. I own a 2005 S83 and put progressive rear shocks on mine. I know the VS800 Shocks are 1/2" shorter than the 1400 shocks. We are wondering if by installing the 1400 shocks on his 800, if it would help increase the preload on his bike. His shocks are way to soft for his healthy size. We aren't worried about the extra 1/2" unless it will cause problems.

Has anyone done this and are there any issues that come out of doing this? Will they even mount up?

Unless the springs are a heavier rate you won't notice any difference. A stock spring is considered single rate. Compressing it doesn't make it more resistant to weight. Example-stock spring=100 lbs equals 1 inch of compression so if you put 300lbs on it it will compress 3". A progressive rate spring would not act this way. As the progressive rate spring compresses the resistance increases. 300 lbs on a progressive rate spring may only compress it 2 inches.
Please understand that the example I just gave is completely hypothetical and in no way realistic. I used simple numbers to represent an example only. Factory springs are single rate and thus preload is a set factor. People will argue this point but if they do the research they will find that the numbers don't lie. If you need more spring resistance in the rear you should get replacements, either lower mileage OEMs or aftermarkets. I went with progressives in the rear and I can't say anything bad about them.

Swcoinguy wrote:

Forge wrote:My son has a 2004 800 Intruder. I own a 2005 S83 and put progressive rear shocks on mine. I know the VS800 Shocks are 1/2" shorter than the 1400 shocks. We are wondering if by installing the 1400 shocks on his 800, if it would help increase the preload on his bike. His shocks are way to soft for his healthy size. We aren't worried about the extra 1/2" unless it will cause problems.

Has anyone done this and are there any issues that come out of doing this? Will they even mount up?

Unless the springs are a heavier rate you won't notice any difference. A stock spring is considered single rate. Compressing it doesn't make it more resistant to weight. Example-stock spring=100 lbs equals 1 inch of compression so if you put 300lbs on it it will compress 3". A progressive rate spring would not act this way. As the progressive rate spring compresses the resistance increases. 300 lbs on a progressive rate spring may only compress it 2 inches.
Please understand that the example I just gave is completely hypothetical and in no way realistic. I used simple numbers to represent an example only. Factory springs are single rate and thus preload is a set factor. People will argue this point but if they do the research they will find that the numbers don't lie. If you need more spring resistance in the rear you should get replacements, either lower mileage OEMs or aftermarkets. I went with progressives in the rear and I can't say anything bad about them.

What we are hoping for is that the factory spring rate is higher on the 1400 shocks since the 1400 weighs 100 pounds more than the 800.

Forge wrote:What we are hoping for is that the factory spring rate is higher on the 1400 shocks since the 1400 weighs 100 pounds more than the 800.

That is a possibility. I have no idea where to get the rate info for the OEM springs but it might make enough of a difference. I say try it, it can't hurt anything.