I am thinking of removing the progressive lowering shocks from the 02 electraglide and reinstalling the OEM rear shocks.

I had the OEM shocks standing up so as to not lose any fluid. One of the shocks had slid at an angle and allowed some of the fluid to leak out the air line port. My question is what kind of fluid can I or should be used to top off to the original level? I was told by a Harley Mechanic if all the fluid had leaked out I would need to pitch the shocks?

 

I ordered a set of take offs to replace a oem shock on a glide. I was told the same thing pitch the shocks. Heck they were new and in my hands. I had paid a fraction of the new cost for them. They had leaked in transit. UPS is brutal. Anyways I was trying to figure out what to do with them. I ended up weighing them with a gram scale to figure out how much fluid was in them and compared that to the old one. I was able to just add oil into a cup to see how much was missing. I was able to use oil from the old shock after I drained it and let it settle out. I used a hand held vacuum pump to suck the fluid out and them to draw it back in to the new ones. I think the oil looked pretty thin and since I did not know if I could get it all out I did not want to mix it with something else. I would guess between five and ten weight. Be careful to no overfill as this would blow the lines off and spill oil. I made sure I had air space in mine and would caution anyone who does this to check theirs. I did cut one of the old ones apart to see why the oil is so hard to get in. They are not designed to have a clear passage at the top. The air kind of gets by the assembleld parts with no clear path. A press is helpful to compress the shocks and check for air space. It was kind of a pain and with take offs so cheap I would probabley just buy another set. Mike