Had a 8:30 service appointment to get my Progressive 444's put on, was raining like cats and dogs until about 11:00. Got to looking at the shocks and figured I'd just do it myself. FYI, not real mechanical however I can usually figure stuff out as long as its fairly basic.....

Went and got a T50, took of the left shock pretty easy. Installed the left 444 and the top bolt would only go in about a half inch. Pulled it out and took a look at it and it seemed that there was some thread lock on the bolt, chipped away at it and the bolt still will not go in.

Is there thread lock inside the place where the bolt goes in? I took a flash light and can't really see anything.......did I strip the inside somehow taking the top bolt off? It came out pretty easy.

What the hell do I do now?

All suggestions welcome.

RJ

 

You might need somebody to raise or lower the bike to get the bolt lined up perfectly.

 

easy way to get rid of thread lock !!!

add more thread lock to whats there already - it will soften up the old stuff and re dry normal

or to remove thread lock add new thread lock to the bolt wipe with clean cloth
and do what sporty said above

thread lock gone !

 

The bolt won't even go in more than 1/2" by itself. I even bought a new bolt just to see if the old one was out of whack.

 

The thread lock may be inside where the bolt goes, putting thread lock inside there may create a bigger problem.

Would a tap work to help clean everything out?

 

I used my jack, a piece of 2x4 and a towel to lift the rear fender to the proper height.

The threads inside the eyelet of the shock shouldn't have threadlock on them. Did you take a flashlight to see of the threads were clear?

Maybe you put the shock on backwards?

 

Yes, what they said, jack up, apply new thread lock, etc. HOWEVER! are you using the same bolts? Maybe the new one's are metric or something, I don't think threadlock would be tough enough to preventing you from starting a new thread. Try these bolts and nuts without the shock to see if they are the same thread!

 

Just throwin it out there, but the upper and lower bolts are a different thread pitch.

 

Using the same bolts, bolt is fine, I can screw on a nut with no problem. The problem is in the bolt hole. Something is in there preventing the bolt to screw all the way in. Looking with a flashlight isn't much help.

I think I'm going to use a tap and carefully clean out the threads on the female end....

 

and they are 2 differ lengths as well
top bolt is
1/2-13 X 2-1/4
bottom bolt is
1/2-20 X 2-1/2