rear shocks wont adjust

[HDDon]

I think we are talking about two different adjustments. The ones toward the rear of the bike would lengthen the shocks and decrease the travel, lowering the bike. The ones toward the front of the bike increases the spring preload making the bike able to carry more weight without bottoming out. Does this sound correct?

 

[TripleJ]

How about posting a pic of your setup. Unless you have an aftermarket setup there should be only one adjustment on each shock and the factory shock should have the adjusters towards the front like in the diagram in the third link you mentioned.

Decreasing the amount of threads showing stiffens the ride while increasing the threads softens the ride. As for your question about "one shock the plate itself turns, the body stays put. the other the whole body turns. which way is it supposed to work?" As I mentioned in my previous post, it works the same either way. The adjuster is moving whether the body of the shock moves or not.

 

[dieselguy65]

well, out of three softails i looked under today, the adjuster plates all faced the rear. maybe people swap ends to make it easier to get to?
i got the bike used, and its a custom bike, other than engine/primary/trans not much else HD on it, few accesories and such.
there is no adjustment to the front end of the shocks. I will have to put it up on the lift and try to get pics. but it looks just like the diagram in that third link, except my shocks have a rodend/heim joint on each end. it looks like those have one end being a stud mount. and the plates face the rear.
so, you are teling me i am not merely unscrewing the adjuster plate out of the shock body? because it sure looks like i am. shame there is not an exploded diagram of the shocks in the manual. never in my life have i had this kind of problem with a simple shock
thanks, brian

 

[TripleJ]

Early 99 model softails and prior years have an eyelet on each end unlike the later 99 and newer bikes that have an eyelet on one end and a straight threaded end on the other. Since your bike is a custom maybe you have the older style shocks as well as the 3 other softails you looked under today and if thats the case I assume you could turn the shocks in either direction when mounting?

My experience is with the stock shocks only but I am positive that you are not unscrewing the adjuster plate out of the shock body on a stock shock even if the body of the shock rotates while making the adjustment.