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I bought a pair of 12.5" Progressive 440's off ebay a while back for a great deal. The shocks came with the standard rate springs. I have since decided I want to change them out for their Heavy Duty springs. I purchased a new set of springs from Sean Morley. He is a progressive dealer and the cost was about $25 per spring.
To remove the springs, you must compress the shock and remove the retainer on the bottom of it. I really didn't feel like paying $40 + shipping for a tool I'd never use again. I have access to a bunch of parts and pieces in our scrap bins at work so I decided to try and make something. What I came up with is probably a bit more heavy duty than what is needed, it is not pretty, but it was free and didn't take much time.
Here are the parts I gathered to make it work
- (2) metal plates. 5/16" thick. One plate needs a 2" diameter hole in the center to allow the shock to pass through. The other needs a hole in the center large enough to accept your "puller" bolt. Both plates need 4 additional holes, one in each corner, large enough to accept the all thread that will make up the frame of the tool
-(4) pieces of all thread. I used 1/2" diameter. The length can vary but I would guess it needs to be at least 7" long. 16 nuts and washers sized to fit the all thread. Washers could be optional but the plates I found already had slotted holes in them
-(1) puller bolt. I used a 3/8" bolt. It was "L" shaped. I put a little offset in the bolt near the end so when it was tighted the eye of the shock was centered in the puller. One nut and one washer to fit the puller bolt. I also used a little metal bushing on my puller bolt so that when it was inserted into the eye of the shock it did not damage the shock bushings in there. Probably not needed
Building it is simple other than making the holes. I lucked out and only had to make one hole, the 2" diameter one for the shock. I have access to a plasma cutter so it only took about 30 seconds. Make sure the 2" hole for the shock and the hole for the puller bolt are centered in the plates. The four holes in the corner should match up identically on both plates. Use the all thread to bolt the two plates together. The distance between the two plates will be determined by the length of your puller bolt. I would guess that you will need a minimum of 4" of travel to compress the spring enough to remove the retainer. Make sure you have equal distance between the two plates at all for corners. I set my plates at 9.5" apart and had a ton of extra room.
The pictures are pretty self explainatory. I sprayed some WD-40 on the rubber bumper on the shock shaft to allow it slide much easier, I also put some vinyl tape around the edge of the 2" hole and on the part of the shock I was pressing against to avoid any scratches. The spring needs compressed enough to slide the rubber bumper and metal washer up the shaft about 1". This gave me enough room to slip out the spring retainer. Note that this worked for my 440's. Other makes and models may differ. I know some progressives have a snap ring the holds the spring retainer in place. The procedure should still be the same, just need to remove the snap ring once the spring is compressed and the bumper is moved.
To remove the springs, you must compress the shock and remove the retainer on the bottom of it. I really didn't feel like paying $40 + shipping for a tool I'd never use again. I have access to a bunch of parts and pieces in our scrap bins at work so I decided to try and make something. What I came up with is probably a bit more heavy duty than what is needed, it is not pretty, but it was free and didn't take much time.
Here are the parts I gathered to make it work
- (2) metal plates. 5/16" thick. One plate needs a 2" diameter hole in the center to allow the shock to pass through. The other needs a hole in the center large enough to accept your "puller" bolt. Both plates need 4 additional holes, one in each corner, large enough to accept the all thread that will make up the frame of the tool
-(4) pieces of all thread. I used 1/2" diameter. The length can vary but I would guess it needs to be at least 7" long. 16 nuts and washers sized to fit the all thread. Washers could be optional but the plates I found already had slotted holes in them
-(1) puller bolt. I used a 3/8" bolt. It was "L" shaped. I put a little offset in the bolt near the end so when it was tighted the eye of the shock was centered in the puller. One nut and one washer to fit the puller bolt. I also used a little metal bushing on my puller bolt so that when it was inserted into the eye of the shock it did not damage the shock bushings in there. Probably not needed
Building it is simple other than making the holes. I lucked out and only had to make one hole, the 2" diameter one for the shock. I have access to a plasma cutter so it only took about 30 seconds. Make sure the 2" hole for the shock and the hole for the puller bolt are centered in the plates. The four holes in the corner should match up identically on both plates. Use the all thread to bolt the two plates together. The distance between the two plates will be determined by the length of your puller bolt. I would guess that you will need a minimum of 4" of travel to compress the spring enough to remove the retainer. Make sure you have equal distance between the two plates at all for corners. I set my plates at 9.5" apart and had a ton of extra room.
The pictures are pretty self explainatory. I sprayed some WD-40 on the rubber bumper on the shock shaft to allow it slide much easier, I also put some vinyl tape around the edge of the 2" hole and on the part of the shock I was pressing against to avoid any scratches. The spring needs compressed enough to slide the rubber bumper and metal washer up the shaft about 1". This gave me enough room to slip out the spring retainer. Note that this worked for my 440's. Other makes and models may differ. I know some progressives have a snap ring the holds the spring retainer in place. The procedure should still be the same, just need to remove the snap ring once the spring is compressed and the bumper is moved.
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