Cut my shocks

Another noob question

So... I was thinking about buying Sporster shocks (10.5 in) for my XJ750 Seca, then I remember that some of my friends just cut their springs on their cars to make them lower... I have the stock shocks (13 in) so I'm thinking on cut them... Recommendations will be highly appreciate!!!

 

Cutting springs does more then just make them lower; you also change the amount of weight they can suspend. Don't cut the springs, unless you actually like hitting the bump stops.

 

thanks dude... not what I was waiting but thanks!

 

In addition to travel concerns, cutting springs also makes the spring (as a whole) stiffer. That means that the spring will deflect a smaller distance for a given load.

This is because given a load, and no coil binding, each coil deflects the same amount. The sum of each coil's deflection is the overall deflection of the spring. With fewer coils (i.e. cut), the total deflection is less.

The spring will actually coil bind at the same load (assuming a straight rate spring), but the over all length will be shorter, again because you removed coils. That's where your bump stop comes into play. The load that you hit the bump stop (if it's hit under stock conditions) will decrease, even though your spring is stiffer, because each coil will deflect less before hitting the bump stop than it did at the stock length.

You could get a spring with the same number of coils (and thickness) that is shorter. Then you'd have the same spring rate, length when coil bound, and you'd lose travel. You'd still have to consider the bump stop, but it might be better.

 

Back when I had a Sportster, there were gads of OEM shocks on ebay, people taking them off to upgrade to Progressives or go hard tail. It must be easier to just buy a set, hell just find a local custom Harley shop and see if they have any take-offs laying around.

 

on a original spring the ends are flat, when you cut them they'll tend to bend sideways because they have a point on one side