I've had my Progressive Susp. Springs on my P650 for a little over 1 year now and recently took them off to inspect them. Here's what I found:

I removed my struts and then removed the plastic strut covers that go over my Progressive springs. Much to my surprise, I discovered that both springs are worn down badly on the edges of the spring where they apparently made contact with the inside of the black plastic cover. They look like approx. 25% of the spring's thickness has been sanded off on some of the coils! I also noticed that one spring is a few mm's shorter than the other (I guess it got weakened a little more than the other one by the worn out edges). This morning, I ordered 2 new replacement springs directly from Progressive Suspension for $20 each plus shipping (total cost is approx. $50). I also discovered that one of my black plastic strut covers is cracked at the top and I plan to replace that as well.

If you have Progressive springs, you might want to periodically inspect the condition of the springs and plastic strut covers too.

**NOTE: I am very good about rinsing out the plastic strut covers/springs after each race/ride, and I'm quite suprised at how quickly the springs started to wear down on the edges where they made contact with the insides of the plastic strut covers. Even tho I try very hard to keep this area clean as often as I can, I have noticed in the past 6 months or so that the front end always has a squeaky/scratchy sound when I press down on the front fenders which was obviously coming from the front struts or springs...this sound seemed apparent no matter how much I tried to clean out the insides of the strut covers.


POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
I plan to cut down the length of the plastic strut covers so that the springs are mostly exposed and will no longer rub against the insides of the strut covers. Instead of a foot long, I will probably chop them down to a few inches. This might help my new replacement springs last longer and avoid some of the squeaky/scratchy sounds that I had before.

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

That would have been nice to hear YESTERDAY since I just put my front plastic on.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I will take a look also. When mine is up on stands and I turn the wheel from side to I hear like a tonnnngggg coming from the springs. ( might just be because its extended while off the ground?) but if it is rubbing the cover I will remove all but an inch or two of the cover on mine as well.

 

Elka said to throw away the plastic since it would not fit the elka springs. I complained about that and they sent some motorcycle spring covers that wrap around and velcro together. Seem to work pretty well.

 

Mikeyboy, I don't know if you can get one of those plastic covers. I busted one of mine a couple years ago and looked it up on kawies website. All they show is a complete strut. There is no part number for the stock plastic cover so I wound up making a pair out of aluminum.

 

Mastrblaster,
I guess Kaw. must have updated their parts diagram since that time b/c I was able to find p/n 13070-1383 (Strut Guide) for my 2003 P650. It costs about $15 each from ronayers.com

Thanx for the reply in any case. Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Just reading your post, is this plastic strut cover your talking about a shield over and the outside of the strut spring??? How necessary is this cover??? If its only purpose is to keep the dirt/mud away from the strut shaft/seal, than I would think a better solution might be a set of shock wears to cover the springs, they probably would do a better job, and wouldn't cost you another set of springs.

 

Dano, you have to have the plastic spring cover in place to keep the spring on the strut. Without it, you're hooped.

Mikeyboy, maybe I didn't look hard enough!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Glad you found a part number for that piece. I cut my plastic ones down to about 1 inch long (before I broke one) as I put some spring spacers in between the spring coils to tighten up the front suspension when I have my plow on. Last time I looked things over, all was well with the stock springs and the aluminum spring covers.

 

mastrblastr, I am very impressed with the workmanship on your quad ,I often thought of painting my racks red on my 02 prairie,and the swingarm bolt, after I did my 1st set of bearings I thought of something like that also but sold the quad shortly after. Hey if we can think of those things why cant the quad builders? That plow is awesome I see SS plows on trucks now. Anyway outstanding job.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Thanks Oggy. IMO thats half the fun of owning a toy. You get to build all kinds of cool stuff to go on it and tweak out things that are lacking. I just finished building a pair of CV boot guards out of 1/8 stainless. A bit heavy, but bombproof. Keeps my brain occupied anyways!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I know my front struts are shot... 4 years of hard competitive use... I pulled them today... & was really suprised to see the springs in such good shape ( I'm making some aluminum spring spacers that I can insert under the springs, in 1/2" increments, to adjust the spring preload
)... even though they are not leaking, the stock struts are very weak, when compared to a set of Fox shocks I use on my rear end for the wheelie bar... the Fox shocks have about 1/2 the shaft diameter of the struts... it wouldn't take much machining at all to put the Fox preload adjusters on the stock struts, & I'm considering adding another groove on the lower strut, allowing me to lower the quad an additional 2", for use on everything but the mud racing...

MIKEY... I think this would be easy to do, & would lower the front end 2", & still keep a full range of movement of the strut... see any uses for that ???[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]