Hello,
I've looked around but I can't seem to find a straight answer as to how far the shock needs to be pushed into the strut - and where I need to measure it for that matter. Right now I have the shock bottomed-out into the strut, but the spring looks overly compressed. It was rather difficult to compress the spring, so would it be terrible to leave it in that position? I read in the polaris service manual (enormous pdf version) that the front suspension travel needs to be 6.25". How is that measured and does that relate to the depth the shock sits in the strut?
Sorry for my ignorance and thanks for any help!

 

From the factory the strut cartridge is bottomed out in the strut housing. It should be a little hard to compress the spring,but not that hard that a spring compressor or even a pair of vice grips (with a piece of rubber to keep from damaging the shaft) couldn't just turn and compress the spring enough to install the retainer plate and nut.

 

Thanks OPT! That's what I needed to know.