How to stiffen up front forks and rear suspension

anyone know how to stiffen up the frontforks on a vl 800 volusia is it a matter of adding more oil etc,also whats the best way to stiffen the rear suspension,i have the spanner from the tool kit but when i tried to turn it a notch or two it was really tough and with there not being much hand room i struggled to even make it move,any ideas guys.thanks in advance

typan wrote:

....whats the best way to stiffen the rear suspension,i have the spanner from the tool kit but when i tried to turn it a notch or two it was really tough and with there not being much hand room i struggled to even make it move,any ideas guys.thanks in advance

I find the best way to lever the pre-load spanner is with a short bit of pipe slipped over the spanner to lengthen it and get more leverage.

your best bet is remove the battery and box then it's not to bad

thanks bluesman an simbo i did what you said and it made it very easy,also changed the coolent at the same time,thanks for the advice.

If the bike is on a lift then the rear suspension adjustment is easier to turn.

In the front forks you should not add more oil as that could cause a seal to blow but you can replace the oil with a heavier weight oil for stiffer fork action.

The only way to stiffen up the front suspention is to change the internal spacer as per the recent modification thread. LINK