Removing front progressive springs under pressure???

[JaysGone]

As Im trying to learn more about this bike.
Im finding not much about it is the same as most bikes Ive worked on in the past.
I come from a V-Twin background and have made alot of extra work for myself with this Valkyrie.
In other words.
Id like to do this by the book for once.
Instead of my usual pot luck methods that have worked for me so far with the reconditioning of this bike.
And for the most part over the years with V-Twins.

I down loaded the OEM manual for starters.
I want to remove the progressive front springs that are installed and put in a set of OEM springs I have.
I read the manual and it does indeed differ alot from a basic V-Twins front forks.

With a V-Twin remove the fork leg cap bolts pull the spring and drop in the progressive with a spacer and your done.  Normally a 10-20 minute job.

Im seeing with this bike there is a bit more to it. As 1 leg is a shock the other is a dampner more or less.

Being that Im not as strong physically as I used to be due to a bunch of surgeries and other injuries.

Can someone please tell me approximetly how much pressure is there on the innards when removing the progressive springs??
Is this going to fly apart on me??

At this point in my life I can hardly push down and reinstall progressives in a Yamaha if I had too.
I dont have enough upper body stregnth to compress the springs and spacers anymore. Last time I did it it was alot of hard work and I was sore for days afterwards.
On disassembly of a V-Twins legs with progressives and a spacer.
I can barely keep the cap nut and T-wrench from flying.
And thats pushing down with everything Ive got left.

Im a bit concerned about not being able to control the dissasembly of the legs with progresives already being in the Valk.

I dont know if Im going to be able to do this relatively easy job for a healthy guy.
Or if I should just bring it in to a local shop and let them do it for me.

Replacing the stock springs shouldnt be too hard for me. The load wont be nearly as much Id imagine.
Once the progressives are out.
But maybe Im dead wrong.
Thanks for reading my long winded explaination to my current possible dilema.

[sandy]

If you have a lift, you can raise it up and stretch the front forks. This will reduce most of the pressure. There is some pressure to get the caps back on with raised forks. How much for you? Can't say.

[JaysGone]

I had it off the ground this morning. 
I took off the right side cap.
I stopped when I thought if I took the retaining nut off the rod, there might be too much pressure for me with it having a progressive in there.

Page 13-7 from the OEM manual
- The spring seat stopper and spring collar are under spring pressure.
Thats just for a stock spring.

The question still remains.
How much pressure is a progressive under compared to a stocker??
I dont think its a big deal removing stockers.

Im not really able to do the progressive springs on my RoadStar anymore .....safely.
Which have to be removed to change the fork oil.
Ive done it 2X in the last 5 years.
The last time it was a real bitch for me to close up.
One leg took me 10 minutes of straining to push the T-wrench, cap. spacer, and down.
The other side.....I dont want to get into how long to do that side.
Its generally hard enough for a healthy guy in good shape.
Lets just say I was useless for a few days afterwards.

Having never done a Valk before.
Im gun shy now.
I dont know if I can hold down the spring seat stopper or not with a progreswsive already in there.
Or just let it fly and hope the OEM springs fairly easy.

Thats when I went into my long winded deal of an explanation.
If I remove the nut and cant hold the stopper down.
I might be in big trouble, or not??

In essence what your saying is go for it??
I figure the worst Id have to do.
Is bring in the left tube and the parts from the right side and just let my local wrench do it.
Then reinstall the legs myself.

But I do want to do this.
I just dont want to get my self into a box.
Or whacked in the fore head with a cap again like I did doing my RoadStars front last summer, then having it ding the hood of my Z28..........
The cap got a 2 for 1 deal that day. 2 dents, me and the car.
There is alot of pressure needed to put a R* back together with progressives.

[John Schmidt]

Just curious Jay, why do you want to replace the Prosgressives with OEM? I installed the Prog. because the OEM units had what I felt was excessive dive. Just curious as to why...nothing more. I can't give any advice on the removal since the only time I've had the tops off is when I had the forks off the bike for oil change-out. Didn't really have any trouble with the top ending in the yard next door. 

[JaysGone]

Curiousity and maybe a softer ride in general???
The roads down here are very good to excellent, well maintained.
As they are up by you.
But the main road I ride on during my daily commute has some pretty deep man hole covers and when I do hit one at 45mph+ its a very jarring sharp shock to my back.
I have 3 herniated discs in my lower back.
I need to know how soft soft is with this bike.

My 1100 Yamaha Classic had a nice smooth not quite wallow to it and rode really well 55mph and under.
Like a Cadillac. Compared to my R*s ride.
The Valks ride is very similar to the R*s.
Livable but maybe softer will be better.
I dont brake hard if I can help it.
So the diving may not be an issue.

I took the progressives out of my R* this past summer and put back the OEMs.
Yes it does now again nose dive under hard braking as Im sure the Valk will too.
But there is only maybe 1.5 to 2 inches of fork movement with the Valk and thats with me pushing down on them.
I can lift up on the forks and there seems to be at least 2+ inches lost with the weight of the front end.
On its own these forks dont budge as they are.
I need to see how soft I can make this bike be as I am going to use it.
Alternating days with the R* till I have saved up to trike it.
Just curiousity really nothing more.