I put 12.5" shocks from a suzuki intruder 800, on my savage, and I like them a lot.  Softer ride and I like the looks, but here are 3 things to watch for.  I imagine these apply to progressive shock upgrade too.

First, you have to grind a little metal off the front of the belt guard, top and bottom both to avoid rubbing.  I also replaced one hex -head engine bolt with a round-head allen bolt at the bottom curve of the front belt pulley.

Second, the oil level site glass reads low because of the tilt of the engine.  Check oil with front wheel on a 3" rise or brick. (Pain in the ...)

Third, I used to get 100 miles before hitting reserve, now I hit it at 85 miles (1.75 gal US).  (ran out twice before figuring that one out).
I may try shortening the on position petc0ck tap to remidy this, as I like 100 mile to reserve.

Anyway, just wanted to point these things out.

I still think it's a worthwhile mod, I like it better anyway.

I did notice the first two items with the exception of the engine bolt.  I don't think anything rubs there on mine.  I modified the top belt guard and removed the bottom one.  I later removed the top one too and haven't missed it at all.  I just use the homemade bike lift/stand from the Tech Ref forum and it makes it easy to check the oil since it raises the front end of the bike.  I did hit reserve once a while back and thought it was early but didn't really think about much at the time since I'd just switched carbs and hadn't tuned it very well yet.  Makes sense with the tilted tank though.

Hi, All!
I've been working on my 1992 Kaw 750, and all of my work there is done... hooray  , except now I have all these tools and nothing to do. SO I thought I'd start looking at mods on my 2005 Savage.  The stock shocks are rough, and I've been reading everyone's recs for the Progressive 412 series.  But can someone tell me what size (11", 11.5"?) I should be looking at to replace the stock ones? And, per the first email in this thread, with a shorter shock, do I have to shave anything to install them?

Thanks!!

these are a fine fit and change the stock stance very little both 11" - might want to search the site on these, much written, pictures, and measurements (change the days back on the seach to 800)

412-4232C for a soft ride @90/130lb springs  
412-4233C for a firm ride @115/155lb springs

Crobins365 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:10:

Yup.  Stock are 10.5".

Whoa!  I take back what I said earlier.  A raised back will cause more oil to flow to where the pick-up and crank shaft are...in the front.  That might mean you shouldn't even see oil in your sight glass and you should decrease the oil in your crankcase.  For some strange reason I was picturing the other way...the front being higher than normal.  Someone give me a sanity check on this, I've had to use my brain all day today

Babbalou,  my concern is the oil will sit too high at the crank shaft even though it may be reading low at the sight glass.  The long term consequences of a condition like this are catastropic!  If the crankshaft is slapping the oil as it spins it will cause it to foam which will do a number of REALLY BAD THINGS.  First it will dramatically increase the oil pressure inside the crankcase and cause seals to be pushed out and begin to leak.  In addition, foamed oil losses most of its lubricating properties and will cause increased ring/cylinder wall wear and premature bearing failures.  
I may be "mother hen" here but I think this is something worth considering...

I guess I'm wondering how many of you have been running this mod, and how does engine/seal life stack up to a stock steed...