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Raise the Sportster to fully upright and level by slightly raising the bike on a motorcycle jack, by driving the front wheel into a motorcycle chock, or by clamping the front wheel upright in a motorcycle clamp.

Unbolt the lower right shock mounting bolt that connects the old shock absorber to the frame. The bolts on Sportsters shipped after 2005 come off with an Allen socket. Earlier models unfasten with a deep well hex socket.

Remove the bolt, nut and washer. Remove the top mounting bolt on the right shock and save all the hardware.

Remove the left shock by repeating these steps.

Spread three or four drops of thread locker over the screws of all the mounting bolts with your finger. Bolt the new, 1-inch-under-standard-length shock absorbers into the same holes with the same bolts that held the original shocks in place. Use a torque wrench and an Allen or deep well hex socket to tighten the bolts to 48 foot pounds of torque.

Lower the jack or remove the bike from the chock or clamp. Push the rear end of the bike down and let it rebound up to be sure that the new shocks work.

Inspect the spark plug wires on the left side of the bike just above your engine. Trace the wires from a rectangular box, called a coil, under the seat to the spark plugs which stick out of the tops of your cylinder heads. Push loose connections back together with your fingers.

Unscrew your spark plugs from the heads by turning them counterclockwise with a padded spark plug socket and a socket ratchet or breaker bar. Remove the plugs and examine them. The spark plug electrodes should be light gray or tan.

Clean plugs that are fouled with a nail file. Measure the distance between each pair of electrodes with a feeler gauge. The electrodes should be .040 inch apart.

Correctly gap the spark plugs with a spark plug gapping tool, as needed.

Remove the Allen bolt and washer that connect a tab on the back of the seat to the fender. Use an Allen wrench to turn Allen bolts. Pull the seat up -- and back -- to remove.

Bridge the positive and negative terminals on the battery with a 12-inch length of insulated wire. Ensure the connection sparks.

Examine the battery terminals and cables. Clean corroded cables with a small wire brush. Charge batteries that do not spark with a motorcycle battery charger for four hours.

Replace the seat. Bolt the fender tab to the fender. Shift the motorcycle into neutral.

Open the gas cap. Visually inspect the tank to ensure it contains gasoline.

Open the petcock. Fully extend the enricher knob. Start the motorcycle. Push the enricher knob halfway in after 30 seconds.

Push the enricher knob completely in when the top of the engine under your right hand becomes warm to the touch.

Twist the throttle and allow the Sportster to run. Release the throttle. If the engine dies the throttle speed or the fuel adjustment screw are improperly adjusted. If the engine dies turn off the motorcycle.

Unfasten and remove the air cleaner cover on the right side of the motorcycle with an Allen wrench for carbureted motorcycles. Remove the air cleaner under the cover using a Torx wrench.

Turn the throttle while you stare at the right, upper quadrant of the carburetor. Observe the throttle cam that is mechanically connected to the throttle with the throttle cables.

Start the motorcycle. Use a flathead screwdriver to adjust the idle speed upward until the motorcycle will continue to run without stalling.

Turn off the motorcycle. Replace the air cleaner and the air cleaner cover.

Remove the Allen or Phillips head screw and washer that fastens the tab on the back of your seat to the rear fender with a Phillips head screw driver or an Allen key. Remove the seat by pulling the seat up and back.

Install a new seat by pushing the new seat down and forward. Refasten the seat tab to the fender with the key or screwdriver.

Remove the trim bolts on the sides of each rear fender holding the nut inside the fender still with an open end wrench and turning the exposed bolt head with a socket wrench and socket. Apply thread locker (a kind of glue for bolts and screws) to the docking bolts included with a sissy bar mount.

Replace the bolts you just removed with the sissy bar mount docking bolts. Loosely screw the original hex bolts and washers inside the fender to the ends of the docking bolts.

Push the notches on the two sissy bar mounting plates onto the docking bolts. Tighten the nuts on the docking bolts with an open end wrench.

Stick the sissy bar sides into the openings on the mounting plates. Secure the sissy bar to the mounting plates with the Phillips head or Allen screws included with your sissy bar kit.

Loosen the heat shields on your exhaust pipes by opening the worm clamps with a flathead screwdriver.

Loosen the 4 bolts that hold your exhaust pipes to the exhaust manifold with a socket wrench and socket.

Remove the bracket that fastens your exhaust pipe to the belt drive cover with an open end wrench. Loosen the clamp that connects the mufflers to the header pipes using a screw driver.

Unfasten the mufflers from the exhaust bracket by removing the four exhaust bracket bolts with an open end wrench. Pull the mufflers off the exhaust pipes.

Replace the old mufflers with the new mufflers. Clamp the new mufflers to the old pipes.

Reconnect the exhaust to the exhaust bracket and the belt drive cover. Re-tighten the exhaust manifold flange bolts and retighten the heat shields.