How do I adjust a 2004 Fox Vanilla RC rear shock?

Question

It came on an 04 Kona Stinky Dee-Lux I just purchased. I think I have figured out the rebound and compression but I am confused by preload. How do I adjust it and what does adjusting preload do? I have tried turning the spring so it moves up the shock and becomes loose and tried turning it down the shock so it becomes tight, what does each direction do exactly?

Cheers.

Answer 1

Pre-load is how much you want the suspension to "bounce" as i like to call it, there should be a small handle to ajust it, this handle is normally a different colour to the shock