2004 vs. 2005 YZ 250 forks springs

I bought a used 2004 YZ 250 and the previous owner had it resprung and revalved for him by Renegade suspension. He weighed 145 lbs and was an "A" fast rider. I weigh 180lbs or about 190 in full gear and am a vet +30 novice. It seems that I am beating up the bike over big stuff, but over the small stuff the bike swaps and deflects. I think I am riding down in the suspension stroke where it is very stiff over the smaller things

I bid on a set of 2005 fork and shock springs on **** and won both. I can use the stock shock spring at 4.9kg/mm but I cannot use the fork springs. I just learned on MX tech that the springs are slightly different in shape or size, the 2004 being a 4448 series and the 2005 a 4447 series . I cant imagine the dimensions changed that much from 04 to 05... The rate of the '05 springs would be fine for me at .440kg/mm.

I wanted to try the proper springs as the previous owner said the bike was stiffly valved and softly sprung. I think the valving will be fine once I get the right springs in there. Has anyone got any hints as far as taking the fork caps off so I can change the springs when I get the correct springs?

Thanks, I may try using a hardened steel spacer. 10mm+ I can play with adding preload if I wanted to. I'll just be careful to use a spacer the exact diamter. Is anyone making these already?

IF I can get or make preload spacers for the forks, the question of the day is do they:;

A- go in under the bottom of spring closest to the fork oil seal?

B- go on top of the spring closest to the top triple clamp?

I searched and found that someone had smashed fork internals due to improper placement of the preload "washer"

Will PVC in this case work fine? :blah: