How do you jack/lift your bike?

This is what I have from Harbour Freight
1250 Lb. Capacity Mechanical Wheel Dolly
Item # 67287

(6)
Only: $99.99

Sale: $89.99


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Oops! should read - 1500 Lb. Capacity ATV/Motorcycle Lift on sale now for $ 89.00

 

Once every so often Harbor Freight has sales on certain products. The table lift I was referring to is no longer on sale now. It is regularly $499. I can build one for much less.
I figure I'd use 1" square tubing for the platform frame with 3/4" plywood for the table. (I priced aluminum plate material but it's too spending) Then go with 2" square tubing for the lift arms and 2" X 2" angle iron for the base rails. That should make it plenty solid and I can use it for the lawn tractor too! I'd like to get a linier actuator for lifting it, but they are kinda spendy, so I think the car jack idea will be the best.

 

I use the 1250 lb HF lift. Got it on sale and with 20% off coupon it was only $30 more than the pump up 1000 lb lift. I park one of my bikes on it so it takes up very little additional space in the garage. The ramp was too steep so I built a "ramp extender" that you will see in the photos below. I also added side ramps and stick sand paper thingeys to keep the bike from slipping on the deck. I also added a wheel chock from HF to capture the front wheel when driving on. Much safer than trying to climb off with the side stand down. I think I could get the XJ out of the wheel chock but without reverse I could never get my LT out of the chock.

Loren







And here's a movie. Take dramamine if you are prone to motion sickness. This is my wifes first experience taking movies. God bless her for the effort!

JUST CLICK ON THE MOVIE AND IT WILL START



Loren

 

Looks good!
I'll am planning on building it wide enough to be able to put my feet down on each side, so I figure 3 ft. wide should do it.
I never liked the wheel-vise idea. You'd have to ride it onto the lift and tighten the wheel vice (that would take two people) I made my stand much like the one on the lift, so it stays standing when you get off the bike.
Hopefully I will be able to store it on it's side along one wall of the shop to avoid using up too much room when not using it.

 

Here's my idea:

http://www.custom-choppers-guide.com/mo ... table.html

or this:

http://www.afabonline.com/table_lift_plans.htm

 

One just built:

 

Solution:

 

Well done Jammer, I hope the boards are fixed together & the boxes need to be right at the ends.

 

Yup, the boxes are 6 sides, glued and screwed 3/4"MDF, the boards are 2x12x8, 4-6x12x3/4 pieces of plywood liquid nails and 8 screws each ties the boards.

 

PainterD gets the ingenious use of a floor jack award! :lol:

 

I can't take the cresit for the floor jack idea. I found it on the net.

 

I think I'm going to go with that lift Painter, what site did you get the plans from?

 

I have used two other options.
1. car engine puller with strap attach to front or rear as needed
2. two ratcheting straps to the cieling rafters hooked to frame or luggage rack.

 

Are you saying the boxes need to be moved toward the ends of the planks? Because I'd keep the boxes there underneath the wheels. That's where all the weight is being applied to the wooden boards. If he moved the boxes to the ends, there would be nothing directly supporting the bike underneath the boards.

 

Orange-and-Black,
Do a google search on "homemade motorcycle table lift" and you'll find the sites I did. You can buy the plans on ebay also.
It looks simple enough to make. I already had the plans drawn up for one, when I found that site. It is pretty much the same idea I had with the legs lifting parallel to ecah other. The only difference is my plans use a hydraulic jack instead of the car jack idea, but either one will work.

What got me interested in building one is my friend has a homemeade one he uses to lift snowmobiles, only his uses a long screw (2" threaded rod) and his electric impact wrench to lift it. I like the idea he had, so I drew up my own plans using the jack idea instead. PD

 

Here's a link to a slide show, showing how I did a slight mod with a couple of longer bolts and a piece of 3/4" black pipe.
The problem was that the saddles that came with the lift were too low and the centre of the lift would hit the header.
There's a couple of pics at the end that I uploaded by mistake, they were for another forum member and I didn't want to edit them out.
Here's the linky:
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z90/ ... =slideshow
Too many pictures to put in a posting, that's why I did the linky thingy.

 

harbor freight has a lift sell cheap and works well

 

best homemade table EVER
http://www.xs650chopper.com/2009/11/the ... able-ever/
building one on spring break

 

Not bad and I'm sure it works good enough for a smaller bike.

I'm thinking ahead a little before starting my build and taking all the issues into consideration. For one thing, I want the table to be 3' wide so I can ride my bike onto the table with room for my feet on each side, so the bike doesn't fall over while I'm riding it slowly forward into the wheel stand. That should give me enough width to install corner anchors for tie downs in the front. Also, I will also be using the lift for my lawn tractor from time to time, so 3 feet will work perfect for that too.
Another idea is a removable plate in the rear portion of the table to make it easier to remove the rear wheel from the bike.
The only thing I have to figure out is a place to stand the lift on its side, against the wall and make a bracket on it to anchor it to the wall to keep it from falling over (hate have land on my foot!!)
These are the things that keep me awake at night . :lol: