How do you jack/lift your bike?

Spring is upon us and I am beginning the seasons bike work.

Question is: How do you lift? Is there a way to do it with a standard moto lift or is a full deck lift needed?

 

I might be the dinosour here but a centerstand lifts my bikes as high as I need. I have a couple that don't have a centerstand anymore due to me installing chambers but for those, I make do with a sidestand. A five gallon bucket flipped over is my seat.....unless I'm sitting on the ground.

jeff

 

With the standard exhaust set up, I don't believe it is possible since the pipes are a bit lower than the frame. Sorry for the bad news

Although there are shops that sell the platform lifts, but it is basically (I think) the same as having your bike on the center stand higher than the ground.

 

Centerstand will do eveything I need. I had a dedicated motorcycle lift but never needed it, gave it away. A 5 gal bucket makes a good seat and will hold your tools while working.

 

Yeah, centerstand is the plan... just don't want to sit on the basement floor.

 

I use 2 planks & milk crates.

 

I like that!

 

Might be doing that. Right on.

 

I bought a drive on lift when it was on sale at harbor freight for $229 was the best money i ever spent. Once you have on you will never want to go without. you can raise it up to 30 inches. To change the oil i can sit in a lawn chair now. It might not be economical if you only have 1 bike but if you have several its great. Last week i had to change the oil on 1 of my other bikes on the ground since the lift was tied up it really sucks the cement floor in my garage is cold this time of year. Nothing better then being able to work on any part of the bike at eye level. When there is no bike on it you can let it down and park your car over the lift. Plus you can roll it anywhere in the garage with the bike on it

 

For my seca it doesn't come w/ a center stand.... so that's no help

I used a regular floor jack w/ some wood blocks to go between my exhaust as they do sit lower then my frame. On the flat part of the engine I can get a couple pumps... enough to throw a jack under a frame mount point. That gives me enough to work on it steadily though I recommend having a buddy if your doing any heavy wrenching.

Today I got the rear off without anyone, drove the bike's rear wheel up a wooden ramp that's maybe 6 inches tall, but enough for a jack to go under that frame mount, then a good boot kick to the wood block and I got the rear tire off enough to get it off and take it down to get the new tire mounted.

As for the front, IDK. When I took it off I had help, leverage and a couple 4x4s worked fine til i got the tire remounted

 

Idk.... you guys have scary ideas for lifts haha

Though I cannot deny wishing I had a garage to do the same, I guess I will have to live with lying on oil covered apartment parking spots to do minor maintenance.

 

Working on a full frame lift, right now. The deck is done, just trying to figure out how I wanna do the lifting. WAS gonna go with an 18" lift, but once I started setting that into motion, got to thinking that it wasn't enough. what's everyone's typical lift height?

 

i have a lil pump lift from harbor freight too. Its pretty much for winter wrenching since you need to pull the exhaust but... its a whole lott better then being on the ground!

 

I just use the centerstand and a jackstand under the front crossbrace between pipes #2 and #3 if I need the front end up.

My garage is too small for a lift of any sort; so I use a short rolling shop stool most of the time, and if I have to sit on the floor, I have an old bathroom rug and an old beat up 1/4" thick nylon foam camping pad that can be deployed alternately or together as needed.

I do have a Motoboy rolling centerstand dolly that helps immensely.

I LIKE Wiz's idea, though; will work fine in a small space and then simply "disappear" when not in use.

 

From a seated position, with the engine running, to an upright and vertical position ready for flight. At least until two days ago...now I'm thinking the milk crates may have to be used for a short while.

 

Roadrash,
Most table lifts go about 28" to 30" high. I did a search and found plans to make my own lift. The platform part is pretty simple design and the lift legs are just simple pivoting arms (4) with a cross-brace on the front pair of legs with a cross-brace on them made touse a floorjack to lift the table part off the floor. It looks pretty simple to make and I'm sure it could be done in a day with no problem.
Now to make the decision on either buy the Harbor Frieght $279 table lift, which has good reviews, or to buy the material and make my own. I guess it all depends on the cost of the material to build one and if I find the time to tackle the project next winter or get too impatient and just buy one and call it a done deal. Time will tell.

 

Yeah, I have the top platform done. Very solid. however, I tried my hands at pivoting arms, today. spent several hours toiling away in the garage, only to have something misalign and screws get ripped out of joints.

Fuggit. I'm just gonna make her a solid table top and use a ramp to get the bike up there. Not worth costing me the bike.

 

I have a special key that will work in ANY ignition switch. I start the bike up and take off before anyone can even realize what happened. Oh....wait.......I thought you asked how to jack/lift a bike. Sorry, my bad.

<ROTFLMAO>

Dave

 

RoadRash, That is kinda what I am thinking, some 2x4's and a sheet of plywood or two. Make a big box and a ramp of some sort...

PainterD, what lift at Harbor are you mentioning? I could only find them for 499.99, if there is one for 279.00 I'm all over that.

 

type in the search engine for lifts.

there's a few for under $200.

 

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

(6)
Only: $99.99

Sale: $89.99


Add to Wishlist

 

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: