Motorcycle jack question

[Mongrel]

What do you guys use as a jack? The underside of the K75 seems to have no really decent balance point (that I've found...).



I picked up one of these a few years ago, but can never make it hold up the bike without a lot of jiggery-pokery and wood bits jammed here and there, and even then it's not really stable. Last time I did the shaft lube that was a nightmare as I wound up roping the damn thing to the roof rafters just to keep everything steady.

EDIT: If this is the wrong place for this question, feel free to move it.

[Scott_]

My 1st spline lube I tied the bike up to my ceiling rafters too, after that I bought myself a table lift.

[billday]

Get two saw horses. Slide a 2x4 (or two) thru the frame (after you've removed the rear wheel, mudguard, swing arm, computer, battery), and support either end on the sawhorses.

[TimTyler]

I use the tiny scissor jack that came with the family truckster + a block of wood under the oil pan to lift the bike an inch before inserting the 2x4's on the sawhorse.

[Mongrel]

I wonder what the original dealers used...

[Grim]

I wonder what the original dealers used...

Im betting a box though I have seen a picture of a set up that mounts to the points the crash bars mount on.
If you have a lift that you can strap the forks to it then make a Box.
Chris Harris Box:
PARENTAL WARNING Chris is a word smith with four letters. Keep the kiddies away.
If you look in the comments he suggests a couple lag bolts into the floor if you dont have a lift in the comments. I bet you could make a quick jig with some 2x4's and plywood to replicate the wheel clamp on a lift.
At 10 min mark he shows the box being used in his K bike clutch spline lube video


That said I used the Home Depot/Lowes yellow folding saw horse you see in a lot of pictures and it worked quite well. I never felt the bike was unstable. Since I was doing the job alone I took my mover dolly and some wood I had laying around and cribbed the transmission. I was able to easily remove the transmission. I bought some all thread to use as dowels (watch the clutch vids) to guide the transmission on and off. 
After doing this once now I think I could do the next one in about 6 hours or less on Non ABS bikes. Fact is next time I'm not removing the swing arm. Final drive yes so I can lube the splines there but since I now have a permanent index mark on the drive shaft (paralever) there really is no reason to remove the rest of the swing arm if the bearings feel good. 
Before everybody points out the clutch rod.....I did not take the boot off and remove the spring. My boot was in good shape. I tied the clutch arm loosely up with a zip tie so as to not stress the boot. There was enough room to back the transmission off the clutch and clutch rod and spin it sideways to clear the frame legs. ;)

Edit:Picture (not so great but you will get the idea) of my dolly set up about midway down.
http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=580.925

[cy7878]

I tried to make a box using Chris Harris' dimension and it was way too tall for my 85 K100RS.  And the box assumes you have a way to secure down the front wheels, which I don't.  If you try to place a box under the engine without securing the front end, the bike will tip due to one side being heavier.

Like others have said, I was able to keep the rear up using a work horse, any one bought from a hardware store that is rated for 1000lb will work to keep the rear frame section up.  I just have my wife hold the handlebars to keep the bike from tipping while I use a car jack under than engine block to lift the rear up.  The wide stance of a work horse makes it very stable and leaves room to get the whole gearbox off.

[Mongrel]

Thanks for the Chris Harris links. Some very nice videos, with a ton of useful information.

Wish I could just break down and buy a table lift, or at least work out something. Sadly, I live in an apartment building. Having no workshop space drives me freaking nuts (did the spline lube at my dad's house, but their garage is almost choked closed for storage of junk...).

[Bob T]

What do you guys use as a jack? The underside of the K75 seems to have no really decent balance point (that I've found...).



I picked up one of these a few years ago, but can never make it hold up the bike without a lot of jiggery-pokery and wood bits jammed here and there, and even then it's not really stable. Last time I did the shaft lube that was a nightmare as I wound up roping the damn thing to the roof rafters just to keep everything steady.

EDIT: If this is the wrong place for this question, feel free to move it.

Honestly....I don't know what bikes they sell those lifts in your pictures for.  I picked one up years ago because it was cheap and have yet to find a bike it works well with.
I tried to give it away last year, but got no takers.... :dunno2:

[bocutter Ed]

Having no workshop space drives me freaking nuts ...

Maybe we could work something out (16' ceiling with 800 lb electric hoist, my K spent about 2 months going up & down this spring)

[Mongrel]

I'm certainly open to something. Ideally I'd have a place attached to my living space in which I could do heavy long-term maintenance over the winter (which basically means a garage), but damned if that hoist doesn't sound useful for the bigger must-so projects like spline jobs and so on!

[bocutter Ed]

Shop's a woodworking shop and can get a tad dusty sometimes, even with the 5 hp cyclone dust extractor. I needed a spot to do metal and computer work so we put in an 8x20' mezzanine. That's where the bikes go when they are in the shop, but not being wrenched. BTW, back in the day, I was a printing equipment tech.