Anyone ever use one of these???

[beemrdon]

www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb-Capacity-ATVMotorcycle-Lift-60536.html?ccdenc=eyJjb2RlIjoiOTE3OTM2MDMiLCJza3UiOiI2MDUzNiIsImlzIjoiNjkuOTkiLCJwcm9kdWN0X2lk%0D%0AIjoiOTM3NyJ9%0D%0A

[beemrdon]

I looked under the bike but couldn't find a place that I dared to place the 2 lift pieces.

My r90/6 has a cradle frame so...no problem there.

[TriSpark]

I've got the Craftsman version, but I never use it on any of my bikes as it will foul the exhaust pipes. I use it to jack up my truck when I am working under it instead. Should have bought a table ramp to work on the bike, really.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

A couple friends have them.  They work great for doing tire changes on their big V-twins.   I just used one today to jack up a pool table to level it.  They work pretty well for that, too.

Back when I bought my first brick another friend let me use his to do a transmission pull to repair a loose grub screw.  You are right about the bottom of the brick not really working with it.  I have found that a floor jack and a stack of 2x8 blocks works just as well.  The floor jack is handy for jacking my cars and takes up a LOT less room.

With a couple stacks of these blocks, a 5' 2x8 and a saw horse to put under the rear frame loop I can do everything from a spline lube to actually dropping the engine out of the frame and getting it back in. 

[beemrdon]

Your set up looks good and creative.... [but]... My object is to get the bike up higher so that I can more easily do maintenance and repairs. I am sick of working on the ground. I guess I will have to break down and buy the HF lift at some point, sooner than later. On sale now for $285 w/ coupon.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-Capacity-Motorcycle-Lift-69904.html

[Chaos]

Not having the space for a lift I find a rolling stool a godsend with my crappy knees.  Mines not HF but similar, had to put heavier duty larger castors on it, well worth the effort.

[Martin]

+1 on the roller seat but get one that is height adjustable.
Regards Martin.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I use a 5 gallon bucket turned upside down with a folded towel for upholstery.  It's the perfect height for about half of the work that needs to be done.   A big chunk of carpet on the floor keeps me off the cold concrete floor when I have to get down low on the bike which really isn't that often. 

That three year old carpet has gotten pretty nasty since doing a head job on one bike and pulling the balance shaft on another along with timing chain work, valve clearance checks and a dozen or so fluid changes.  I'll probably get a "new" one next fall.  In the meantime I just throw some big sheets of corrugated I get from the local snowmobile dealer on it to hide the funk.

I have looked at those lifts, and know a guy who has one in his garage.  Even with three bikes I don't think I have enough use to justify the amount of precious floor space it would take up.  And the wife absolutely refuses to park her car outside.

[Martin]

Got my roller seat at the local recycle (Dump ) for $8.00. I don't know whether the US Canada or UK have these, I find it a good source of tools, project parts.
Regards Martin.

[bmwpyro]

I have the HF ATV lift but i dont think i would use it on the K bikes for the same reason previous posts have mentioned.

i bought it when i needed 2 lifts to help with my truck 2wd to 4wd conversion, one to hold the transfer case up and the gap in the middle helped with the safety factor.
the other to hold the other end of the tranny so i can zero in on the main shaft...

i did see a post where i think it was Robert (rbm), who used some angle bar to fab using the belly pan/engine guard mount on the bottom of the engine to make it more stable when using a atv lift.

i need to get some 5 gal buckets soon...

[RobP]

I use the Craftsman version of the Motorcycle/ATV jack linked in in the original post, plus a roller stool to scoot about when I work on lower parts of the bike.


The large platform lift would be nice, but then you'd still need to find a separate way to jack up and support the the rear of the bike when you remove the rear wheel and swingarm for spline lubes and related tasks.

[Filmcamera]

For that there are nice little table jacks like this one for $80 on Amazon

[Donmystic1]

That one from Harbor Freight sure looks like it will tip over when elevated to its full height.

Your set up looks good and creative.... [but]... My object is to get the bike up higher so that I can more easily do maintenance and repairs. I am sick of working on the ground. I guess I will have to break down and buy the HF lift at some point, sooner than later. On sale now for $285 w/ coupon.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-Capacity-Motorcycle-Lift-69904.html

[Scott_]

I have one of these:
http://www.completehydraulic.com/lifts-motorcycle-tcml.html



I also have the side extensions so I can put a riding mower up on it when needed.

As far as it taking up space, it's sets low enough and my truck and jeep set high enough that I can park over top of it without issues.
Some people can go whole hog and recess the lift into the floor so it's flush and you then can park anything over it.

[Elipten]

I have the HF motorcycle lift.  Works great, but fill the lift jack with hydraulic fluid as it comes empty.  If you use it dry it will fail quickly.

Also change out the system to hold the front wheel.  I also bolted 6 D Rings on the table to tie down the bike as required.


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[Laitch]

I have one of these:

I've got one of those, too, although a different brand. Stability is excellent. On mine, the iron pipe that helps to stabilize it (red arrow) has a screw cap at each end. When the lift is not extended, a cap can be taken off and the stabilizer pipe removed for a slimmer profile that a car can drive over, although I haven't needed to try that with a Prius. Vertical clearance might be insufficient.

lift stabilizer pipe.jpg (20.24 kB . 350x196 - viewed 575 times)

Squatting next to a bike is not an attractive pastime for me when there is an alternative. I've got a truck to writhe beneath when the urge for Pilates-style wrenching overcomes me.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I guess working on sailboat engines has spoiled me.  Working on my bikes requires much less yoga.  There are boats I have worked in that should be named after positions from the Kama Sutra.

[Laitch]

I guess working on sailboat engines has spoiled me. 

If by spoiled you mean permanently twisted like a cruller, well yeah, that's an advantage. :giggles

[Brad-Man]

http://www.k100-forum.com/t2088-motorcycle-jack-versus-motorcycle-lift

Post 20

That said, I have both HF lift and Jack.

I park one of my thhee bikes on the lift.

[Wasserwolf]

Your set up looks good and creative.... [but]... My object is to get the bike up higher so that I can more easily do maintenance and repairs. I am sick of working on the ground. I guess I will have to break down and buy the HF lift at some point, sooner than later. On sale now for $285 w/ coupon.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-Capacity-Motorcycle-Lift-69904.html

I bought one of these. It works great for lifting it but the front tire clamp is useless. I spent another $59 at Harbor Freight to get the bigger  wheel chock, together they make it a easy to work on the bike.

[Motorhobo]

Thread's getting old, but still..

I used one of those HF lifts for 2 years. It works great for everything but dropping the oil pan but you still have to figure out a way to chock the front wheel and do a 4 point tie-down once you've gotten the bike up otherwise it's not safe for anything that requires any torque, which is everything. I used a big sheet of 3/4 plywood with 2X4's screwed in. You can see a pic here -- search for my handle 'motorhobo' and you'll see my pic:

http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,8829.msg68964.html#msg68964

Eventually I bought a HF moto lift, which you can get for under $300 if you wait for the super-sale, but even the regular sale price of under $350 is good IMO. For a chock, get the HF motorcycle wheel chock for under $50. But a moto lift is big, heavy, expensive, and takes up a lot of space. If you're only working on bricks, they don't require a lot of maintenance and my moto lift sits around 95 percent of the time. I also used the good ol' sawhorse as shown here, but I prefer the HF moto/ATV lift over that.

With the plywood and ATV lift, I was comfortable with the stability with the bike a foot or more off the ground. No matter what lift you use, you'll need to do a four-point tie-down, even a moto lift needs that. The ATV lift sure isn't the perfect solution but at least it rolls off into the corner of the garage when you're not using it and the plywood is flat enough lie on the floor and not bother anything. The moto lift in my garage is a pain in the ass most of the time and if I move I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.

My $0.02...

[Virhiryu]

Hi, I use one of those and I'm happy with it as if i need to take out wheels or work on the bike for longer time. Only bad part it will not lift it enough to work in standing position but I prefer to sit down any way xD

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[beemrdon]

RobP .....................where do you place the 2 contact pieces to the bike before jacking? I could not find points underneath my bike that I was willing to put the upward pressure of a 600+ pound bike on.

[Motorhobo]

I forgot to mention that I made a support block to bridge between the jack supports:

The block has two different heights to support both at the oilpan and the transmission. It works to keep the bike upright while off the centerstand but like I said, if you're going to lift it you'll need a front wheel chock and tiedowns -- not stable otherwise IMO.

[RobP]

RE: "where do you place the 2 contact pieces to the bike before jacking?"

I happened to have a scrap of diamond-plate steel that is almost the same exact dimension as the square area defined by the two supports on the ATV jack.   I use that, plus some additional blocking similar to what Motorhobo just posted.