Opinions on Aftermarket Engine Stands?

After I get my bike running, I want to clean and maintenance all the parts this winter because let's get real, you can't ride a motorcycle in Chicago during the winter. I've seen a few plans for building an engine stand/mount on this site; however, as cheap as that may be, it certainly takes its own amount of time and effort.

I'm looking for some opinions on aftermarket/prefab engine stands. I know they come with a price tag, so how essential are they really? About how much does it cost to make my own engine stand? And how often do y'all use engine stands?

I'm currently looking at this model from Lowbrow Customs:
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/yamaha-xs-650-motor-engine-stand.html

Does anyone know of any other manufacturers that make XS650 engine stands?

Thanks in advance!

I suppose I should mention I do not have access to welding equipment even if I wanted to fabricate my own out of angle iron

Unless the engine is coming apart; a stand from 2x4, 2x6 and 3" drywall screws works just fine to keep it off the floor. They kind of like to nose plant if not restrained. I think I have at least one of every stand the venders offer, they all have been holding an engine for 2 years or more. So have my home built wood stands. Still haven't made a fancy 5twins style with all the bells and whistles. It says something for the work bench out there, that has about 10 engines sitting on it.........

here's a few home mades.

I have a TC bros stand and its ok. I mounted it to a dolly with wheels so i can spin it to access all sides easily. Down side is poor access to underside.

I want to make one that bolts up to my automotive engine stand.

After a little research and knowing what I'm capable of doing, I'm think about purchasing the TC Bros stand and mounting it to a raised and braced, homemade 2x4 stand with a wide base of support so I am able to access the underside. Hopefully it's a good alternative!

Spend the extra money and get the one from lowbrow. I have the one from tc bros and it sucks. Which is highly unusual for them. Never once have I been able to line up the engine and stand to get the bolts through. I've had to use only the front bolt to hold it.

I bought two engine stands (1000 lb) from HF and had a Metal Fabricator make a few cuts and welds to make a nifty rotisserie stand.

http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/1990/

Also bought a stand on eBay (eBay Seller vwalley1) and mounted on a home-made portable stand.



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YL76 said:

I bought two engine stands (1000 lb) from HF and had a Metal Fabricator make a few cuts and welds to make a nifty rotisserie stand.

http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/1990/

Also bought a stand on eBay (eBay Seller vwalley1) and mounted on a home-made portable stand.

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Your rotisserie creation is the coolest thing that I have ever laid eyes on. WELL DONE! I also hope that you won't mind, but I got a 20% coupon and I'm going to do the exact same thing. Woohoooo!!!

Go for it, Higgy!

Thanks the the comments. The credit goes to my Welder who took my idea/concept and made it happen.... at no charge.

YL76

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solo2racr said:

I wouldn't think that bent up piece of sheet metal would hold up to 160 pounds of engine very long. Myself...I like the DIY stands

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Love your Avatar, solo2racr. !!

I'm originally from Parrottsville, TN. Home of Popcorn Sutton. He was an American Treasure.

I just bought a stand from Lowbrow, and it is very sturdy. Made of 1/4 steel plate. It's definitely worth the extra $10 over the TC stand. Very happy with the purchase.

YL76 said:

I bought two engine stands (1000 lb) from HF and had a Metal Fabricator make a few cuts and welds to make a nifty rotisserie stand.

http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/1990/

Click to expand...

Wow. That is just.... perfect. Saves all that heaving about and sore backs. Get it at the right height, and just carry on in comfort.

It's been awhile, but I FINALLY bought the T.C. Bros engine stand, and I have to admit I'm disappointed because I can't even mount the thing!

First, as self-explanatory as the thing is, I find it lazy that they didn't include ANY instructions. There's not even a simple picture showing the engine mounted to their stand that comes with the product! You have to go online to find any point of reference.

The major issue is that even though the all holes are drilled perfectly and inline with one another, all but one beam lines up on my engine so I can't completely mount the motor. Because of this, I'm ALMOST completely convinced it's an error on my end; however, an hour of tinkering would prove otherwise. All the cross beams for the stand assembly match up and so does one of the motor mount bars, but the second motor mount bar will only fit through one plate and the mounts on the engine. Once it reaches the other side, it's proven impossible to fit through the second plate! I assumed everything needed to be lined up just so, but I haven't been able to execute that. I could easily re-drill/bore out one of the plates so the bar will fit through both of them, but I shouldn't have to for brand new product. Obviously, it should fit/work as advertised.

Additionally, I don't understand why the mounting bolts for the stand are in English measure (9/16"). Why would the company produce a product that utilizes tools of a different unit of measure for a bike that exclusively utilizes the other (metric)? Sure, it's made in the U.S.A., and I have a full set of English wrenches, but if I'm already working on this bike with metric wrenches and have them handy, it's just another tedious little step to pull out the other set! While this may be negligible for some, I argue it's a design flaw.

Attached are a few pictures of what I'm running into. Maybe one of y'all can put me wise? I'm going to screw around with it some more before I begin any major cosmetic surgery on the damn thing.

Yes, that stand is junk, worst one on the market in my opinion. I have one that was given to me (I'm so glad I didn't pay for the thing, lol) and it "fits" just like yours. In other words, it doesn't fit, at least not without a lot of fooling around. You need to leave all the cross bolts really loose until you fit the motor bolts so the two stand halves will flex all around. Then you can tighten everything up. But it shouldn't be this way, right? Not on a custom made stand made specifically to fit your motor.

Want another kick in the ass? Buy one of their chopper wiring harnesses. About $40 for like 6 wires, lol. What a joke. I'm not sure which is the bigger rip-off, the stand or the harness.

Mine is the same way...... I've been looking into one of the lowbrow stands. More expensive but I haven't been disappointed with anything from lowbrow yet.

Higgy said:

I want to make one that bolts up to my automotive engine stand.

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Like so?

Made out of whatever scrap metal I had laying around so not elegant, but darned handy.

I mis-measured on the 650 adapter a bit and the engine sits tilted back a little. Not annoying enough to fix, just visual.

I was a bit more careful with the GT550 adapter.

Both work a treat and leave access to everything except splitting the cases.

Stoop22kid said:

Mine is the same way...... I've been looking into one of the lowbrow stands. More expensive but I haven't been disappointed with anything from lowbrow yet.

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Lowbrow has the stand on for $49.95 right now.

Downeaster said:

Like so?

Made out of whatever scrap metal I had laying around so not elegant, but darned handy.

I mis-measured on the 650 adapter a bit and the engine sits tilted back a little. Not annoying enough to fix, just visual.

I was a bit more careful with the GT550 adapter.

Both work a treat and leave access to everything except splitting the cases.

Click to expand...

That is a great idea! I'm going to do the same cheers