Anyone else own a Harbor Freight high position motorcycle lift?

[EvenmoreXS]

http://www.harborfreight.com/high-position-motorcycle-lift-99887.html

when it opens, the picture is zoomed in.....you have to click on the thumbnail photo of the lift to the bottom left of the larger photo to enlarge it.

It got good reviews. I bought one and put it together and it looks good, but the forks seem to be a bit wide for my XS frame. Looks like it will rest on the base of the frame and the arms for the foot pegs,,,,81 frame,,,,, but then it would lean back a bit.

Anyone else have this issue?

Ideas or solutions?

Reviews of the lift?


Thanks Everyone!

 

[Nailbomb]

If its leaning back, just shim that end with a block of wood. Make sure the wood is secured somehow though.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Friend of mine has the similar version, but is low-profile, uses foot pump. It's made for ATVs, but he uses it on his Vulcan. Had to fit little spacers on the 'forks' to properly catch the frame rails, so that part works. Biggest issue yet is that the CG of the bike is almost over the rear fork, so the front tries to rise significantly before the rear wheel is off the floor, so you have to man-handle/balance the thing during lifting before it gets stable. No real easy fix for that...

 

[EvenmoreXS]

Yeah, I thought about the balance issue. I'll think of something for that. Dont want to have to build a lift out of a lift, but I've got to get the front end off the ground and it would be nice to have a convenient lift anyway for maintenance.

Anyone got this exact lift and use it???

 

[EvenmoreXS]

First off....notice i accidentally mis-named the photo for the louvre in Paris...then....just totally forget about that part.....it isn't a photo of Paris.

It IS a photo of a tab under my bike I don't think I've ever noticed. when raising the lift it looks like the bike will sit ok but the back wants to rest on this tab and not the frame.....

Afters .0007584 seconds, I decided the only option was to cut the damn thing off.

Going to do that now...


Ill let you know how the rest goes....

 

[EvenmoreXS]

Got her on and got her up. So far so good. Strapped down she feels pretty stable. There is definitely some wobble there…as would be expected. But for routine maintenance and stuff like changing the forks, and doing the brakes…it will help a lot.

I left it down resting on the tires but still strapped vs. leaving it up with the pin locking it in place……just feel better with her on the ground.

I'll update as needed in review of the lift.


And yes, I know the main drive seal is seeping a bit. Looks worse than it is….I may fix that too while I'm working on her.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

I believe that "tab" that you cut off was the attach point for the centerstand return spring...

 

[EvenmoreXS]

I figured it was for a spring but couldn't decide what was down there that needed a spring. That makes sense. If I had a center stand Id known that. Duh….

I'll let you know how the lift works. So far so good. I may put some sand bags on the front legs when I take the forks off to help with the weight shifting to the back wheel. Maybe put something under the back tire to help balance it. We'll see…..

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Haha, oh this is hilarious. My first attempt at annotating a pic on my tiny smartphone.
(Looks like I fail the Parkinson's test)

Was thinking you could fab an extension to the vertical leg, with a clamping feature, that would lock the bike to the lift (see the purple squiggles). Of course, the lift linkage would need to be strengthened to handle the fore/aft tipping torque when the CG changes during wheel removals...

 

[EvenmoreXS]

Haha, oh this is hilarious. My first attempt at annotating a pic on my tiny smartphone.
(Looks like I fail the Parkinson's test)

Was thinking you could fab an extension to the vertical leg, with a clamping feature, that would lock the bike to the lift (see the purple squiggles). Of course, the lift linkage would need to be strengthened to handle the fore/aft tipping torque when the CG changes during wheel removals...

Not a bad Idea. I'll probably try to build an adjustable brace for the swingarm using an old stool that screws up and down....That should be enough to stabalize the frame when removing the front wheel. I like the arm idea too, but I could see that causing extra torque pulling from the top maybe causing some off balance-ness.. I like the idea of something that is not connected to the jack itself so one doesnt affect the other.

Great job on the art though....reminds me of Picaso.

 

[JayDanielz]

We have the same lift in our daily shop. Works great when all the other lifts are tied up and you have to do a tire change, or quick jobs.

As for stability, we've had 900 lb bikes on it, and it remains pretty stable. Didn't yours come with 2 tie-down straps? Ours did...and hell yea, we use 'em!

Best damn $170 I ever spent...of course, right now it has a CB900 motor sitting on it...waiting for one my guys to finish his damn motor...

 

[EvenmoreXS]

Yea, I use the straps. So far it works great. Definitly money well spent at this point.