TOPIC:

Little B wrote:

KaZooCruiser wrote:

Sound like you might have gotten the lift in the idea that it might make oil changes easier. . . Take a peek at this link. . .since you are new . . .

Thanks for the link KaZoo...that info will help when I do my first oil change.

I actually got the lift to make all kinds of maintenance easier. (Bending over and getting on the ground is very hard on my back.) If the bike is higher up, I can sit on a mechanic's stool and do the work without bending over too much. That is the plan anyway! <br><br>Post edited by: Little B, at: 2007/07/24 12:10

when my mther n law went inthe nursing home I took her walker and converted it into a perfect height shop stool. It is one of those with wheels and a seat/storage box. I took off the wheels and the upper handles, voila!! it was perfect.

With apologies to LittleB for hijacking his thread:

Converting a motorcycle/ATV lift to a real platform type lift only requires that you replace the top and bottom horizontal members with longer ones.

Most lifts of this type have a lifting area of about 12" by 16" and use a jack to control the diagonal dimension of a parallelogram. If you change the length of the top and bottom members, the same work is accomplished, almost. In truth, when the jack starts up the leading member (closest to the jack) starts up first and helps the trailing member to get started. When you increase the length of the top and bottom members this "help" is diluted by the length of the top member. In other words, the leading member on a stock machine advances five or six degrees ahead of the trailing member and helps to pull it up. Unfortunately when the length of the top member becomes 8' those five or six degrees become one or two degrees. The end result is that the jack ends up pulling against the frame as if it's trying to crush the bottom member. The solution is to not allow the top member drop all the way down. I accomplished this by adding two 2X4 posts to the back corners of the top frame. This added two inches to the height of the platform but allowed the jack to pull against a diagonal instead of straight ahead force. Look for the posts, they're there. The all thread is 1/2' and I used metal plates to distribute the forces to avoid splitting the wood members.

Ckeck it out:




























Hope this helps.

KZCSI

Post edited by: KZCSI, at: 2007/07/24 19:15

KZCSI wrote:

With apologies to LittleB for hijacking his thread:

No apology even remotely necessary...great post! Thanks for taking the time to share that info!

KZ, the posts your are talking about...is that what we are seeing in the final pic?

KZCSI wrote: I accomplished this by adding two 2X4 posts to the back corners of the top frame. This added two inches to the height of the platform but allowed the jack to pull against a diagonal instead of straight ahead force.

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Hi LB,

"the posts your are talking about...is that what we are seeing in the final pic?"

Yes they serve to keep the tail end of the platform elevated which helps the jack get started.

kzcsi

Little B wrote:

I decided to order one of these adapters to go on my lift. I'll let ya know if it works or not.

A little late for an update but what the heck...anyways, don't waste your time or money on one of those adapters. The holes don't line up properly with the lift so you can't use it. It is also not large enough to drill your own holes...it was frustrating to say the least.

Now I'm thinking of a chain or electric lift mounted to the roof of a garage. That would make it so you could stand up while working on it! It also wouldn't take up ground garage space.

Alright, who posted the link to garage toys> Now I am going to spend the rest of the day ordering cool "toys" for my garage:whistle:

.

ran429...that is righteous man!

How do you keep it from turning around while wrenching on it?