Motorcycle Lifts and Jacks

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A lot of bikers do maintenance, clean, or store their scoots using a lift or jack of some kind. In this Post we will cover Harley's, Dyna Glide model, using the Craftsman/Sears yellow aluminum jack. To make things easy, when you read "Sears Lift" it will stand for, Craftsman/Sears yellow aluminum jack.

The Dyna is a very hard bike to put on a lift. Because the engines oil pan is lower than the frame, Harley welded a Protector Plate to the bottom right side of the frame to protect the oil pan. You have to use 2x4's or the Harley-Davidson Lift Adapters. Using either method is not the safest way to go.

Protector Plate View

Left Side With 2x4's

See How Narrow The Lift Is

H-D Lift Adapter

As you can see in the above photos. The Lift is not stable. In photo two, the bikes weight twists the lift and makes the bike lean over. The adapters aren't any better.I don't have photos using them because when I found out they sucked, I sold them on eBay.

I like visiting Biker Forums. One of them is, V-Twin Forum : Harley Davidson Motorcycle Forums. http://www.v-twinforum.com. I Posted my experience with this Sears Lift. Here is the Post.

Start:
I know people are using the Sears yellow jack with no problems.
This is my experience with it:

I used the Sears yellow jack for two years using 2x4's for winter storage. I never liked the way the jack wobbled side to side when the bikes wheels were lifted off the ground. So I only lifted it high enough so the first safety notch was set on the lock bar. The bikes wheels just barely touched the ground, this kept the jack from wobbling. Year three I used the H-D adapters and they were no better then the 2x4's. And now that I know the orange and black parts are held together with two sided tape I would never have used them. I taught they were glued or fused together.

I was getting the bike ready for riding after a winters sleep. I was raising the bike so I could release the locking bar. Turning the handle gently like they said in the manual, the release valve got stuck so I turned the handle a little harder and the jack just dropped down and the bike fell to the ground. The straps get loose when the jack is lowered so they did not help. I never lowered the bike without siting on it. All I wanted to do was release the locking bar. You can't do that sitting on the bike. You can use this jack solo but I think this jack should be used with two people.

With all the $$$ I spent replacing all the damaged parts I could have purchased the J&S Motorcycle Lift. Last year I did purchase one and it was the best money I've spent for my Bike.
End

The Sears Lift can be used with Dirt Bikes and ATVs, but not a very good idea to use with a Harley-Davidson. I have a Link to the J&S Motorcycle Lift Web Site on my Links page. This lift is made for Harley's.

Just be care-full with any lift you use. You can be seriously injured and not to forget the cost of replacing the damaged parts when the your scoot falls.

Meaning Of The Day: Dumping the Bike/Dumped the Bike - A zero speed spill. A bike is dumped when the rider applies brakes while in a very slow turn, or is trying to get his bike up onto (or off of) its center-stand, or is walking the bike and it gets away from him, or forgets to put the side-stand down and tries to get off the bike, falling off a jack or lift, or any of dozens of other 'dumb' things that lead to losing control of the bike and its laying over onto the ground.

Now You Know: Biker Joe