Motorcycle working platform / lift / stand.

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on the above, the problem is that along with the commando I usually have other bikes in the garage, from mopeds to modern stuff. For my XLR I can get a MX lift stand quite cheaply, but a solution that would fit many bikes would be ideal. roll on work platforms present the same problem for the commando as the frame generally needs to be supported indepentantly to remove engine cradle gearbox etc. The one I like the look of is from On-bike but pretty expensive, other than this - anyone got any experience or diy ideas that they have tried?

CNW has a brace that allows engine/GB removal and the bike still rolls, I seem to recall that it's about $50.00.

Derek Weaver (FT. Worth, Texas) has a nice lift for about $820.00 delivered, thats the way I think I'm going to
go. The Weaver lift will be a parking place for a bike when it's down.

Unclviny

I just bought $200 worth of steel 1" X 2" 0.125" square tubing, 1" X 0.125" strap and 8" X 0.125" to make my own table lift. I have the thing drawn on paper, well scribbled. For the lifting I am fortunate to have an hydraulic cylinder I salvaged from my old job, but as an alternate, a threaded rod coupled to a reversing drill could be used. With my design, the table is no more than 2" off the ground so the bike can be rolled on and off without any help, this was the main reason for making my own aside from the fact that I am too cheap to buy a ready made one :mrgreen:

Stand by for pictures soon.

Jean

I used to use my trailer as a stand, or wood blocking after using my roller jack. For Christmas I bought myself a Harbor Freight motorcycle lift in alloy.
It was fairly cheap and lifts 1500 lbs if I recall and has a locking mechanism. So far it has worked on my featherbed Norton and my Goldwing.

I started work on my lift. First I made the pivot pins from ½" rod with a washer welded to the end and threaded for a 3/8" bolt.



Then I made the four uprights, 36" in lenght. Drilled them two at a time to get the holes all at the same distance one from the other.



Then I drilled the holes for the perimeter, welded it together and welded the cross braces for the uprights.




This is the cylinder I will be using, it has a built in pump and a 28" stroke which will be amplified with a pulley. My table could lift to about 35".




Jean

That looks slick. I have one of those jacks that lifts the center now and it is a great help but that should be twice as good.

I found this for plans http://www.afabonline.com/table_lift_plans.htm A bit similar to my design, except the table is too high when it is down.

Jean

That's interesting too. At this point I go home and when I have an extra hour I sit by the hooligan bike I'm making and run another few wires. It's up on blocks but comfort would be improved to have it higher I think, next time.

Ludwig - that is a COOL little lift!

I don't imagine the bike stays balanced if you remove only one wheel from the bike?

That's a big shortcoming with the two lifts I have (store-bought scissor-type bike lifts). I've been thinking of making bolt-on outriggers to keep the stand balanced for one-wheel removal.

Had to make a little design change, my hydrauic cylinder would not have worked so I used a 1500lb winch and built a raised point of anchor. My battery is bad but I was able to test it with me and the wife and while she didn't let me go all the way up, the winch lifted the both of us. Together we weigh over 300 pounds (I make up themost of that :wink: ) I'm glad it works and I am able to keep it low to the ground. I'm not sure, but I thik my pulleys give me a 3 to 1 ratio meaning the 1500 pound pull is multiplied by 3 which I think should mean that a 500 pound motorcycle would be an easy lift. I will do some tests with an electronic scale before putting a bike on it that's for sure.

Jean



That is about 30 inches hight

Are you going to have a locking system?

Cookie said:

Are you going to have a locking system?

Click to expand...

Of course

Jean

Something like this would be good. I bought a small motorcycle jack, but it's no good because the sidestand lug gets in the way.

I had time to finish my working stand. Can't say everything is perfect, but it works. For one thing, when going up, it has a tendency of lifting one side more than the other for the first foot or so, then it evens out, when going down, when it gets down to the last foot, it drops one side more than the other.

The steel plates are removeable so either a front or a back wheel can drop straight down, the center is also removeable to put an oil pan (not built yet). The good part is that it is only two inches high so I can put the bike on the lift all by myself. Now all I have left is to paint it. Total cost was about $300 for steel, a 1500 lb winch and a new battery, the rest is time and welding rod.





Bad picture showing the safety lock


Jean

Very cool.

I wish I had one...

Between my aging knees and bad back I needed some kind of system to lift my bike high enough so I could stand up and work on it. I didn't have the extra cash to lay out on a proper platform bike stand and I had this heavy duty drafting table base I don't use any more so I took the top off (it had a 4x5 foot light table top that weighed 200 - 250 lbs and you could tilt this massive light table 90' to a vertical position too). It was one heavy pedestal stand. It had a worm gear powered by a small electric motor that would raise and lower it from 30" up to about 50". I figured it would make a cool bike stand that would have an adjustable height and it should support a 400lb. bike with a little beefing up. With the 90' tilt it would make oil changes a snap by tilting the bike on it's side and draining the oil out the oil tank. After strengthening up the top base with aluminum reinforcing and changing the feet to take some caster wheels without making it any higher than it was, it was ready.

I put a small winch in the rafters ($40.00 at Canadian Tire) to lift bikes high enough to get the stand under.



Because of my Dunstall exhaust I added 3.5" wood blocks for the bottom frame rails to sit on. This will also allow access from below.



Here's the bike just lowered on the stand.



At it's lowest height the top frame rail is at my armpit in height.



At the highest height the bottom frame rail is at my armpit height. It's not too pretty but I think I'm going to enjoy not having to bend down to get at things. Eventually I'll make some add on pockets for the wheels but I haven't figured out what will be the best way to do it yet. I think it will become obvious in time.

Oh, by the way I'm only joking about using the 90' tilt to tilt the bike on it's side to drain the oil, I removed the tilt mechanism

Hey Jean, as I was reading through this thread I was thinking of suggesting the winch to power your lift. I've been thinking of building one of these scissor lifts also using a winch.

What I don't like about mine is you need to remove the tank and seat to hoist it up 1st. For quick jobs it's not so convenient.

I like the access and the fact there is no leaning forward like if you were lifting an engine in you can stand right up to the bike. It also has a small foot print and is quite mobil.

I'm lucky enough to have a roof structure that allowed this set up. I have a 7'4" ceiling supported by large beams along the sides of the 8' span with a 7' - 5' sloped roof attic above that. The attic is open for the last 6' at the low end of the sloped shed roof. Some day I may put an I beam with trolly for hoisting bikes right up to the attic for storage. Here's my bracing for the winch.