Hydraulic motorcycle lift

[duTch]

 

Also, I have no idea why my post addressed to you started with 10 "Rodger"s, but I've fixed that.

 Probably tried to spell 'Roger' (with no 'd')... , and;
 

............ but I've fixed that.

, so no you haven't quite..I know, I know- glass houses/stones don't mix

  I have a couple of ramp/lift stories but they'll have to wait till later (require pics i don't have)

[RichardL]

Rodger dodger, right on with the "Roger".

[kiwipom]

hi Richard, yes it looked like you gave him a good `Rodgering`ha-ha, cheers

[Greybeard]

...I have no idea why my post addressed to you started with 10 "Rodger"s...

I thought I was being dumb in not getting the joke!

[RogerSB]

RichardL, I knew what you were referring to - so there was definitely no offence taken. Anyway I've been more than a happy dummy today working on my GF. So much room to have my tools handy and somewhere civilised for my wife to put the occasional mug of tea down. See photo.


Scotty, thanks again to you for pointing me in that direction.


The winch, as you may imagine, has a wire rope with an eye hook with safety catch on the end. I took two short lengths of strong braided poly rope (left over from my sailing days) and tied loops in the ends to form two strops, each one was passed around a lower fork leg (below the chrome oil seal housing) and hooked the other ends on the winch's hook. Both lengths of rope need to be the same length after forming the loops otherwise the pull will be uneven and will want to turn the front wheel.


I made a few modifications from the original plans:-
1. I fashioned an angled slot in the top for the 2" scaffold plank ramp to fit in so it could be locked into position by dropping two 12mm bolts through the angled brackets bolted to the end of ramp and down through holes in the top (no need for nuts on those).
2. I cut two 4" x 2" slots in each of the sides so that I could just drop in two 4" x 2" to give the top extra support. Not really needed but I'm always a belt and braces person.
3. I also cut hand holes in the sides and top to make them easier to lift and move for assembling and dismantling.

[bikerbob]

If you can find a copy of the BSA magazine The Star for May 2001 there is an article in it for constructing a lift I used it as a basis for making mine, although I used 40mm square section instead of the 35mm in the article. If you have near you a company called The Metal Supermarket they will cut all the square section to size for you just give them the sizes you require thre costs are very reasonable.

[coater87]

 Here in America, the place is called "Speedy Metals".

 Order as much or as little as you want. There are no cut charges.

 Lee

[Greybeard]

The Metal Supermarket

I was glad to hear of this place. There's one not very far from me. I'm sure it's going to be useful.

[Rex]

I use one of these, worth every penny.
Also have a small hand wind lift that I use on top of the bench lift so that I can raise the bike off the bench.

Any link to where I can buy one of those mini lifts? It looks very useful.

[gpo746]

I use one of these, worth every penny.
Also have a small hand wind lift that I use on top of the bench lift so that I can raise the bike off the bench.

I agree with Roy , I have exactly the same set up and can lift big bikes with ease . Take my advice , don't waste your time and money on those little stands as in my opinion they are UNSTABLE unless they are bolted down. I only know as my neighbour nearly lost his B31 off it .
If you have the room buy a full length stand with the jack plate .

[RogerSB]

I couldn't accommodate a heavy metal hydraulic lift because of a lack of room to store it when not in use. I considered all the options to get my bike at a good comfortable work height and this slot together work platform has done the job admirably and my Golden Flash is now back together again after 5 days on the work platform and the platform is now stacked neatly against my garage wall until next time - probably (well hopefully) next year.
Took about 5 minutes to take my bike off the platform and another 5 minutes to take the work platform apart and stack it against the wall - and my car can have its garage back.

[orabanda]

I Built a stand, from Brian Pollitt's article in the BSA journal.

It worked out very well, and because i used a quality (Aussie) floor jack which was surplus to needs, it does not creep at all. It is the yellow stand with the RR on it.

The one at the front with Gavin's A10 on it is a chinese one I bought later because: It took me months to build mine; the chinese one was off the shelf. the chinese one was half the cost of building my own. The chinese one creeps down.

[Brian]

I've got two of the Chinese ones. I too was going to build my own but also priced up the steel and a jack etc and like Richard says it was a lot cheaper to buy them.

To stop them slowly descending (creeping) I drilled two holes down through the top, one on each side, and drop a pin in and the wheels in the channels underneath rest against the pins. You have to work out what height you want them before you drill the holes. Hopefully the pictures will sort of explain what I did. You jack the lift up until the rollers have gone past the holes, drop the pins in and then let the lift down until the rollers are resting against the pins.

[Greybeard]

Oh boy, I am soo envious of your workshop and bike collection! 

Oh boy, I am sooo envious of your workshop!

... The chinese one creeps down.

My bought stand has holes for a couple of pins to lock the legs into the base. If I don't use the pins the hoist goes down.

[duTch]

 With any of those lift-decks, what  could be wrong with 4 vertical bits of inch x inch rhs under each corner (with pins down though) to hold it up ? 
 
 Rager- is there anything stopping you from parking your bike on top of the platform segments laid flat on the floor ?? might save floor space and give some elevation for 'quick' stuff ?