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Motorcycle lift use?

2K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  luxlamf 
#1 ·
Another newbie question. My 3rd of the night and you guys are batting 1000!!!!! How do I use this Craftsman lift? I can guess go under bike with lift and lift... But what supports it? I also have some straps that came with it ( its a friends). Where do they go? A picture would be great. Thanks again for the help.
 

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#2 ·
simple...roll it under the bike, center it on the frame between the radiator an swing arm. Roll it under it will probably hit the left side frame. Just pull the bike up straight of the side kick stand. Slowly pump it up until it makes contact with the bike. Make sure there's a few inches of lift pad is showing on both sides. Slowly pump some more an see how balanced it feels. you can lower it an move it forward or back to balance it then repeat. then pump it up an make sure the safety lock on the jack engages.
 
#3 ·
read the directions on lowering it. I think different brands work differently. With My cheap harbor freight you have to quickly push the lowering pedal with your foot to lower it slowly. If you push it slowly the bike will drop like a rock. backwards I know. Make sure the kick stand is down an you're hold the handbars firmly while lowering.
 
#4 ·
For the straps, I lift my seat to put one strap across, And put the other over the frame, near the battery. My air box is off, of course.
 
#5 ·
I strap my bike down with one strap over the lower frame rails in front of the engine. Just make sure you don't "pinch" wires or brake lines.
The second strap wraps around the left passenger foot peg.
 
#6 ·
i don't strap it down unless I'm doing a job where it will be unattended while on it. When I rebuilt the tranny in my shovelhead I bolted two 2x8" to it with 2x4 bracing securing them together. I also used jack stands under the ends to stablize it. Made a nice work bench while doing a major job.

 
#7 ·
BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU TURN THE HANDLE TO RELEASE PRESSURE!!!!! If you don't do so slowly, the bike will literally drop like it fell out of the sky. There's been a few members hurt by the Sears lift, thank God, I'm not one of them.

Also, the lift locks in a few different places. So when you release the pressure to lower, it may seem stuck before lowering all the way. Put pressure on the lift and unlock the lever by lifting it up.
 
#8 ·
If you try to center the bike with the kickstand down, it gets in the way. By sitting on the bike with stand up, you'll find true center pretty easy. Be sure the lift is all the way under the bike or she'll tip off the lift.

Like others have said, use the straps with the airbox off.
 
#11 ·
Call me over cautious or deviating from the conventional norm, but I'm planning to hang top front and rear pulleys/straps from the workshops rafters, while VRod is on the lift. When I work alone,I drink and burn Thai stick incense.....objects tend to get TiPsY.
 
#13 ·
Oil changes: I raise the bike up as HIGH as it will go, strap it to the lift, open drain plug and remove old filter, when "Done" draining I then lower the bike to the middle height on jack strap it down again and lift the rear tire until the front tire touches the ground to drain the rest of the oil out.
 
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