Lift question
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 238
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From: houston tx
Lift question
I'm about to buy a craftsman motorcycle lift and wanted to know if it will work on my bike? I have a 15 wide glide. The bottom doesn't appear to be level and the kick stand spring looks like it would get in the way, also the right side has a bar/ protector for the wiring harness so I don't think the bike will sit flat on the lift. Thanks.
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Joined: Sep 2014
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From: Minnesota
I'm about to buy a craftsman motorcycle lift and wanted to know if it will work on my bike? I have a 15 wide glide. The bottom doesn't appear to be level and the kick stand spring looks like it would get in the way, also the right side has a bar/ protector for the wiring harness so I don't think the bike will sit flat on the lift. Thanks.
THe big issue on Dynas is the extended frame rail on the right side. A Jack has to have lift arms spaced far enough apart so that the front lift arm is just infront of the kick stand and the back lift arm contact the frame rails to the rear of the extended portion of the frame rail.
The only two Jacks that I know with lift arms spaced far enough apart to accommodate this is the J&S and the Pitbull Dyna lift. Any of the other Jacks that I have seen including the Sears and the Harbor Freight have lift arms to close together to accommodate 1999 and newer Dynas.
The poster above linked to a how to thread showing how to reconfigure the Sears and HF jacks to work on Dynas. I know many folks here have done that modification so obviously it works. As another posted pointed out you can use a piece of wood on the left side of the frame to basically shim up the left side and allow the bike to sit level. Another option is the lift adapters that HD makes
http://www.harley-davidson.com/store...ft-adapter-kit
I have not tried the HD lift adapters so I can't comment on those. I have lifted a Dyna on a HF jacks using a piece of wood as a shim on the left side and I can tell you it will work. Many here have done the modification to the Sears and HF jack so I gotta think that works as well.
In the end I decided to purchase the J&S jack that I was certain would work and I would have 100% confidence in putting my bike up with no straps. I could not be happier in my decision. The downs side is the J&S or Pitbull is a lot more money than Sears or HF. In the end its your $$ and your bike but there are options
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 238
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From: houston tx
Just picked up the craftsman lift, put it together and slide it under my wide glide.... Looks like I will be doing the "lift mod" too. Don't bother with the lift block from HD, the jack won't even fit under the bike so if the blocks are there it's even less room. The lift gets stuck under the extended frame rail and the oil pan. After the mod it will be wider and will not be under the extended frame rail.
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I was going to say skip the lift blocks and do the mod, but it sounds like you reached that conclusion on your own...
Modified red Craftsman jack works great. The bike is super stable if you position it correctly.
Modified red Craftsman jack works great. The bike is super stable if you position it correctly.
Thread Starter
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 238
Likes: 25
From: houston tx
Looks like the basic lift mod won't work with my bike. I'm gonna have to get longer bolts and bigger spacers to get it a little wider. Also the red frame arms of the lift hit my oil pan and part of the kick stand so will probably have to put a board under one of the wheels. What kind of bolts did you guys use? I just grabbed the regular bolts at Home Depot, are the strong enough?