I got a Larin several years ago, looked good in the store, but when I unpacked it and tried to use it, just about what you said. Put a scooter on it (thank God I tried it first with 350 lb, not a Harley). Left it up a day, with the stops in place, and the next morning there was a puddle of jack oil under it. Even filling it again, I couldn't get it to jack off the stops, what a pita getting that scooter down. Still have it, with no bottle in it, completely non-standard bottle I can't find anywhere else and Larin had no contact info that would answer. Store wasn't any help, either, said Larin's problem. Occasionally it's handy to sit something fairly heavy on with the stops holding it up. Have a Harley frame on it now, but I can lift that off. I could probably re-seal that bottle, but I wouldn't trust that awful jack anyway, why bother.

I have three working jacks, including that HF aluminum. It's a nice jack, but can't get my 1200C on it; other bikes fit ok, so it's worth having. Easy to carry, that's real handy sometimes.

 

J&S. There is no substitute.

 

I bought myself a HF table lift as a housewarming gift a couple years ago and love it. When I bought my Harley, the seller threw in a Larin jack. Pretty scary, but I guess it's worth what I paid for it.

 

Handy

 

I have a J&S, a Pitbull and this ^. A handy 1500 pd electric/hydraulic lift. 48" total lift. By far, this is the best tool I have EVER bought.

 

I use the J&S Jack with the air assist. Love it!!

 

We get these Big Red jacks by an outfit called Torrin up here from Princess Auto. Its basically the same as your HF deals in the States.




When you look at the design of these things, they're basically all the same. That said, quality matters, so I don't think I'd trust this sucker for a 1500 lb lift but my ride weighs just less than half that so I'm good with it. Been my only jack for going on 4 years and works great for up and down.

The carry beams are nice and wide on this thing, making placement quite easy. Two of my riding buddies also have these, one has a 2011 CVO Ultra.

Current price is $Cdn 107 so 85 bux US. It goes up, it comes down, I wouldn't pay 300 bux for a jack unless it could give head.

 

This looks like a really nice lift. It would look great in my garage.

But if I were to buy one, it would cost me whatever this lift costs, plus about $10,000 for the divorce lawyer, plus 1/2 of everything else I own.

That's a little more than I want to spend right now....

 

I just bought one of those Harbor Freight lifts and the two rails the padded ones that literally lift the bike or at such an angle I couldn't even get them under the bike without finagle in the bike. What a piece of crap. I brought it back got my money back I guess I'll go look at Craftsman. I know they say you get what you pay for it but that was a little ridiculous it wouldn't even go down all the way.. I guess that's just goes to confirm why I never go to Harbor Freight....

 

Lift. Jack or lift table??

I have a Craftsman Jack i've been using for 30 years and a Pro-Lift table I've had about 4 - 5 years.
Depends on what you are doing.