Harbor Freight Hi position mc lift with pics and videos...

The rain has finally stopped. It rained for a week straight which never happens here in SoCal. I was able to get my bike out and on the lift finally. This lift is quite stable and lift the bike very high of the ground. It is very easy to use and the controlling the speed at which it coems down is very simple.
I put a Dyna and my softail on it today. there was no need to use the frame rails on the Dyna as the arms are wide enough for the lift to clear either side of the Dyna's oil pan. There is no issue with that on the softail.

I can now pull up my roller seat and clean the bike in complete comfort. this is all new to me as I am used to getting down on the concrete to get the bike clean. I ahd teh yellow HF lift but never raised it that high as I was uncomfortable with the bike on it.

My review is thumbs up. Yes, there are better more expensive lifts on the market, and it would be nice to have a table lift, but I do not have a place to keep a table lift at home (apt) and I feel that this lift will more than suit my needs.

Now for the pics and videos.
Dyna fully lifted in the air...


locking pin for the bike in it's highest point.


As you can see it clears the oil pan



My softail on the lift.




I can barely reach the starter on my bike with it completely raised


Luxurious position to sit and clean...


Videos of the bikes being lowered...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAsS5TCaZOM

Here is the softail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjn_FGvvPHU


Drew

 

Thanks alot for sharing that with us. Pictures and video were great, I have a lift, but a friend of mine is looking, will reccommend this to him.

 

Thanks for the rundown,

 

Cool man.... thanx for sharing.. Cost is $199.99 ... Looks good to me... http://www.harborfreight.com/high-po...ift-99887.html

 

Looks great if you are only working on one side of the bike at a time.

 

Get it for 20% with a coupon out of American Iron.

Drew

 

Hey drew have been looking at this lift for awhile. JD had talked to me about it. With your bike on the lift, could you drop your shock to get to the drain plug?

 

Yes. That is the main reason I decided on this lift.

Drew

 

Looks like it does a good job and has much better balance then the cheaper HF/Sears jacks. I just got a pitbull delivered today & now need another garage to store it! It's huge. I'll give a rundown in a few days as I wasn't very comfortable with the HF yellow either.

 

I bought the High Lift HF Jack about a month ago based on the Dr.'s recommendation and that it was on sale and I also used a 20% discount coupon which made the price quite reasonable (to say the least).

However, it did exactly what the Dr.'s is doing in his video. It doesn't lower the last 2 inches once the weight of the bike is on the ground and isn't really on the jack. This means you have to stand or jump on the jack to get it to lower that last 2 inches so you can get it out from under the bike. Very undignified!

So, what I found and did was:
1.) The four bolts that attach the scissors mechanism have a shoulder on them so that you're not supposed to be able to pinch the vertical upright between the linkage when you tighten them. The shoulder also allows the four bolts can act as the pivots for the scissors mechanism.
2.) The bolt is about 1/8" too short in length. So what happens when you tighten the four bolts they squeeze the plates of the scissors mechanism against the vertical upright. Not much, but it's enough friction to keep the jack from lowering all the way unless there is a significant weight on it.
3.) Geez I wish I had a lathe, but not! The heads of the four bolts are about 1/2" in thickness. What I did was to remove 1/8" from the inside shoulder of the bolts (with a small hand grinder with a cut-off wheel and a flat file . . . like I said, a lathe would have been nice) and I used a 0.050 shim (actually a very thin washer if you must know) to space the scissors mechanism away from the vertical upright.

The one picture shows a bolt with the reduced head thickness, which is still way more than sufficient IMHO since the loads on these bolts are not significant lengthwise. The other picture is of the shim I used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWiPbM8v05c