cycle jack
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Clearance is the Key
The best jack to lift your bike is the jack you can get under the frame. If you can't get the lift under the bike then it doesn't matter how much or how little you spent because you can't lift the bike. Read these forums and you will see many messages from guys that bought an economical jack that worked great for dozens of other people only to find out the jack was too high to fit under the bike.
All of the jacks look nearly the same in the pictures on the internet but they have dramatically different resting low heights. The Larin MAL-2C has resting height of 2 1/2 inches. The red Sears Craftsman has a resting height of 5 inches.
Measure from the lowest part on your frame to the floor and get the height from frame to concrete. Look for a jack that is LOWER than this height when the jack is in the lowest position.
Once you have narrowed your candidates to jacks that fit under your bike then read reviews on that jack to get user experience with stability.
I have the red Sears Craftsman. It did fit under my 883 Sportster if I tipped the bike a little. I had to raise my Road King Classic off the kickstand to get the jack under the big bike.
Then I lowered the Road King Classic with the Harley-Davidson lowering kits 54631-02B (rear) and 54514-05 (front) which lowered the frame to 4 1/2 (plus 1/16 if I'm lucky) inches from the floor. The red Sears Craftsman no longer would fit under the bike tipped or not.
The HD lift P/N 94653-98 states the minimum clearance needs to be 4 1/2 inches.
I like the idea of the HD lift because it uses a crank instead of a hydraulic bottle. The crank allows you to lower the bike at a speed of your choosing to safely put the bike back on the ground.
The bottle jacks are somewhat more difficult to control the lowering speed of the bike and I've seen some of the videos on the Internet where the bikes drop pretty quick and the bike abruptly leans to the kickstand side. This seems a little risky to me and the red Sears Craftsman I had behaved the same way.
My bottom line message is to measure the clearance under your frame then find a jack that will get under the bike. Once you have several jacks selected, then understand their stability with the bike on the jack and when lowering the jack. Then make your purchase.
If you bike is lower than 4 1/2 inches then the Larin MAL-2C and perhaps one or two others are your only choice.
All of the jacks look nearly the same in the pictures on the internet but they have dramatically different resting low heights. The Larin MAL-2C has resting height of 2 1/2 inches. The red Sears Craftsman has a resting height of 5 inches.
Measure from the lowest part on your frame to the floor and get the height from frame to concrete. Look for a jack that is LOWER than this height when the jack is in the lowest position.
Once you have narrowed your candidates to jacks that fit under your bike then read reviews on that jack to get user experience with stability.
I have the red Sears Craftsman. It did fit under my 883 Sportster if I tipped the bike a little. I had to raise my Road King Classic off the kickstand to get the jack under the big bike.
Then I lowered the Road King Classic with the Harley-Davidson lowering kits 54631-02B (rear) and 54514-05 (front) which lowered the frame to 4 1/2 (plus 1/16 if I'm lucky) inches from the floor. The red Sears Craftsman no longer would fit under the bike tipped or not.
The HD lift P/N 94653-98 states the minimum clearance needs to be 4 1/2 inches.
I like the idea of the HD lift because it uses a crank instead of a hydraulic bottle. The crank allows you to lower the bike at a speed of your choosing to safely put the bike back on the ground.
The bottle jacks are somewhat more difficult to control the lowering speed of the bike and I've seen some of the videos on the Internet where the bikes drop pretty quick and the bike abruptly leans to the kickstand side. This seems a little risky to me and the red Sears Craftsman I had behaved the same way.
My bottom line message is to measure the clearance under your frame then find a jack that will get under the bike. Once you have several jacks selected, then understand their stability with the bike on the jack and when lowering the jack. Then make your purchase.
If you bike is lower than 4 1/2 inches then the Larin MAL-2C and perhaps one or two others are your only choice.
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