Car jack

[MidlifeVenture]

Has anyone ever adapted a 2 1/2 ton car jack to use on there bike. Kind of seems like it could work if some out riggers were added for balance and a small mod to the lift adapter.:lightbulb:

[pegscraper]

Oh, I thought you were going to say something about how you got car jacked.

 

A car jack by itself doesn't have a wide enough stance on the ground to hold a bike in the air with any stability. The way to do it would be to build a parallelogram type of frame support to hold the bike and use the car jack to lift that. This link here might give you some ideas.

[midnightventure]

I built one using two screw jacks welded together so they both went up at the same time. They are attached with angle iron at the top and the bottom. I only use them to stand the bike up straight and get the wheel off a little. Any serious lifting I get out the big jack.

 

Pictures here http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18340

[pegscraper]

Hey now, that's a really ingenious idea. I missed that the first time around. I think I'll be building one of those. How did you get the screws exactly in the same line? Maybe with the jacks fully extended, lay a piece of angle iron across the screws and weld the ends together? And I'm thinking that should be the first step before welding the frames together?

[midnightventure]

Its been a while but I think I had it screwed all the way down. You have to be sure the threads are the same in both jacks. Two from the same kind of car at a junk yard cheap is what I used.

[pegscraper]

Well if you had them screwed all the way down, how did you make sure to get the screws in the same line?

 

I went out and checked the trunk of a car I'm getting ready to have hauled away. I knew it had two identical jacks in it, but they turned out to be the wrong kind. Rats. I'll have to hit up a wrecking yard.

[midnightventure]

Like I said its been a few years but I believe I eyeballed it. The screws where the first thing I welded. You probably can't tell from the pictures but the angle iron top actually angles a little and I used the 2" tubing to make it level and also to compensate for the engine sticking down below the frame. Its not so out of level that I can't use it to lift the DR just by putting the angle iron top against the frame.