How do you use a motorcycle jack on a 1st Gen Magna

[Cadmandu]

  I bought a Motorcycle jack and have no idea what to do with it. If you look under a 1st Gen you see two pipes a collector and a small oil pan. The frame is recessed at least 1/2" above the pipes and the collector would crush under the weight of the bike. Do any of you guys have this problem. I am thinking of designing a platform with aluminum rails shaped like a pipe cut in half to capture the frame. Any ideas?

TIA Dan

[lragan]

I built such a cradle for my 3rd gen bikes.  Cut a steel pipe in half longways, welded the two halves together with angle iron, welded a piece of larger angle iron vertically at the rear to contact the swing arm.  The problem with the 3rd gen bikes without the cradle is they are tail heavy.  This device puts lift on the swing arm and the frame.  The bikes are quite stable on it.  Two MOOTsters other than me have also used it with success.  I think I published pictures on another thread some years ago when I made it up.  Aluminum would be nice, but I don't have means to weld aluminum.

[Cadmandu]

Hi Lawernce,

 I was just talking about you last night. I told my wife that you sound like an Engineer when you post. Thanks for the info I thought I was going to have to do something like that. What should I search under to find those pictures.
Dan

   

[lragan]

Dan, I searched myself, but did not find the pics.  Must have fallen off the "too old to care about" cliff.  If I can't find the pics somewhere on a computer, I will take a few more -- tomorrow. 

[Jumbobret]

I had one of those lifts. Did not like that I had to modify it to make it work. So I bought a lift table from Harbour Freight, best three hundred bucks I have every spent. 

[Cadmandu]

   A lift table would be nice but where do you store it when not in use, and the wheels are still on the ground. I am thinking of going to the SS brake lines where did you get yours and what year bike did you put them on.

   Hi Lawernce, thanks for taking the time for some new pictures, I really like the swingarm support idea.

[lragan]

Here are the pictures.  The pipe was cut with a plasma cutter -- the first cuts I made with it.  My hands are not very steady, so the edges look a bit ragged.  If one had a good metal cutting band saw, it would look much better -- but would work just the same way.


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[Jumbobret]

   A lift table would be nice but where do you store it when not in use, and the wheels are still on the ground. I am thinking of going to the SS brake lines where did you get yours and what year bike did you put them on.

   Hi Lawernce, thanks for taking the time for some new pictures, I really like the swingarm support idea.

I park my bike on top of lift when not in use. I got my SS lines from a guy in here in Texas. I think they were around $150.00 shipped. Let me know, I can get them for you.

[Cadmandu]

  Those pictures gave me a much better idea than what I had. I was going to make two half pipe rails to catch the frame. From your pictures it looks like you just remove material where you don't want the fixture to touch and eventually you will hit the frame. I need to clear my collector also. I will take a 1" thick piece of styrofoam and lay it on a piece of plywood jack up the lift until it makes an impression of the total under-carriage, then I will make a nest out of aluminum to match that. Thanks Lawernce for the pictures and the good idea. Can you teach me how to add pictures to my posts. I have a Photobucket account with a few pics in it, but now what.

[lragan]

The idea is not my original -- there is a wooden version at: http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/tips.htm#A1.20

I made up a wooden cradle according to the specs, but my cheap-chop-chicken feather lift I bought from Harbor Freight for $59 would not collapse low enough to fit the wooden cradle between the lift and the frame -- so I made the steel one, out of pieces I had laying in the junk metal pile.  Ugly as sin, but it works well.

I compressed the pics to something under 300Kbytes each, and have them on a hard drive (took a while to locate, but, hey, they were still there!!)   At the bottom of the post, click on "Additional Options...".   You will see a blank grey line preceded by "Attach:"  To the right of that is a browse button which will open a file find dialog box.  Find the file and click on it to put the address in the box.  If you want to add another pic, click on "(more attachments"), and the same dialog box will open again. 

Take some pics of the solution you arrive at.  There should be a better way than mine...

[Charles S Otwell]

Question is my jack different from everyone elses?

[Cadmandu]

Charles,
   You have your pipes above the frame and the collector is also. My frame is 3/4" up inside the undercarrage. I will take some pics tonight and show you what I mean.
Dan

[lragan]

Question is my jack different from everyone elses?

Well, to no one's surprise, your jack is red.  Mine is yellow. 

My jack will lift the bike, but it is not very stable -- it is tail heavy, big time.  With the cradle in place, it is quite stable, as the jack is centered under the center of gravity of the bike.

[Charles S Otwell]

Sorry I went back and actually read the subject line Your working on a first Gen, yeah that makes a big difference. My bad!!