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How to raise your V-Strom motorcycle with a floor jack.

20K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Black Lab 
#1 · (Edited)
It's time to change the tires on my wee. I got about 9,200 miles on the old Battle Wings.

I raised the rear of the bike with a rear end lifter stand thingy. I then came up with a way to raise the front end by using a floor jack. The rear is lifted to help stabalize the bike.

What I did was make a simple u-shaped wood assembly that is put together with some long wood screws. The idea is quite simple and works pretty good.

Basically, the lift works by inserting a 3/8" bolt that is 10- inches long through the slot that goes all the way through the bottom of the engine. A couple inches of the bolt then sticks out of each side of the engine. [I think the hole is a slot to attach a center stand to lift the bike.] There is a notch on each top side of the wooden u-shaped assembly, which is where the ends of bolt rest upon. I raise the floor jack up until the bolt ends rest on the block. The jack is then raised further until reaching the desired height.

The pictures should be self explanatory.









 
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#2 ·
Bravo:hurray:

Nice and simple, usually I dug up some old pieces of 2x4 and fit them between the engine and a HF motorcycle stand. Never thought to use a floor jack.

Ron W.
 
#3 ·
Looks like it could be a little unstable (fall forward or to the right) but my real concern is the weight of the bolt ends (3/8" wide) bearing down on and splitting the two (or worse one) :yikes: upright pieces of wood. It would be way stronger if the wood uprights were ripped with the grain to about 2 1/2" wide & then cross cut to 5 1/2" and then screwed/glued to the cross piece. This way the bolts are trying to crush the wood instead of split it. :thumbup:
Just my 2$ worth.
 
#4 ·
The Suzuki service manual says to do it this way, using a Pit Bull type lift to stabilize the back. I used a floor jack with the cupped receiver that came with it. I was so worried about stability I asked my riding pal to come by and hold it while I tested it out. It was very stable, nary a wiggle. The 2X4 jig would only make it more stable.

Good solution!
 
#7 · (Edited)
Or.....

......skidplate, block of wood, floorjack.




Instead of recutting the wood, (there is a high risk of the blocks splitting with the "end grain" of the wooden blocks being in contact with the bolt. Particularly as the wooden blocks dry out over time.), purchase a pipe adaptor/nipple and cut it in half. Use one half of each as a "half-bushing" down in the detents where the body of the bolt lays across the wooden block. Doing this will probably disperse the pressure enough to keep the blocks from splitting.

EDIT: This morning, this is where my bike is at right now. The rear is hung from the garage ceiling by a come-a-long and also supported by some blocking underneath the bike's frame, (doing swingarm bearing work), and the front is held up and stabilized by ratcheting tie-down straps from the crashbars to the garage ceiling joists. The front is also stabilized with a jackstand "hooked" into my crashbars, (rebuilding the speedo sensor and changing a front tire.).



 
#8 ·
Or.....

......skidplate, block of wood, floorjack.


Instead of recutting the wood, (there is a high risk of the blocks splitting with the "end grain" of the wooden blocks being in contact with the bolt. Particularly as the wooden blocks dry out over time.), purchase a pipe adaptor/nipple and cut it in half. Use one half of each as a "half-bushing" down in the detents where the body of the bolt lays across the wooden block. Doing this will probably disperse the pressure enough to keep the blocks from splitting.

MikeWee,

If you're gonna keep that wooden setup.....I'd suggest re-doing the small notched vertical blocks and orient the grain of the wood so that it runs on a horizontal plane instead of vertical....then it won't split.
Better safe than sorry....or a rashed V-Strom.
 
#9 ·
I just use the centerstand, and then use a floor jack with a block of 2x4 between the jack and the bottom of the engine case to lift the front wheel. Most of the weight is on the centerstand anyway. It really doesn't put much stress on the engine case.
 
#11 ·
This was how I changed my front tire last year (2009) and it worked fine. Of course, I had the rear tire on at the time and it helped stabilize the bike. Today I was tearing the bike down for its winter maintenance and decided to take the rear tire off first (I have to get into the front sprocket cover again, so the chain needs to be slack).

I have the bike up on its centerstand, while trying to get the bottom of the engine case propped up, I realized it was way too unstable with only the centerstand and a block of wood, so I took the blocks out and left the front tire on.

It looks like I either need a rear pitbull type stand, but I don't have enough room where the bike is right now. Or a front pitbull stand with the pin to support the front with the forks off.

This really threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I'd hoped to have the bike torn down today, giving me the next few weeks to order the parts and put it back together.
 
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