Harbor Freight Motorcycle Lift Table Pneumatic / Air Conversion
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มี.ค. 2018
- Converting a Harbor Freight Motorcycle Lift Table to Air/Hydraulic. The first factory pump leaked, Replaced it from HF but I don't trust the 2nd one to last long, so decided to fix for good. There are a bunch of these conversions on TH-cam but I think many are over-engineered. See what you think of this one...It's my first ever video so please don't judge my presentation. I'll work to make it better.
Update 3/27/2022: I haven't had any issues with this pump (except having to bleed it occasionally). But should I need to repair or replace at some point, it is no longer available from N.T. under the StrongWay brand. I have found it though on Amz as Torin BigRed model ATRQ05002R. Looks to be the same pump.
Hey Paul, great job on this video. I've been looking at these lifts for a while. Nice to see mods that people make to them and that you show the pros and cons of the lift. Have a great day and make some more videos.
That cover on the back goes with the handle towards the back. It is there to remove the rear tire from a full-dress motorcycle like a Goldwing. The handle faces the back so you can easily slide it out to drop the tire out.
Really nice job! I love the creative use of extensions, bolts to spread the mounting tabs, etc. Gave me some great ideas and I think I'm going to tackle it roughly the same way. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Eric. Good luck with your project!
Good Job For a Guy in His Garage .Bravo Well Done. Thanks for the run down
Nice modification. I've watched several videos with the same mod. I'm going to do the same thing with mine. I'm also going to add four 2"x2" square sleeves to support outriggers as I've added removable 12" side skirts to each side of the table to support ATV & lawn&garden tractors.
Sean I would really like to see how you added side extensions. I'm wanting to do the same on mine so I can get my atv's on it.
Nice work, Thanks for putting this video together.
Great video and love the attention to detail you have taken with your upgrades and plan to do similar with my lift and appreciate you taking the time to make this video as it's no doubt going to help me with just how I should go about installing a air bottle jack instead of a manual bottle jack.
Thanks again brother!
Good job on upgrading that motorcycle lift!
Very nice Job on the air/hydraulic jack conversion. Also very nice of you to communicate the limits of this piece of hardware, as is only 1000 lb. max weight. I had one person ask me if this could lift 1 side of a car, I did say to that person "Do not lift a car" Thanks for the video.
Good work and nice video. Thanks for sharing
You did an amazing job!
This is an excellent video. I'll be picking up a Harbor Freight lift table for my Harley Dyna and I'll make the air modification. Thanks!
Nice job on the video. I still wish I had my 850 Commando...best handling bike I ever had.
Great video man very helpful!
Excellent informative video. Will be doing same to my table
hey 80bucks over the initial cost and little engineering and some plenty decent workmanship,,looks good nice job.
I have the Central Pneumatics motorcycle lift table (the predecessor to the Pittsburgh from HF ) that had the air/ hydraulic jack. After about 12 years the pneumatic pump gave out and I manually pumped it up for about a year. I had been toying with the idea of converting it to a hydraulic cylinder similar to a log splitter. After about a year of hunting on line and through junk yards I came across a hydraulic pump unit for an automotive lift. I found a 2" cylinder with a 6" stroke that I thought would do the job. I fabricated a mount out of a 4" square steel tube (a little over kill there. 3" would have been quite adequate). That served as a cross member between the frame rails of the lift frame. I made a post out of 3 pieces of 5/16" X 2" bar stock sandwiched together and welded. The material for all the fabrication came from the local scrap yard. I drilled one end to receive the clevis pin of the hydraulic cylinder. Then I centered and welded the post perpendicular to the square tube. I had to weld the cross member onto the frame far enough forward for the rear lift arms to clear in the down position. That meant removing the rods for the pedals. The rod on the cylinder was much smaller than the ram on the old jack so I had to make a collar to thread on the end of the rod to make it fit into the cup on the V plate. The pivot rod for the V plate broke the center bolt twice so I drilled and tapped each end and bolted a fender washer to the ends to keep the rod in place. Once mounted and connected to the pump unit I rolled my 600# bike on the lift and hit the button to lift it. I found I had turned my lift into a catapult. It lifted the bike to the top in less than 2 seconds, and when it got to the top it jerked the whole assembly back about 4" along the floor. I had to slow it down. To do so I made a restrictor that I put in the fitting by the cylinder to restrict the rate of flow into the cylinder. I had to choke it down from 3/8" down to .025". That slowed the lift down to 8 seconds and kept it in place. The pump unit has a go switch to raise the lift and a lever to let it down by gravity. I installed a pedal switch on the opposite side of the lift so I can lift it from that side too. Since the cylinder has a 6" stroke and it only takes 4" to lift it all the way, I installed a stop switch to keep it from over extending. I put a 960# bike on the lift and it lifted it about a third of the way up and overloaded it and blew the breaker. I then installed a 2 1/2" cylinder which gave me plenty of force to lift a 1000# bike. I realize that this is a little more work and expense than the air/oil conversion done here, but I think it was well worth it.
The only down side is if the lift isn't all the way up, and I want to lift it higher, I have to let it down, either on to the safety bar or all the way down. This relieves the pressure on the hydraulics and allows the motor time to spool up again to lift it all the way.
Thanks Martin. That sounds like quite a project. After almost 5 years, this one is still working great. The pump is no longer available from Northern Tool, but I found the same one otherwise branded on Amazon (search BIG RED 5 Ton (10,000 LBs) Torin Pneumatic Air Bottle Jack with Manual Hand Pump, ATRQ05002R). More than enough oomph for my 500~ lb bikes. From what I can see, HF no longer sells this table with the lift setup that I have here. Hopefully they have improved it. But now costs $600 ! ( I think mine was 250 - 300 with coupon in 2017).
@@paulreifsnyder9767 I've looked at the Pittsburgh lifts at HF, and from my perspective the changes didn't improve anything. They look cheaper and lighter than our Central Pneumatic lifts. I have another Central lift without the pneumatics that I intend to do the same mod on. I intend to put a switching valve on the pump unit so I can switch the hydraulics between the two lifts. I bought my first lift with the pneumatics in 2008 for $450. Prices sure have changed.
I did a video on the modifications that I did to my lift.
th-cam.com/video/T6eHjhZNkXw/w-d-xo.html
Good video and very nice modifications. I myself have a HF lift just like yours. I have not had any problems with the original pump but if I do your solution looks like a winner. Oh and I do put my Harley Roadglide on my lift and have no worries. I know that is at the top of its weight limit but I have had several dressers on it and its solid.
Well this is the third or forth air jack conversion I have watched today whilst I am awaiting delivery of my 'Bike Tek' hydraulic table lift (very similar to the Harbor Freight one) and it is by far the best video.... not least because of those fine Norton motorcycles - I am in England...... so I know what I shall do if my jack fails !
Thakery, Thanks for the kind words. In hindsight, there are some things I may have done differently but I've been running this setup for almost 3 years now with NO issues. What's harder to keep running? HF tools? or old British motorcycles? Toodle Pip !
@@paulreifsnyder9767 I gave up on old Brits a long time ago - 1988 to be precise. It was a bad time for spares availability and I had a pre-unit Triumph with bits from all sorts of years. Bit the bullet and bought a brand new Harley (1990) and am still buggering around with them at 61 years.... currently a 2006 XL1200R modified to give 100bhp and a 2010 Dyna making over 130bhp ( I am not married fortunately !)
My lift got here yesterday and I am trying to 're-arrange the furnature' to accommodate it - may just build a bigger shed !
Excellent fab work Paul! I notice you invested in the Bead Buddy II. They're a knuckle saver eh? Cheers! Zip~
Well done ---- Thanks for the entertainment
Very nice and I don’t blame you for going with air over hyd
Looks like a winner and lot less work
Nice work, did one myself, I routed my air hose through the old existing pump shaft bracket. Same here, I had to add more hydraulic oil. How is that air chuck location working out for you? Thanks for the video.
Bryan, Thanks for the comments. I saw your version and we're definitely thinking on the same plane. The air chuck pointing out the back is working just fine, and I can operate the air trigger with my ankle, letting it ride up my leg till it gets to the level of my hand.
nice mod. hang an air hose from above with a coiled line and your air is out of the way, and you can use it for air tools too.
Thanks threequarders. The front half of my garage ceiling is obstructed by the double garage door when open. So my 'space' is limited, but I'll see what I can work out.
Hi Paul, your pneumatic conversion idea was very impressive , there's a couple things I would have done a little different but overall a really good job but I do have one kinda big safety concern I wanted to voice. You used a fluxcore welder didn't you, and since you specifically spec'd out 3/16" plate that tells me it was probably the HF 115V fluxcore welder which is an AC or DCEP welder. I looked at the video in slow motion multiple times of your welded plate and I don't see any signs showing your welds actually penetrated which could very well be the case with an AC fluxcore welder especially a 115v welder. if that is the case the welds could hold right up until they don't at which time things could go very badly if you have a 500+ lbs bike halfway up or down. for your own safety you might want to consider having the weld penetration looked at by someone with a little more welding experience. I have nothing against HF 115v welders, I have one of the old blue box HF welders out in the shed myself, however I did convert mine to DC or DCEN so it would penetrate better and wouldn't make the big AC fluxcore splatter mess anymore and I could actually run a decent bead. anyway I'm not making a criticism, I'm just thinking about your safety.... take care.....
Very nicely stated. I had the same concerns about his welds. It's not easy getting penetration on joints like that with out the power required to actually get fusion.
Oh Yea ,Great Job making the video as well. Done a couple myself, not so easy, and you seamed it together well.
i would put some kind of extensions out the side front and back to keep the lift from falling over ...with a top heavy bike it could fall away from you or on to you....just can't be too safe when working with heavy bikes...
good job, did you look into a foot operated peddle and having the hose on the floor instead of the deck mounted hose?
Hi John, thanks for your comment. The trigger I used came with the pump, so I just used what I had.
I can hit it with my ankle and let it ride up my leg till it comes to my hand.
I did recently buy and assemble an HF Blast Cabinet, and I added an upgrade kit (eBay) that included a foot pedal . I HIGHLY recommend that vs holding in the gun’s trigger. I should have made a vid of that one. It came out great!
It looked like you had two Nortons in your garage. Do you go to the international Rally's?
I helped to run the 2015 rally in Asheville NC. Other than that I haven't been able to attend others due to conflicts or distance. Maybe I'll get to Michigan in 2019. I always attend British in the Blue Ridge in GA and Barbers Vintage in AL.
Yeah I’m thinking of doing that to mine too it would be nice if I wouldn’t have to try and kickstart my table lol
Cool now youre up to the cost of a handy industries lift
Hey paul.. im rebuilding my lift table pretty same as urs.. now of course i have the same issue as u did with pump not working in that postion lol.... question: did u fill the oil up level well pump was in hoist? And did u fill it till came out hole?
Hard to remember when/how I added fluid. But I didn't remove the jack once I had it in place, so I guess I must have added it in the horizontal position. Just keep working it and purging air, it should work after a few tries.
@@paulreifsnyder9767 has the jack worked with no issue since then?
Yes. No issues since install.
Fyi. I didn’t fill it up ‘all the way’. Just added a bit, maybe 2 or 3 times and bled each time. Then it just started to work.
@@paulreifsnyder9767 awesome thanks for the response... ya i did same as u but i pretty much filled it right up lol... its working perfectly now... so hopefully it will stay that way lol...
I don't know how you got an air/hydraulic bottle jack for around what you paid for it, but the cheapest I found was at HFT for $67.00 w/25% coupon. Normally $89.99.
And it's a 12T jack.
Great vid other than the motion sickness.
Yea, it’s a learning process. Thanks
Weld a heel-toe shifter (from a motorcycle) to the shaft in place of the vice-grips.
P.S. nice bikes. You should come to the Barbers Vintage bike show next mouth. (Oct. 5th I think)
Thanks for the comments. I actually ended up using the factory release pedal, with some modifications (30:00 min mark).
Tickets already in hand for Barber's. This will be my 9th or 10th year! Norton Hill !
my 6th or 7th year at Barbers for me. We have a booth inside where they held the auctions in the past by the food court, its the 4th booth on the right as you walk in. We are going to camp this year in tent city. We will have a 79 Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special, a 78 Suzuki GS550(with about 600 miles on it.) a 77 or 78 Suzuki TS185, a 79 Yamaha DT250, a 20?? Yamaha WRF250 converted to be street legal, and maybe a Yamaha QT50, a Honda FA50, Yamaha XT225, and Yamaha XT600. and a Honda VT700. We kind of get to cheat as we only live 1.5 hours away from there in Huntsville, AL. Hope to see you there.
How is it holding up? I know some bottle jacks won't work right if they are horizontal for a long period Of time
So far, so good. Over one year now. I have 4 motorcycles that I'm constantly moving on and off, up and down. It's made my life much easier.
Hey Grandpa Paul
How about putting one of those nice motorcycles on it!
Hello Paul Reifsnyder
So how did that hold up over the past year or so?
Cronic318, Thanks for asking. The actual installation was completed in 12/2017, (video posted 03/2018). So it's almost a full year and a half now with absolutely no problems with pump or the base. There's been concern expressed about operating the pump horizontally, but no issues so far. Just add additional fluid and bleed according to the instructions. I wish I could find a better fitting tube (or other way) to fill the space between the rams' screw extension and the 'cup' it fits into (13:15). But it hasn't given me any problem there, so it's low priority. I have 4 MC's in the garage. One is always up on the table. Friends are constantly asking to use it to work on their bikes. Bring your own beer. We're all getting too old to get down on the floor. Wife's not too happy about all the activity, but I think the marriage will survive.
5 ton torin does the trick?
turn the bottle jack 180 and bring the release valve rod out the other side.....
Good idea but I would not trust those flux core welds to hold a 1000 pounds. Nearly zero penetration. No heat discoloration on the flip side is a good indicator. Also my cautious side tells me to double up on the mounting brackets. 3/16 is not much metal when you think about the loads it will be required to lift. How did it work out after it was done? Some air over hydraulic set ups tend to bounce or pulse when going up under load. They free raise fine but slow.
Bob, Thanks for the comments. I have had other viewers comment with concern on the fluxcore welding job, so I watch it closely. But since I have put it together in Dec 2017 I have had no issues in that area. There are no lateral or 'pulling' loads on the tabs. All loads compress the tabs into the bottom plate. If I ever have to take the mod apart, I'll run it down to my local welding shop for a proper job. My big concern at this point is that should I need to replace or repair the pump, I am unable to find the same model or parts. I would probably have to redesign the mount to fit a different pump, so I would make it proper at that time.
Re: bouncing or pulse under load (or empty), there is no issue. There is need to gently lower when under load or it could slam down harder than you would want. Just need to learn the 'touch'.
So far, 4-1/2 years without any major problems. Only occasionally I'll have to bleed it to remove air in the system. I blame that on the fact that I'm using it horizontally instead of vertically.
@@paulreifsnyder9767 Thanks for the response. Did not give any thought to the fact the force is pushing not pulling. Duh! I am by no means an expert welder. I do use Argon gas on my 140 Craftsman MIG welder. Flux core smokes so much I loose track of where I am. Anyway given the cost of those HF Motorcycle lifts now I am waiting for a used one to come up on the marketplace or Craigslist. I see them now and then for a fraction of new. The first thing I will do is the air/over hyd. conversion and widen the table to handle. Again thanks for the reply.
I converted my Harbor Freight motorcycle lift to a hydraulic cylinder like on a log splitter. I did all the welding with my HF 90A flux core wire welder. All the welds are holding well. However i did convert the welder to DCEN (dc electrode negative). It made a whole new welder out of it. Very good penetration compared to the AC welder.
th-cam.com/video/T6eHjhZNkXw/w-d-xo.html
those two little fasteners are not going to keep that jack in place for very long....
Video made 12/2017. Been a year now. I'm still happy
did you over fill the reservoir?
I filled the reservoir while vertical prior to install. Once it was installed horizontally it required additional fluid. Filled a bit and bleed. Repeat until it works.
The fill plug is the black rubber plug halfway up the pump body. (Painted red from the factory). Pry it out gently w a screwdriver.
Fortunately in this installation the rubber fill plug ends up on top.
@@paulr1864 good info thanks
Home depot, Works Great
3M Safety Walk Slip Resistant Step and Reflective Tread 6 in. x 2 ft.
Model# 7768NA
Hey Dog, thanks for the input,. I originally tried the HD safety tape but the diamond plate doesn’t let the tape sit flush on the table. Oil leakage on the table ( Wait, what!, my vintage British motorcycles leak oil?) quickly melted the tape’s adhesive. That’s why I went with the spray-on which has worked reasonably well.
Enjoyed the video Paul. But would it not been cheeper to rebuild the old pump? Just sayin!
Hi Ted,
Thanks for watching and thanks for the comments.
Cheaper? Yes.
Here's the thing(s).
HF won't sell me any rebuild parts. They don't have 'access' to parts. I did take the old pump apart and replaced the blown o-ring with the closest one I could find. Lasted only a couple hundred pumps before it blew. Did that a couple of times with different o-rings. Felt like I was spending more time working under the table than on top of it.
I saw another 'conversion' video where the guy pointed out that on this particular model (69904), HF removed the pivot mechanism from the pump mechanism. So instead of holding the piston in one steady position, it could now jam down into the pump body from numerous angles, causing excess wear on the o-ring and seals. Built in failure.
Doing this kind of stuff is built into my DNA. If it's not right, I gotta' fix it. Everyone knows that HF makes stuff as cheap(ly) as possible. I coulda gone out and spent $1000+ on a table that was engineered properly to begin with. Is my fix cheaper than a 10 cent o-ring? No. But I think it's much cooler...
Had the same problem. Seals fizzed out after a year. Got replacement pump and the same thing happend. Table ok but ram is piece of shit...
I converted mine to a hydraulic cylinder powered by an electric pump. I have a complete description above.