hello Paul! I have the exact same design jack. Mine lowered too fast no matter how gentle I was with the pedal. I solved it by changing the oil to 20W50 motorcycle oil. Now it is ultra smooth. Take care, enjoy the rest of this unique, surreal summer.
Paul, thank you for this, you are the "first" person to address the "bounce" and the "why" when lowering the load or motorcycle. My Craftsman motorcycle jack does this "bounce" and the worn out seals makes sense since the jack did not do this when new. I'm going to have to see what I can come up with to get this fixed. Thanks again for your time and experience.
You should have an adjustment on the opposite side of the release. It will slow the lowering speed of the lift making it easier to control the bike. Not going to fix the underrated lifting capacity. I am on my second bottle too on my Harbor Freight
Thoroughly exceellent presentation. It's a pleasure to watch. There's no technical video problems at all, zero! The content is clear and well scripted. This is great craftsmanship and a quality video production. Sound is strong and the editing is crisp. It's a relief to find a video like this.
Thanks for all the videos Paul. I recently disconnected my O2 sensors on my '14 CCT, now I'm mad I didn't do it earlier!. Really cooled the operating temp. No deceleration backfire, runs great.
THANK YOU very much for this execptionaly clear + informative + educating video :) And as important - beautifully carried-out DIY upgrade for the newbies among us to watch and learn - thank you again for the detailed explanations :)
I did this mod and it works like a gem. Thanks for the post I truly enjoyed watching it and it made it easy to do it myself; saved a lot of money doing this.
"Tensile" strength is a measurement of what it takes to stretch that mild steel bar to failure. Like a rubber band. It has _no_ bearing on your application. A failure of your cantilever mild steel arms won't be in static load conditions. If your bottle jack drops the bike too quickly (as cheap ones are prone to do), and you suddenly arrest the fall, the force generated is _far_ in excess of your bike's static weight.
Well now , J&S jacks (out of business) Pit Bull made by appointment only and got high as a cats back sooo modifying what one has is a very good plan ...... 🙂
There's many differently branded versions of this jack available but they all seem to be basically the same. I've got my eye on one for my Triumph Street Scrambler after my screw type scissor bike lift failed by stripping the thread but it was a cheap copy. The Triumph's listed dry weight is 203kg, so let's say 220 curb weight. Using your calculations I think I should be OK with the weight on the jack at 1182lbs and well within it's listed limit.
Hi Paul, Thank you for your great video! As it happens I recently purchased the PITTSBURGH AUTOMOTIVE 1500 lb. Motorcycle Lift, basically same as yours. I am having the same issue where the arms are same length as my bike's frame width about 13 3/8". I would love to attach those Hot Rolled Steel plates to my jack. In the video you mentioned you bolted the longer plates to existing arms. I don't see any bolts sticking up, your plates look nice and leveled. Can you please describe how you bolted the extra steel to your jack? Thank you in advance! Vadim
Hi Vadim, My jack came with metal rods welded at the ends of the arms, I don't know why they put them there. I took my angle grinder and cut them off. Then there was some rubber strips on the arms that had small round plugs on the bottom that went through some holes in the metal arms. Those are the holes that I used. I took the arms off and put them upside down on the longer pieces of metal and center punched where the holes were. I then drilled them out and then using a larger drill bit I just barely widened the top of the hole on the longer pieces so the bolts would countersink in them to be nice and flat. Make sure you use the shortest bolts that you can so the rest of the jack doesn't hit them when using it. Now with the them put back on the jack I placed some new flat rubber on the metal using contact cement glue. Hope this helps, thanks for watching.
Hi Paul, I am wondering how this new bottle jack is working out for you today. When you made the comparison between it and the old one rated at 1.5 ton the overall size looked very similar. When I saw that it made me think your new jack was over-rated for power. The new jack did perform much better but again, the old bottle jack was worn out. On the day that I am in the situation to repair my motorcycle jack I would like to replace it with a stronger one but the one’s available locally to me are larger in size too. I am using a Craftsman motorcycle jack to lift and service a much heavier Can Am Spyder RT Limited so I now know I’m on borrowed time. I don’t know how and where to shop for a higher rated bottle jack of similar size. Thanks for all of your great information and advice.
The 4 ton bottle on my jack is still doing great. I think it will last for at least as long as I will use it. When I go to Canadian Tire or Princess Auto stores in Canada they have 4 and 6 ton bottles about the same size as the one I am using. The 6 ton may be a bit fatter but they both will still easily fit. Harbor Freight stores in the States also has the 4 ton exactly the same as the one I used in my video. Not sure where you are located, but try looking in one of those stores. Thanks for watching.
The secret to these types of jacks is how powerful the hydraulic bottle is. With the leverage required by design, a 1500 pound bottle can not lift 1500 pounds without exceeding its limits. I can not find any info on the Stinger jack about the size of the bottle but it must be rated at 2 tons or more to work within its limits. That is the first thing I check for when buying a jack.
I went to raise my bike a bit higher while the back tire was off… (Harley Road Glide) but accidentally hit the pedal to lower it instead. Doh! Anyways nothing real bad happened as I stopped in time, but it has made me aware that I should do the same as here, so accidents don’t happen.
There is an adjustment screw on the back side of the bottle, take out the plug and you will see a screw to adjust. It will lower the rate of speed the bike drops. Mine takes about 4 or 5 seconds to drop.
Hey Paul, I need to do the same replacement, but wondered if you'd figured out a better way to lower the bike than using the bottle jack release handle? Lots of times, I feel more secure holding the bike handlebar as it's coming down, even when I use the foot release. If I'm bent or squatted over using the jack handle to release, I can't really hang onto the bike like I did before and that's uncomfortable to me. Dean
Hi Dean, I haven't actually done it yet but I feel the same as you wanting to hold the bars while lowering. I will need to make a "T" handle type mechanism with a spring attached on one end. This way you can press with your foot and the spring will bring it back to close the valve. That seems the simplest way. Thanks for watching.
Im in the states, im curious , what jack were you planning on getting that you cant get right now. I was recently looking for a lift table , but anything decent is just too expensive. id settle for a quality jack though. I have one similar to yours now , but im not confident in its ability to maintain the weight either.
I would love to get the J&S air lift jack. Their site says an HD dealer in Montreal (2 hours away from me) sells them but when I contacted the dealer they said they have never sold those jacks. Also the jack is $675 USD plus $125 USD shipping in the States only, so that would be well over $1,000 CAD for me and I would still need to cross the border to get it but it is closed for now. Anyway, I think I will make my own custom air jack, it will be much cheaper and built exactly the way I want it. I already have a 12 ton air jack.
@@PaulPomerleau Ahhhh yes. I know that jack. I was looking into getting one also. But I've heard their customer service is HORRIBLE. I also read tons of complaints that the bottles leaked after only a few uses and the customers were pissed because they get zero help from their customer service. I went on their fb and it was nothing but complaints. So I looked elsewere
In the video I drilled some mounting holes in the base of the bottle. I then drilled matching holes on the jack plate and used nuts and bolts to secure them together.
Yes, I had to measure exactly where to drill so that it would give me enough room for the head of the bolt, along with a wrench or socket, that it would fit to assemble it to the jack. Then I marked those spots on the flat bottom so I could drill easier. Then I used scrap wood all around to hold it level, clamped everything in place and started drilling using the drill press. It is probably the hardest part of the entire modification.
@@PaulPomerleau Again Thank you for your quick reply , your explanation is better and yes it look's like it well be more difficult to do , But what the heck , I will let you know how it turns out. Bill
Just maybe the stores that sell this jack will complain to the chinese sweat shop that makes them that the bottle is underrated for the lift capacity as advertised and they will put a 2T bottle on them. But that may take all of us complaining to these stores first! Won't hold my breath!
A load rating on a piece of powered lift gear normally indicates the maximum load the equipment can safely support, not the power to lift that load. Putting a higher capacity jack in your system without strengthening the frame is seriously dangerous.
Exactly, but this jack advertises a rating of 1,500 pounds. My bike only weighs 900, it should easily be able to do it. But after replacing my bottle twice I decided to do some calculations as to why it fails and found out with the configuration of the leverage that the bottle can only lift a 600 pound load. It is underpowered for the jacks rating. The metal frame has never shown any weakness but the bottle has failed twice.
Great job on your videos. Clear, concise, to the point. And helpful! Thank you!
hello Paul!
I have the exact same design jack.
Mine lowered too fast no matter how gentle I was with the pedal.
I solved it by changing the oil to 20W50 motorcycle oil.
Now it is ultra smooth.
Take care, enjoy the rest of this unique, surreal summer.
I have the same problem, I hope to solve it that way, thank you very much!
Just did this DIY repair and it works like a charm; took about an hour to complete thanks for sharing. Thank you Paul
Paul, thank you for this, you are the "first" person to address the "bounce" and the "why" when lowering the load or motorcycle. My Craftsman motorcycle jack does this "bounce" and the worn out seals makes sense since the jack did not do this when new. I'm going to have to see what I can come up with to get this fixed. Thanks again for your time and experience.
You should have an adjustment on the opposite side of the release. It will slow the lowering speed of the lift making it easier to control the bike. Not going to fix the underrated lifting capacity. I am on my second bottle too on my Harbor Freight
Followed directions. No welder but made minor adjustments with nuts and bolts. Awesome job.
Thoroughly exceellent presentation. It's a pleasure to watch. There's no technical video problems at all, zero! The content is clear and well scripted. This is great craftsmanship and a quality video production. Sound is strong and the editing is crisp. It's a relief to find a video like this.
Thank you very much for your kind words. I appreciate it.
Thanks Paul I appreciate your videos Bud.. Fellow Canadian Marc
Thanks for all the videos Paul.
I recently disconnected my O2 sensors on my '14 CCT, now I'm mad I didn't do it earlier!.
Really cooled the operating temp. No deceleration backfire, runs great.
Awesome job Paul! Thanks for sharing!
Information I did not know I needed, but very happy to have it.
You bike looks good from behind lol. I’m liking the tail light design.
Good job Paul. Very inventive.
THANK YOU very much for this execptionaly clear + informative + educating video :)
And as important - beautifully carried-out DIY upgrade for the newbies among us to watch and learn - thank you again for the detailed explanations :)
Excellent video, very explanatory.
I did this mod and it works like a gem. Thanks for the post I truly enjoyed watching it and it made it easy to do it myself; saved a lot of money doing this.
"Tensile" strength is a measurement of what it takes to stretch that mild steel bar to failure. Like a rubber band. It has _no_ bearing on your application. A failure of your cantilever mild steel arms won't be in static load conditions. If your bottle jack drops the bike too quickly (as cheap ones are prone to do), and you suddenly arrest the fall, the force generated is _far_ in excess of your bike's static weight.
Informative. Thank you
You are amaze-balls! Thanks for sharing!
Very well done ✅
Well now , J&S jacks (out of business) Pit Bull made by appointment only and got high as a cats back sooo modifying what one has is a very good plan ...... 🙂
Excellent, as always
Good vid, now I need to check the bottle jack on my older Craftsman jack. I bet it's inadequate.
Nice
I’ve got the Same bikelifter.
Maybe i Kopie you 😊.
Stay care
Greets from Germany
Did you countersink the fasteners on those plates? I'm probably going to have bolt heads sticking up on mine..
There's many differently branded versions of this jack available but they all seem to be basically the same. I've got my eye on one for my Triumph Street Scrambler after my screw type scissor bike lift failed by stripping the thread but it was a cheap copy. The Triumph's listed dry weight is 203kg, so let's say 220 curb weight. Using your calculations I think I should be OK with the weight on the jack at 1182lbs and well within it's listed limit.
There’s one called Sealey 2000 ,it’s a 2 ton combination jack ,👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
good job sir !
Hi Paul, Thank you for your great video! As it happens I recently purchased the PITTSBURGH AUTOMOTIVE 1500 lb. Motorcycle Lift, basically same as yours. I am having the same issue where the arms are same length as my bike's frame width about 13 3/8".
I would love to attach those Hot Rolled Steel plates to my jack. In the video you mentioned you bolted the longer plates to existing arms. I don't see any bolts sticking up, your plates look nice and leveled.
Can you please describe how you bolted the extra steel to your jack?
Thank you in advance!
Vadim
Hi Vadim, My jack came with metal rods welded at the ends of the arms, I don't know why they put them there. I took my angle grinder and cut them off. Then there was some rubber strips on the arms that had small round plugs on the bottom that went through some holes in the metal arms. Those are the holes that I used. I took the arms off and put them upside down on the longer pieces of metal and center punched where the holes were. I then drilled them out and then using a larger drill bit I just barely widened the top of the hole on the longer pieces so the bolts would countersink in them to be nice and flat. Make sure you use the shortest bolts that you can so the rest of the jack doesn't hit them when using it. Now with the them put back on the jack I placed some new flat rubber on the metal using contact cement glue. Hope this helps, thanks for watching.
nice info.....
Hi Paul, I am wondering how this new bottle jack is working out for you today. When you made the comparison between it and the old one rated at 1.5 ton the overall size looked very similar. When I saw that it made me think your new jack was over-rated for power. The new jack did perform much better but again, the old bottle jack was worn out. On the day that I am in the situation to repair my motorcycle jack I would like to replace it with a stronger one but the one’s available locally to me are larger in size too. I am using a Craftsman motorcycle jack to lift and service a much heavier Can Am Spyder RT Limited so I now know I’m on borrowed time. I don’t know how and where to shop for a higher rated bottle jack of similar size. Thanks for all of your great information and advice.
The 4 ton bottle on my jack is still doing great. I think it will last for at least as long as I will use it. When I go to Canadian Tire or Princess Auto stores in Canada they have 4 and 6 ton bottles about the same size as the one I am using. The 6 ton may be a bit fatter but they both will still easily fit. Harbor Freight stores in the States also has the 4 ton exactly the same as the one I used in my video. Not sure where you are located, but try looking in one of those stores. Thanks for watching.
@@PaulPomerleau Thanks Paul, I’m in the free States and will look into HF to see what they have.
Fabulous videos Paul. Be curious to know if you have any knowledge about the OTC 1545 Stinger jack?
The secret to these types of jacks is how powerful the hydraulic bottle is. With the leverage required by design, a 1500 pound bottle can not lift 1500 pounds without exceeding its limits. I can not find any info on the Stinger jack about the size of the bottle but it must be rated at 2 tons or more to work within its limits. That is the first thing I check for when buying a jack.
I went to raise my bike a bit higher while the back tire was off… (Harley Road Glide) but accidentally hit the pedal to lower it instead. Doh! Anyways nothing real bad happened as I stopped in time, but it has made me aware that I should do the same as here, so accidents don’t happen.
There is an adjustment screw on the back side of the bottle, take out the plug and you will see a screw to adjust. It will lower the rate of speed the bike drops. Mine takes about 4 or 5 seconds to drop.
@@340rps thanks! I had no idea…I’ll check it out!
Wish one would have you bought in the states?
I was looking at the J&S jack. I hear they are out of business now.
Keep up the great work
Hey Paul, I need to do the same replacement, but wondered if you'd figured out a better way to lower the bike than using the bottle jack release handle? Lots of times, I feel more secure holding the bike handlebar as it's coming down, even when I use the foot release. If I'm bent or squatted over using the jack handle to release, I can't really hang onto the bike like I did before and that's uncomfortable to me. Dean
Hi Dean, I haven't actually done it yet but I feel the same as you wanting to hold the bars while lowering. I will need to make a "T" handle type mechanism with a spring attached on one end. This way you can press with your foot and the spring will bring it back to close the valve. That seems the simplest way. Thanks for watching.
Im in the states, im curious , what jack were you planning on getting that you cant get right now. I was recently looking for a lift table , but anything decent is just too expensive. id settle for a quality jack though. I have one similar to yours now , but im not confident in its ability to maintain the weight either.
I would love to get the J&S air lift jack. Their site says an HD dealer in Montreal (2 hours away from me) sells them but when I contacted the dealer they said they have never sold those jacks. Also the jack is $675 USD plus $125 USD shipping in the States only, so that would be well over $1,000 CAD for me and I would still need to cross the border to get it but it is closed for now. Anyway, I think I will make my own custom air jack, it will be much cheaper and built exactly the way I want it. I already have a 12 ton air jack.
@@PaulPomerleau Ahhhh yes. I know that jack. I was looking into getting one also. But I've heard their customer service is HORRIBLE. I also read tons of complaints that the bottles leaked after only a few uses and the customers were pissed because they get zero help from their customer service. I went on their fb and it was nothing but complaints. So I looked elsewere
fab
How did you mount the base of the jack to the base?
In the video I drilled some mounting holes in the base of the bottle. I then drilled matching holes on the jack plate and used nuts and bolts to secure them together.
@@PaulPomerleau Thank you for your very quick reply , since the new jack 4 ton has a small bass on it , I was wondering on clamps?
Yes, I had to measure exactly where to drill so that it would give me enough room for the head of the bolt, along with a wrench or socket, that it would fit to assemble it to the jack. Then I marked those spots on the flat bottom so I could drill easier. Then I used scrap wood all around to hold it level, clamped everything in place and started drilling using the drill press. It is probably the hardest part of the entire modification.
@@PaulPomerleau Again Thank you for your quick reply , your explanation is better and yes it look's like it well be more difficult to do , But what the heck , I will let you know how it turns out. Bill
Just maybe the stores that sell this jack will complain to the chinese sweat shop that makes them that the bottle is underrated for the lift capacity as advertised and they will put a 2T bottle on them. But that may take all of us complaining to these stores first! Won't hold my breath!
A load rating on a piece of powered lift gear normally indicates the maximum load the equipment can safely support, not the power to lift that load. Putting a higher capacity jack in your system without strengthening the frame is seriously dangerous.
Exactly, but this jack advertises a rating of 1,500 pounds. My bike only weighs 900, it should easily be able to do it. But after replacing my bottle twice I decided to do some calculations as to why it fails and found out with the configuration of the leverage that the bottle can only lift a 600 pound load. It is underpowered for the jacks rating. The metal frame has never shown any weakness but the bottle has failed twice.
I wish you would buy a Indian, we need tips and help too.