As some of you know my family and I moved to Ecuador 1 year ago. Before that I ran and owned a Harley shop in Prescott Valley AZ. for about 14 years called Wizards Cycle. Even though our internet business, www.Primalleathers.com, is doing well I still have that itch to wrench and retirement even in paradise does not suit me well. It turns out that there are lots of Harley riders in Ecuador and not one single Harley shop in the whole country. I have a good friend in our 4x4 club that owns an auto body and repair shop just down the road from us and he is renting me space in his shop to open a Harley shop here in Cuenca. I shipped all of my H-D special tools and rollaway down here but I had to sell most of my large equipment and that included the easylifts. Now I am going to need to build a bike lift and have searched Google for some free plans but have not had much luck. The ones I have found were not too good. If anyone out there knows of any good links for FREE plans I know I would be great full if you pasted them here. Maybe someone else might be getting tired of squatting to work on their scooter too. 


 

Sounds like you got a great opportunity. Don't waste time building your own. I purchased a Titan 1000D and love it! You may want to check out their 1500XLT for your needs. titanlifts.com. Best of luck to you. I'll look you up, if I'm ever in Ecuador.

Sulli, Thanks for the reply and we will keep a light on for you. The problem is the shipping and import fees and taxes,
mucho dinero. I have been looking at some pictures of diffrent lifts and I think I can put one together. I priced the materials yesterday and it is going to run about 100 bucks. I was just hoping that someone might have some plans I could get a copy of to make things easier.

Plans, we don't need no stinkin' plans!!!

Just kiddin. Glad to here things are going good for you guys and your enjoying yourselves.

I looked around a bit and really couldn't find too much. I did find this and the concept looks like it could work pretty well with a winch and pully system. The guy wants like $20 for the plans, but watch the video and you can almost make it from that...

http://www.afabonline.com/table_lift_plans.htm

Good to hear from you again, Lucky, hope all is well for you and yourse. Thats funny because the plans you showed are the exact ones that I am building. I looked for 3 days on the net before I posted here and those were the best ones I found too. I am building mine out of 3/16 stock and bigger, 3' x 8' so it will be big enough for Harley's and more stable. Plus I like to have room for all the parts and tools laying around. By the way I did not buy the plans, though it is a fatr price, I am just using the picture for a material guied.

cool. would like to see it when you're all done. be sure to post a picture. who knows you may have a new business selling motorcycle lifts in Ecuador !!!!

Here is the one that I am useing for a model but I like the idea of the electric winch too. I will look around to see if I can find one.

I've also seen it done with a screw drive and operated with an air wrench

Is it just me looking at it wrong, or is the jack in that picture pushing the wrong way. Sure looks to me like the jack should be pushing on that bar toward the right to raise the lift, not the left ??????

That was my first thought Gofur... thought it was a piston pushing, but it it actually a floor jack lifting.  Here you can see it in a crude version.  This should give you the basic mechanics and can be cleaned up a bit.  Difinitely needs a multi position lock like the other one above.

Yeah the one thing that I thought this lift needs is a more secure way to lock it in place. I am going to drill and pin the lower part of the locking legs and where it locks in each notch to make sure it wont move until I remove the pins.

Primal, I got an old lift here we could smuggle in they never look for people smuggling stuff from the US to South America!!!

I like that one you are working from. Very clean and sturdy looking. I have seen a few manual lifts converted to auto with a winch. You really don't need that heavy of a winch if you use a block and pulley system.

Good luck. Don't forget to take some pictures for us..

Thanks for the offer on the lift. Think you could smuggle in some J-D too? Its around $150. a fith here. Beer is cheap though .80 cents a liter.  

I'm sure my grandpappy could give me some tips on runnin' whiskey.

I’m going to be starting on the lift soon but the 1st priority was a work bench. My wife and I put this one together for $26. And a few hours of fun. Now I have something to put parts and tools on. tomorrow we are going to build some storage and book shelves for all my manuals and Harley books. I have a guy making a sign post and business cards for the shop and next week we will be officially opened for more fun. The word, Taller, on the sign means shop in spanish. 

Hey Primal, how's that lift coming along?

GoFur wrote about 5 days ago

Sorry I kind of got derailed to another track, the race track. I have been working on my car. I usually race with the club in a 4x4 but after several races now I have decided to build a Baja bug to run against the 4x4s. NO BODY has ever seen a Baja bug here before and they all think Im crazy to try to race a VW in a off-road race. Even the guy with the VW shop has never seen things like cut and turned kingpin beams and coil over shocks. He is learning though and now he is building a Baja too. Anyway back to the subject at hand, I did go to the metal junkyard again the other day and scored the beginnings of the lift. Some guy had just pulled in with this floor jack and tossed it off the back of his truck. I ran over and pulled it out and asked if it worked. He said he did not know. I gave him $10. and put it in my truck. When I tried it, worked perfectly all it needed was some oil. Last week I was at the metal yard looking for a metal sink for a solvent tank. I did find one for $2. and while I was waiting to pay for it I looked across the scales and saw the familiar green color of shop equipment. When I focused in I could see that it was a metal lathe, like the one I sold before moving to Ecuador. I checked it out and it was all there except for the motor. The head bearings were good as well as all the table motions. I could not believe it was being sold as scrap. I bought it for scrap price for $50. and my friend sold me a motor for $10 and I made a pulley. I love going to the metal yard, now its one of my favorite hangouts. I’m going there today to get some square tubing for a frame for the new shop sign. I will be working on the lift soon and will post pictures. 

Harbor frieght sells a lift (not a platform). I got mine for $60 on sale. The price goes as high as 140. Its a descent lift that locks, has wheels. It'll get you about 15 inches. Its OK on concrete. I use mine for detailing. I wouldnt do any hard pulling up on it though. When I put my bike on it I just clear the floor and shake it to make sure its balanced front to back.Ive used it to change tires,oil,adjustments.

HF also sells a lift for like $500.00 and it's hydraulic.

I still have not gotten around to the lift but it is high on my list of things to do. We did get our flag up today and our first customer dropped off his FXR for repairs. He is in the Cuenca bike club and has about 60 or so members and they all have bikes that need service of some sort. And we are the only Harley shop in Ecuador

Congrats on your first customer. Guess your gonna have to work on the bike while it's on the ground. Hope you're in better shape than me 'cause if I worked down that low for more than a few minutes, I wouldn't be able to get back up!

I hear you lucky, I will be working on the lift with the money I make from this job, I have broken MANY bones over the years and now now they are all reminding me of all the FUN that I have had. You got to pay your dues someday. That is what BB King said.

I am about to push out two bikes I worked on this week: 2007 Suzuki M109 (cosmetic work) and a 2002 VROD with an improperly reassembled rear wheel, seems the ding bats at a south Arizona dealership weren't paying attention to the orientation of the rear axle cams. Next a new top end for a 2000 FXDX... also got a Sportster in the works that should be here in 2 weeks. Work is actually picking up.

 Black9 wrote about 8 hours ago

Hey Randie, did you ever get that lift built? Pictures?