. . .
PS. You will likely not have the jack completely slide under your bike when it’s on the side stand. You’ll slide it under the frame rail on the high side, then need to rock it upright to slide it under the rest of the way. You can do this alone, as I do. But it’s easier with two people, one handling the bike, one handling the jack.
I may be lucky. I just measured the actual distance from the floor to the bottom of the left (sidestand side) frame rail. It is 3.75" when the bike is at rest on the sidestand. This specifc OTC jack I am considering is 3.5" high, so I should not have to lift the bike via a wood plate under the sidestand or having my wife help me.
Whatever I buy, I don't want to have to try to modify it significantly, because that would give the manufacturer a ready excuse if the jack or lift fails at any point. Of course, if the jack or lift fails, the loss is tiny compared to the damage that would likely result to the Harley.
Foxtrapper, given the choice of this OTC jack or the Big Blue lift, which do you favour over the other, despite both having shortcomings, if I do not want to modify the chosen tool in any significant way?
Important question on the J&S jack: How LOW can the bottom of the motorcycles' frame rails be and still be able to get the J&S under it without having to lift the bike off the sidestand?
Important question on the J&S jack: How LOW can the bottom of the motorcycles' frame rails be and still be able to get the J&S under it without having to lift the bike off the sidestand?
Jim G
As low or lower than any of them. It was the gold standard for all others to measure up to when they were still being manufactured.
I say this as I do not have the spec handy, but the first bike I used it on was my 2016 Lower Rider S, which is lower than your Softail.
I or someone else will come up with that low height
Foxtrapper, given the choice of this OTC jack or the Big Blue lift, which do you favour over the other, despite both having shortcomings, if I do not want to modify the chosen tool in any significant way?
I think I’d go with the Big Blue if I were to chose between the two.
1. I think it will be significantly more stable.
2. Its a heck of a lot more sane on lowering.
also
3. You could use chains or such to suspend from, or just trust the acme screw. No modifications to the lift.
4. The post is only in the way should you switch sides while working on the bike. At that, it’s not that close. You could work around it.
1. What do you mean when you say "You could use chains or such to suspend from"??
2. The 2 beams on the Big Blue that support the bike are actually only supported in their CENTER and are cantilevered off the central lift beam, secured by bolts. The OTC bike support beams are EACH supported at both ends, which should make them less likely to try to bend over (the weight of the bike on them creates a simple "shear" stress versus a leveraged moment). Did you take that into account in prefering the Big blue over the OTC?
3. The Big Blue costs $1339 CDN delivered from the Canadian sole-source distributor. The OTC costs $478 CDN delivered from Summit. Do you regard the Big Blue as being worth almost 3 times the cost of the OTC? I'm asking, because I can fund either one, but 3x cost means a lot on a retirement budget. If it is really THAT much better ok, but if it is an improvement but not a huge one, the 3x cost becomes hard to rationalize.
p.s. It is possible that the too-quick drop on the OTC is a result of not purging the air in the hydraulic cylinder before first use. That could explain the quick or jerky lowering when the lever is moved full stroke or pulsed to lower the jack. Notice that a lot of the reviewers did not get either the quick or jerky lowering, so failure to purge air COULD be the cause.
Thinking . . .
Jim G
Last edited by JimGnitecki; 07-10-2024 at 07:41 PM.
07-10-2024, 04:00 PM
