Flame away if you wish but this is not a jack brand question. But rather, what is a good approximate balance point for putting our baggers up on a jack? Is it having the back lift fork in front of the cross member, behind it, or where? I have always done my work on the ground and with back issues coming around and putting other things on the bike I have bought a lift and just want to know where to hoist her up.......Thanks.

 

This is a difficult question. On my ultra, the back arm is in front of the cross member. But having said that, it is next to impossible to get it in the right spot all the time. I usually slide the jack under close to where i think it needs to be and start lifting. If the front comes up too quick, i let it down and roll the ike forward a bit till i get it even. Just remeber, a lttle bit of movement make a lot of difference, some time an inch is all you have to move the bike to get it right.

 

I put mine right on the cross member. Seems to be my perfect balance point. I would bet it would be a little different on a RG because of the difference in the fairing. And if a tour pack was on or off.

 

I put the back lift arm inside the crossmember on my EG. Tour pak is usually off anyway.

 

My Black Jack Porta Lift is a little bigger and wider than most. Each side of the lift arms has 2 pieces of angle iron. The rear most "lip" of the "dog bone" fits right between the 2 pieces of iron....gives me a perfect lift every time. I recall some on this forum say that with their jack they put one lift arm right in the middle of the "dog bone" support and the other is forward of that, but you should be able to tell when you start lifting. Both tires should come off the ground at about the same time....it doesn't hurt if the front comes up slightly before the rear, but it shouldn't be by much.

 

I have the Sears red jack. The best spot on my Ultra is putting the rear directly under the crossmember.

 

I typically place myjack under thecrossmember. However, I notice thebalancepoint changes, depending on how much stuff I have in the bags andtour pack.

 

I know you wanted to avoid 'brands', but it really is brand specific....It all depends on how far apart the support bars are.

This is for J&S jacks:

On my Road King, I place the rear support in center of dogbone. From there I can pull front or rear wheel or even climb on bike with no straps.

On a Dyna, I place the rear support directly in front of tranny pan with same results.

On a Sportster, I simply center both support bars on bottom of frame tubes.

With all the above bikes, theJ&S requires no adapters, nor do you need to roll bike up on something in order to get jack under it....Even with a flat tire, jack will slide under providing bike suspension isn't lowered too much.

This is not a plug for J&S jacks, just info for you guys seeking to compare jacks

 

I appreciate all answers and do realize that all the jacks are a little different. I will have to experiment a bit. Thanks. Also, when you lift it and it comes off the jiffy stand, does it drop hard onto the right side of the frame or do you hold the bike upright off the jiffy to hoist?

 

The bike rides right up nice and smooth from the jiffy stand to the jack. Ia lso use the dog bone for the back support on the lift.