Front tire removal

[DMAN999]

Picked up a lift today, it's your typical 2 arm lift. If I position the rear arm under the mounting tabs for the center stand and use a 2x4 as a spacer so when you start to lift it doesn't put any weight on the rear exhaust headers.. The front would be positioned a little behind the engine drain plug, so again using. 2x4, you be lifting on the rear of the engine and not touching the front exhaust pipes. Do I have the jack in the right position to get the bike up enough to get my front tire off ? All I'm trying to get done is install this cool looking fork brace from UFO. Does the speedo cable need to be disconnected? Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

If it's like mine, Look at my previous picture.
I put it farther forward about under the Oil pan and don't use a 2x4 at all.
I then jack it up to the first locking position on the lift and put a 2x6 under the rear wheel to stabilize the bike a bit.
And to put the fork brace on you need to pull the front wheel and fender off, so the speedo hub (connected to the front wheel) will come off when you do that.

 

[ErnieK2]

If it's like mine, Look at my previous picture.
I put it farther forward about under the Oil pan and don't use a 2x4 at all.
I then jack it up to the first locking position on the lift and put a 2x6 under the rear wheel to stabilize the bike a bit.
And to put the fork brace on you need to pull the front wheel and fender off, so the speedo hub (connected to the front wheel) will come off when you do that.[/QUOTE

That's a lot farther forward than I would have thought but that's good. The lift I have looks a lot like yours for sure!! So I just unscrew the speedo cable, nothing I need to know about reinstalling it?]

 

[DMAN999]

^ You don't have to unscrew the speedo cable.
The speedo cable gear box is just pressed into the front wheel and comes off easily when you remove the front axle.
I highlighted it in the picture below (Part #12):

 

[DMAN999]

PS
Here's a picture of it hanging from the speedo cable when I had my front wheel off:

 

[dannymax]

My is steal and there wheels .... I had this now for 3 years even set out side for 6 months through winter bike up in the air covered up.

Mine is identical....solidly built unit but grease that bearing just inboard of the hex head, it's a weak spot.

 

[ErnieK2]

PS
Here's a picture of it hanging from the speedo cable when I had my front wheel off:

I think aim ready to tackle this job thanks to all the support from you all. Thank you.

 

[jagco1]

Mine is identical....solidly built unit but grease that bearing just inboard of the hex head, it's a weak spot.

Thanks for the info, The flat jack I have no bearing at hex head. only bearing is the wheels that slide up and down with a bushing on the side of them, wheels are bearings sealed type. On the lower plate. They my change some on them I'm not sure. The shaft and screw block is hard forge steal it's stamp on the screw block. I do used chain lube on them. "O" Hex head copper kinda bushing Or looks copper but not sure.

I never had any problem. I have use them few times on split system roof top units to place beams under the heating/ac systems.

The red jack in the picture. I have that 1 to same brand and they make a yellow jack witch is the same as the red jack under another name. They both have been repaired. I sold the red 1. The yellow jack is at the other house.

They had problems when I started used them on heavy bikes.

I bought them about 3 years ago 1st. then went to the flat jacks.

I have both. The seal on the bottles jack gave way. So I stop using them.

When I bought the flat jacks they was $72.00 each. I have the invoice for them. I thought they was a little cheaper.

I have lift bikes on the exhaust but over time they will get weak and start to bend flex a little in the exhaust port. I'm not a big fan of using a single bottle jack on a motorcycle. I friend with zx11 crack his oil pan with small cut 2x4 on top of bottler jack to lift his bike front up.

I like very much lifting the bike up on the frame rails and leave enough room under, not hitting the exhaust.

 

[ErnieK2]

The exhaust will support the weight of the bike if you want to jack up on it. You can use a rag if you're worried about scuffing it up.

Sean

Had some time last night to try positioning the lift , the way the rear pipes come down below the frame rails makes them the contact point with the rear arm, the front isn't touching anything, it's a ahi doe 4-1 exhaust. If I move the jack forward from the rear pipes, the rear arm first contacts the engine oil pan and the front arm has no contact. There just doesn't seem to be anywhere I can find under the bike to jack the bike up. Even if I somehow shimmed so the front and back arms made contact at the same time, what stops the bike from just falling over ?

 

[D-Max2012]

This pic is from Morley's instructional video on how to change out the fork seals. You can see how he supported his bike. I've used this method to do my own fork seals. It is cheap and extremely stable. Feeling how stable this method was, I climbed on the bike while the front tire was off. The bike did not budge, and I'm a big guy, 6'2" @ 300lbs. (Working on that )

Full Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWjsB0eHcFo

 

[ErnieK2]

Today was the day to finally get the fork brace installed. Used the engine guards with a jack on each side. Worked good, hardest part was getting the speedo cable and spacer on the other side lined up to get the axle bolt through, other than that, it was easy. New brace and cat's eye tailight are looking good. If I knew how to add pics I would. Thanks to everyone that responded, much appreciated.
Ernie