Friday, May 10, 2013
With the GS gone and the new GS not yet arrived I had a chance to clean up and rearrange the garage with an eye toward making room for a motorcycle lift. A friend provided the needed Harbor Freight Coupon ($299.99) and my brother took me to a San Jose store that had the lift in stock. It just fit in the back of his van.
Set up is quick: install wheels. Optionally install the u-bolts as a tie down point (I installed them). I didn’t bother installing the wheel vice as it isn’t very good and I already have a very good Condor chock. The task is to fit the Condor to the lift. The lift platform has a lip that stick up about 15 mm. The Condor has a cross brace that stick out about 30 mm on each side of the platform when centered. The idea of cutting the Condor to fit didn’t appeal to me.
I made a vertical cut on the lip about 100 mm from the end of the platform with a dremel tool and bent the lip down by grabbing it with a large crescent wrench. A sanding drum on the dremel tool got rid of sharp edges.
The red paint chiped off where I did the bending, of course. I should hit the areas of no paint with some primer to keep it from rusting. Later.
I centered the Condor stand on the platform and then drilled two holes through the stand and platform. I used some of the hardware meant to mount the vice to attach the condor. Done. Works quite well.
As is often reported with these lifts the hydraulic fluid level was low. I was prepared for this: I purchased some fluid along with the lift. It needed 4-5 oz of fluid to top off the reservoir.
My garage re-arrangement planning was perfect. There is about 1/8” of clearance between the end of the ramp and the garage door. If necessary I could move the lift in another inch or two, also.