help design motorcycle lift table

[UncleJoe]

I have an idea for a motorcycle lift table but I need some help thinking through a couple of things.

My concept came from a post here where someone made a table for their two post lift. I got to thinking about doing something similar. If I build a table/platform that sat on the ground, maybe even on casters and then I could use this lift from Harbor freight that sells for $130 with the 20% coupon to lift it into place.

Here is how I would envision using the lift; While on the floor you could roll a bike up on the table and secure it. Then use the HF lift to take the table to working height. Once at the fixed working height you could add support legs and then lower the table onto the legs and remove the HF lift and get it out of the way and have the bike on the platform/table to work on. The table could be customized to allow removable section for the rear wheel or front wheel or a center section that has a hole for an oil drain pan. This system would allow you to build a steel or wood platform and could be customized pretty easily.

Same concept as this but with the ability to install legs and remove the lift.

My design concerns are with the legs. I would like to have a simple leg system that when not in use could be hung on the wall or otherwise easily stored but is robust enough to hold, lets say 1500 pounds.

One thought is to use 4x4's that fit into pockets in the underside of the table. My concern is preventing lateral shifting so I would like a side to side brace of some sort, a gusset if you will. The legs and brace could be secured with bolts into T-Nuts.

Another is to use a pipe of maybe 2" diameter into pockets or even flanges. Again I would like to restrict any side to side movement that might cause wobble. I want the table to be rock solid when I am working on it.

I know I can buy a table from HF for 280 with a coupon and even a nice powered table for 300+. I also purchased the plans to make a table from www.afabonline.com but I priced out all the steel and it would cost around $400 to do that.

So I am looking for some advice from all the experts here. Let me know what you think.

 

[mjozefow]

I just got the electric lift from HF and it works really well. I plan to do a full review on it in the near future. I too was going to build my own, but for $300 OTD this lift is pretty sweet.

There are some plans online for using a floor jack and a moving platform to make a lift table. The issue is it only gives like 20" of lift. This is not enough in my book. The HF and most others go to 30" or more.

 

[UncleJoe]

I just got the electric lift from HF and it works really well. I plan to do a full review on it in the near future. I too was going to build my own, but for $300 OTD this lift is pretty sweet.

There are some plans online for using a floor jack and a moving platform to make a lift table. The issue is it only gives like 20" of lift. This is not enough in my book. The HF and most others go to 30" or more.

Thanks I will be interested in reading your review since that lift is new to the Harbor Freight line, at least as far as I can tell.

What came with the lift? Was there a front tire vise or anything like that?

I still may go with that lift instead of creating a table if I do not come up with a good design for the table legs.

 

[iagsxr]

I find that there's no one right height for the table, run mine up and down all the time depending on what I'm doing.

Wouldn't like a fixed height table and sometimes need to move mine w/a bike on it.

 

[bomber]

I, too, got an HF lift (but hydraulic foot pump) . . . . no problems thus far (I did replacce some pre-corroded hardware with SS, though).

My only miusgiving about the plan in teh first post would be the limited accessability from one side -- that would be a problem for me, but, perhaps, not for others.