Motorcycle lift. Harbor Freight

[383 240z]

I’ve been considering a motorcycle lift for awhile. I used my buddies HF motorcycle lift and now I want one.
Harbor Freight always seems to put the couple of hundred dollar items pretty often. Does anybody know when these will go on a heavy sale? $450 is actually not a bad price for there, I know they were sub $300 a few years ago.

There is a 25% off coupon coming for New Years. Can I do better than that?

 

[1foxracing]

If you have a compressor I highly recommend a pneumatic lift, even a small brad nailer compressor will run them. I'm not dogging the HF unit as I have several friends that own it and they like them but they all like my pneumatic lift better. If you're in Beaver Co PA you can drive to Summit Racing and buy the same model I have for $670 and skip the expensive shipping charge. The review on their site with photo's is mine.
https://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/rrr-bw-1000a/overview/

 

[driftpin]

Seems-like $300 is now the 'good price' on the HFT bike lift. They usually sell it for more, I don't keep track of it, but when I've seen it recently, it's more-like $330+ to start.

I have a Handi-Lift pneumatic lift I bought used, it's great, it came w/the side extensions and the end ramp.

Guys who buy the HFT lift often go for a better front wheel vise (a 'vice' is daily consumption of a fifth of Old Grand-Dad, chasing hookers, or similar behavior) but if that's all you can find, I wouldn't turn it down. Check your local craigslist & other facebook marketplace/offerup0 type selling locations online.

Craftsman lift for motorcycles craigslist Pittsburgh:
https://youngstown.craigslist.org/grd/d/warren-craftsmen-lift-jack/7045261274.html

https://altoona.craigslist.org/tld/d/bow-1500-lb-motorcycle-atv-lift-package/7030270618.html
PRO 1200 MOTORCYCLE ATV LIFT PACKAGE WITH SERVICE JACK $1069 Free Shipping No Sales Tax ☎ 603-234-2612

 

[Tas biker]

About 2-3 years ago the HF lifts went for $279 - $299 then took a jump to $330. I bought mine about 8 years ago for $279. It's served me well for a home owner mechanic. First thing I did was take off the oem tire chock and put on one of their front wheel chocks.

My brother has 3 Handy pneumatic lifts and I definitely like those better but you'll pay about triple the HF lifts.

If I could afford a Handy then I'd get one of those instead.

 

[oldmxracer]

I too do not really follow the price any more, Will agree with $330 to start .

Bought mine Aug. of '15 for $296.76 with a coupon.

Darn thing has seen near daily work, MUCH more than the average buyer.

Made lots of mods, Front wheel chuck, 3 part side extensions for atv's



All tie downs and attachments were keyholed, new safety locks were made then I recessed it in the floor of My small space.




Would buy one again in a with out doubt !

The pump or jack failing could be the biggest issue it is kind of just made for this application, When it was recessed it in the floor I ordered 2 new ones for a total cost of $92.21 took 12 weeks to get them.

 

[dfiler2]

I wonder if it would be difficult to replace the ram on the HF lift with one of these.

https://www.toolots.com/precise-si6...FmnEamuIzCVtpNUZV_5d01HenmAvtWThoCKxgQAvD_BwE

 

[HotrodHR]

I too do not really follow the price any more, Will agree with $330 to start .

Bought mine Aug. of '15 for $296.76 with a coupon.

Darn thing has seen near daily work, MUCH more than the average buyer.

Made lots of mods, Front wheel chuck, 3 part side extensions for atv's



All tie downs and attachments were keyholed, new safety locks were made then I recessed it in the floor of My small space.




Would buy one again in a with out doubt !

The pump or jack failing could be the biggest issue it is kind of just made for this application, When it was recessed it in the floor I ordered 2 new ones for a total cost of $92.21 took 12 weeks to get them.

How about some pics of your recessed lift in action? I like your setup but my problem would be tripping over it when not in use!

 

[kngelv]

If you pick one up then get item #68892. They have two different lifts that look identical. I bought the other one initially but it was bent and would not lower all the way. Returned it and the new one had a completely different assembly/mechanism for raising and lowering. Much more robust. Glad my first one was defective.

James

 

[gunguy]

Had one for a number of years then gave it to my son and he's been using it for the past four years. We've never had an issue with this lift.

Like others have said, replace the wheel vise. Also know the table moves forward and backward about 6-12 inches (as I recall) as you lower/raise the table; it is essentially a parallelogram. You may have to account for this depending on how tight your work space is.

Beats the hell out of working on your hands and knees. Use tie-downs, especially if you use the OEM wheel vise.

Jim

 

[Outlander]

Made lots of mods, Front wheel chuck, 3 part side extensions for atv's

All tie downs and attachments were keyholed, new safety locks were made then I recessed it in the floor of My small space.

You are my hero.....I'd love to avoid crawling around in my small space!

 

[dagofast]

I've had the HF motorcycle lift since 2005. It has worked flawlessly all these years and that is even after my lovely wife backed in to it with her car while it was raised with a motorcycle on it. Her motorcycle, ironically enough. Somehow, it didn't fall over or hurt her car at all and the only damage to the lift was she broke the welded studs to the ramp off. I just used bolts with fender washers and nylock nuts in their place and its been good to go ever since.

I think I paid $249-259 for mine all those years ago. Like others have said, ditch the front wheel vise and put a HF wheel chock on it. I also added more tie down u-bolts at the rear of the platform. My 45 year old knees and backed thanked me back then. Sadly, it was 15 more years until I got a lift for working on our cars and my back and knees holler at me pretty much everyday for not getting the auto lift earlier.

 

[iagsxr]

I've had mine so long I gave $199 for it. Should have bought two that day, never saw them that cheap again.

 

[jmiller_2308]

The lift is a great deal for the price and should more than meet your needs as a casual user. The leg pump works well enough and because it is part of the lift you are free to easily move the lift around to wherever you are working. I lusted after a pneumatic lift but dragging a hose/pump around as well as the additional cost put it out of sight for me. That said, if you are using the lift a lot (several times a day) then the leg pumping would get very old and the pneumatic would be the way to go.

I use my lift more as a mobile work table than I do for my motorcycles. I'll put bikes on it for maintenance as well as whenever there is something more significant to do; otherwise it just makes for a good height work surface to do other things in the garage.

The big deficiencies are the stock wheel chock and that it is somewhat narrow with no commercial options for adding wings. The wheel chock is easy to replace and several people have posted ideas for adding wings. The wings would be necessary for loading other things such as atvs or lawnmowers. I tried putting a platform of wood on mine but that turned out to be a big hassle. I happen to have an automotive lift as well and when I need to lift something wider than I bike I just use it instead.

Oh for price, I think I've actually seen it for sale between $250 and $275 within the last year. It is amazing how much the price actually fluctuates. Hmm.... its made in China so price may be up a bit because of tariffs.

 

[C3L1CA]

I love my harbor freight lift as well. I kept my eye out on craigslist for years before I found one for a good deal lol.

I don't mind the foot pump as it's just a hobby for me and the pumping really isn't bad. Like others have said the stock chock/vise is garbage. What I did with mine is I removed the red vise and left the black wheel stop. Then I just placed my baxley chock up against the stock wheel stop and that works great. My ZX10 and my bigger stratoliner feel solid with just the baxley on there not strapped down. I'm a cheap ******* and I'd splurge for a baxley (i bought my 2 baxleys used lol) over the harbor freight chock, really night and day difference in quality and the baxley will stay put on any surface unlike the harbor freight chock

 

[TriumphFan]

I've had mine for 10 yrs and never had an issue. It always has a bike on it because I use it for storage too... I always felt like the amount of steel in it was worth what I paid.

 

[JohnM45]

Been keeping my eye on the HF Motorcycle lift and there is no new Super Coupon listed online yet, but the lift is marked down to $349 for the month of January....normal price is $449.

If they have a super coupon, I'm not sure if that would be able to be used against the $349 price or not, since its a sale price.

 

[Newell33]

If I remember right my wife bought me one as a birthday present in May / June around 2 or 3 years ago. I had watched pricing for a while at that time, and I believe she paid $269.00 or $279.00 with a coupon. That was the cheapest I had seen it as it was hovering around $300.00 to $329.00. As others have noted, a pneumatic version would be nice, but it's still $200.00 to $300.00 more. It's also not that hard to pump it with your foot. This is why I like having a Harbor Freight option. If it weren't for HF I wouldn't have purchased a motorcycle lift at all. By the way, my lift has worked flawlessly.

 

[oldmxracer]

How about some pics of your recessed lift in action? I like your setup but my problem would be tripping over it when not in use!

Here is a picture of it in action. on the bottom of the table You can see some of the receiver tubes for side extensions, below the table is the four height locking system.

The sides of the table do set a little over an inch out of the floor never found it to be a problem ! Had thought about cutting them off and welding the back on the bottom side, but they keep things from rolling off.

 

[383 240z]

Thank you all for the input. I'm going to keep watching for a dip in the price. Not really something I need, but man I sure would like to have. I'm done crawling around on the ground. I just need to find a way to raise the bike off the platform so I can spin the wheels for cleaning and such.

 

[jdewitt]

The current best coupon seems to be $330 https://www.hfqpdb.com/best_coupon/1000+LB.+CAPACITY+MOTORCYCLE+LIFT

 

[TriumphFan]

Thank you all for the input. I'm going to keep watching for a dip in the price. Not really something I need, but man I sure would like to have. I'm done crawling around on the ground. I just need to find a way to raise the bike off the platform so I can spin the wheels for cleaning and such.

You don't realize how much you need one until you have one. I wish I had two: one for long term projects and one for maintenance.

 

[oldmxracer]

Thank you all for the input. I'm going to keep watching for a dip in the price. Not really something I need, but man I sure would like to have. I'm done crawling around on the ground. I just need to find a way to raise the bike off the platform so I can spin the wheels for cleaning and such.

With the right wheel choke and tie downs a cheap trolley jack does the job, it is what I use.

 

[jmiller_2308]

Here is a picture of it in action. on the bottom of the table You can see some of the receiver tubes for side extensions, below the table is the four height locking system.

Your locking system is a mod I've never seen before. How are the tops of the brace attached to the platform so that it can swing to meet up with the stops? Do you have an assist to lift up the brace when dropping the platform or do you just reach under and hold it above the stops?

I haven't had any issues with the 2 stops provided by the hole and bar but I'm at a point where I don't relish getting on the ground to put in and pull the bar. I just might try adding a stop like yours.

 

[dagofast]

Blow the picture up a bit and look closer. He has a small diameter cable rigged to lift the brace when lowering.

 

[oldmxracer]

Your locking system is a mod I've never seen before. How are the tops of the brace attached to the platform so that it can swing to meet up with the stops? Do you have an assist to lift up the brace when dropping the platform or do you just reach under and hold it above the stops?

I haven't had any issues with the 2 stops provided by the hole and bar but I'm at a point where I don't relish getting on the ground to put in and pull the bar. I just might try adding a stop like yours.

The top of the brace is attached to the frame with two bolts, on the side shown head of the bolt is ground down and welded in for clearance. As dagofast said a cable releases the brace on the way up and it catches all the locks, the brace is then locked into the raised position when lowering the platform.

 

[jmiller_2308]

oldmxracer, thanks for the pictures and explanation. When I looked earlier I didn't see a bolt head and that was because you welded and ground it off. I also wondered about shear strength given that that table is rated to carry a 1000# bike but after doing a bit of research even a 1/2" grade 8 would likely be overkill.

Thanks for the mod idea.

 

[383 240z]

Thanks for the pics and the info oldmxracer I was working on the idea of side rails, for extra working space. The 4 stop locking system is a nice extra touch. Thanks again.

Keith