Getting the front off the ground

MrRoper

MrRoper

MrRoper

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15 Aug 2008
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No not wheelies! :)

My Fork seals have gone on the RR and I plan to replace them at the weekend. However i`m not sure the best way to get the front wheel off the ground, I know that tying it up would probably be the safest however I have no way of supporting it from above.

Has anyone ever used a scissor jack on the header pipes before? It seems like this can be done from what I can see on the 'net but I dont know if this is wise. Can anyone give me any advice, or come up with some inspirational way of doing this?

Cheers in advance
 
you can stop some fork seal leaks by carefully running a thin piece of flexible plastic up under the seal and running it around the fork leg.... it moves the crud out of the way causing the leak

doesn't always work though
 
Perfectly fine to jack up using a scissor jack or ( preferably ) a trolley jack. Just make sure you use a stable jacking area. But don't leave it sat up there on a jack. Once it's up, get it blocked using something like pieces of wood or something like a milk bottle crate. That way, you spread the load whereas if its left sat on a jack all the weight is concentrated on one small area.

And whilst jacking, remember the auld saying "pack as you jack". ;)
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

Unfortunatly the seal has gone big time, So im not sure that cleaning the seal willl work, however its a good idea and I will give it a go first.

Because of the location of the bike I have nothing to hoist it from above, and while I could maybe rig something that might work, it would be procerious at best. I agree though it is a much more safer way of doing it.

Draeger,

Just so I get this right, should i jack further back and chock forward of this near the down pipes or would you suggest to jack using the headers and chock further back? Im worried that jacking any further back from the headers might cause damage to the downpipe sections. I do have a rear stand so the rear should be fairly stable.

Also regarding the headstock stands, has anyone any experience of them? I have heard on some forums that they are mediocre at best?
 
I know people do it, but I don't agree with jacking up a bike on the exhaust downpipes. This is not a structural part and it's not designed to take the weight of the bike on it so it's a bodge at best.

The headstock stands are ok, but there may be some cheap ones around that aren't so good. If you raise the bike on an Abba stand, then you don't need so much force to lift the front end - you can then use something like a step ladder as an A-frame and hang the bike from it.
 
As above its not best practice on the downpipes but if you have nothing else then use a flat piece of wood along the downpipes to distribute the weight then jack it up on the wood.
 
Paddock stand at the back and a scissor jack and some wood under the engine to tip it back is how I did it.

However I will never, ever, ever be attempting to change fork oil seals myself again :D
 
Dogbreath said:
Why not?
Click to expand...

It was on an old, low mileage Divvy. Everything was seized solid and aside from that I just found the job a complete pain in general. Getting the forks apart was horrible and getting the new seals in was all but impossible. I'm happy to do most vehicle jobs myself, but that one will be getting done by someone else the next time I need it doing.
 
strap the front up or the back down, I really wouldn't want to jack a bike up by the headers. I've only had to do it on an MX bike I was rebuilding, and we put a tie-down strap through the top triple clamp and hung it from there, but pulling the back down would work as well. Then again what would you strap it to on the floor...hmm.

If it helps it doesn't take a huge amount to keep it up, you just need to 'tip' the bike backwards and it won't go anywhere so it doesn't have to be a beam or anything, just... anything.
 
Flukester said:
you can stop some fork seal leaks by carefully running a thin piece of flexible plastic up under the seal and running it around the fork leg.... it moves the crud out of the way causing the leak

doesn't always work though
Click to expand...
I've heard that camera film is pretty good for this application.
 
If you've got a paddock stand then yea, scissor jack under the headers with a piece of wood on the jack.

Done it loads of times and its perfectly safe and stable, just loosen all the really tight nuts and bolts first.
 
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