Hey peeps,

I the bike on a rear paddock stand and I am trying to jack up the front end to work on the forks.

Can someone give me some advice on how to jack up the front end with a trolley jack without removing the exhaust?

Many thanks

K

some people have used a block of wood under the exhaust, it will work but you risk damaging the exhaust and it puts a lot of strain on the headers of the ehxuast.

the best way to do it would be with a front stand for the headstock...

i guess in a pinch you could cut an appropriate size 4x2 block of wood that will fit between the lower yolk and the trolley jack, ideally as vertial as possible to avoid slippage then jack it up from there.

or get a block of wood under the engine by the genny side (make sure not to just jack it up by the genny case itself as this puts a lot of stress on the case bolts

another way people have done it is if you have an overhead beam to throw a rope ove rthe and run it under the top yolks and hoist it up.

be careulf i fyou jack it up that whatever way you do wont fall down...

I have an Abba type stand that holds the bike from the swing arm pivots. With the bike on the stand the front wheel will be on the ground, I use a ratchet strap to pull the back end down on to the work bench. The bike is then held firmly with the front end free to work on.
Before I had the Abba type stand I would support the rear end on a paddock stand and put a length of rope through the steering head and lift from there. OK for working on the wheel, brakes and forks but couldn't do the steering bearings. Thats why I made a stand similar to the Abba.
John

PS, second attempt at posting a reply on this thread, hit submit first time time and it disappeared!

cheers chaps

but just as I had thought I am in a no win situation here because I am

1. I am working outside and haven't got an over head bean to strap the front end to
2. don't have the front lift for my abba stand
3. don't have the adapters for my abba stand for my bike


DOH!

To the tool shop batman!

:)

On the NC23, I remove the bolts from the lower front engine mounts and fit the abba stand here but you will need a different adaptor or drill the threaded adjuster on the abba stand to take a piece of 10mm bar. Not sure if this would work on a 30/35 though. the other option is to put a piece of 10mm bar through the lower engine mounts that protrudes past the frame and sit this on axle stands.

cowboy it and car jack under the sump...

FWIW - Highly recommend the proper stand.
About £40-60 on Amazon plus £20 for a headstock adapter.
Bought my one just to remove the front wheel and probably could have improvised, but I wouldn't look back.
Will be kept forever and can be used on other bikes.

We'll worth the moolah.

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk

Sounds to me like your easiest option is to raid your piggy bank and get the necessary add-ons for your Abba (why did they name themselves after a crap band? Never understood their popularity) stand, rather than mess about with dodgy car jacks, blocks of wood or tying the back end to a tree. The NEC show is on the horizon and Abba will be there (not the band I hope), so get yourself along and claim a 'show discount'. I'm doing exactly that. I need to sort the fork oil seals so need the front end off the ground. Hey, maybe we could do a '2 for 1' deal at the show!

This wouldn't have happened if I'd used my ABBA stand.... they are great.

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