I'm sorry if this is covered somewhere, but I searched and came up empty.
I'm a new member with a 1983 R80RT (new to me) and an old motorcycle floor lift. I looked under the bike and did not see any good lift points other than the oil pan. Is it safe to lift an R80 from the oil pan, or should I invest in a lift table? The pan looks sturdy and the lift has a large surface area, but I would sure hate to damage anything trying to lift by the wrong location.
Do not use the oil pan. The pressure on the gasket surface is too much. You may compress the gasket and cause it to leak.
Stick a couple pieces of board between the exhaust pipes and frame rails on each side. Screw them into another board or piece of sturdy plywood. Measure, cut, and fit it to your lift. When I was a line mechanic at a Honda, Harley, and Suzuki shop we all cut out several shapes of boards to use on the myriad of different bikes to securely support them in level positions.
Thanks. I thought that lifting from the oil pan was a bad idea but couldn't see any other obvious flat places to use. Building a jig to distribute the weight is a great idea.
I've used many types of lifts professionally, but I keep coming back to the platform type, where you roll the entire bike up onto the lift. Watch the sales at Harbor Freight. Their platform type lift regularly goes on sale for ~$300. You'll immediately see the advantage when you want to lay down a wrench or drop an important fastener by mistake. Having that platform there is SO useful, you'll never want another type lift.
Here's a photo of my brother's R1100S halfway through a clutch job. As you can see the rear half of the motorcycle has to be completely disassembled. Supporting the motor is a scissor jack. All the tools and fasteners stayed right where they came off making this complicated job much easier.....
The tie down points at the front work just like a bike trailer and compress the fork springs. On or off the center stand, the bike cannot fall over.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
I'd love a table/platform lift (and I do watch Harbor Freight for sales), but I'm a bit cramped for space. My old floor lift rolls out of the way, but a table lift would be harder to fit in my available space. I should have listened when my contractor told me I wanted to build my shop twice the size I thought I would need,
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