Removing front forks w/o a lift

[Hatepylons]

While I consider myself to be pretty ambitious when it comes to wrenching on things, I am at a loss on one thing:

How in the hell do I support my bike if I want to pull the front forks off to change the oil? Seriously?

I have a center stand, giving me all sorts of bad ideas. My initial thought is to pull the tank and loop an engine lift strap around the frame and using my engine hoist support the front end.........

But that seems DUMB. No, it is dumb. But maybe it would work? IDK.

Open to some suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[tett]

When I replaced my front tire I simply placed the bike on its centre stand and then had my wife push down on the back to raise the front end.  I then attached tie downs to the handle bar and the other ends attached to rafter joists.  I tightened these so the straps held the handle bar taking all the weight.  Worked great and was easy to get the front wheel off.

Or, you could block up the front of the engine or get a little jack some where under there to lift it up.

Cheers!

tett

[KuzzinKenny]

+1 on the tydown straps !! or hang a bucket from the rear carrier and start fillin it with stuff till the front wheel stays up !!  :shock:  it doesn`t take much !! and just for piece of mind you can put some blocks under the engine !! i won`t tell ya what i did when i had both wheels off   :shock:  :shock:

KK

wrenchin on a shoestring  

[Hatepylons]

tett: thank you - I wasn't sure if the bars could handle that kind of upward strain - mine are already tweaked so I don't know why I was so worried about it........

Kenny: Now I am curious.......

[Chris Canning]

When I replaced my front tire I simply placed the bike on its centre stand and then had my wife push down on the back to raise the front end.  I then attached tie downs to the handle bar and the other ends attached to rafter joists.  I tightened these so the straps held the handle bar taking all the weight.  Worked great and was easy to get the front wheel off.

Or, you could block up the front of the engine or get a little jack some where under there to lift it up.

Cheers!

tett

Ditto

[tiger77]

Jack it up with a car jack under the bashplate. I use a jack from my ancient old 205.

Just be careful when balancing it.