Anyone know any tips on how to suspend the bike in order to change the fork seals? I've read some people saying they attached some I-bolts or bike hooks in the ceiling of the garage and hooking some ratchet straps to them and down to the handles of the bike. Only thing is I doubt my pops will be down to do that to his garage ceilings so I would most likely need to find another way...

So any tips on how to keep the bike suspended so I could get the wheel and forks off would be greatly appreciated!!

 

if you have a floor anchor that you chain your bike to you can put the bike on its center stand and then ratchet strap the back end of the bike down to the floor anchor.

 

Fraid the US bikes don't come with center stands Monkeh.

There are front stands that lift via the steering stem.

 

Three options:

1) get a front stand that lifts from the steering stem. Pitbull makes a great one.
2) Place a jack under the exhaust and have the bike on the rear stand. Jack up the bike enough to pull the wheel/forks.
3) ratchet strap the front end off the ground by strapping under the top triple tree. This is a pain but works.

 

Thanks for the tips fellas. I was hoping to find another innovative way that didn't require buying a stand of any sort lol I was thinking of another way as such as the straps to the ceiling bit but I guess there's no other way to go about it. I found a guy who does bike work out of his garage for $35/hr and he said he can do all the work I need done to my bike (fork seals, chain/sprocket replacement, tire replacement) in approx. 4-6 hrs. Which isn't a bad deal considering local shops charge from $85-$99 per friggin hour.

I plan on selling the bike sooner or later for a newer model anyhow so a stand can come later when I get something more up-to-date for myself.

Thanks again fellas.

Safe riding.

 

Engine-Hoist. You can rent them. Good luck.

 

+1 ....an easy alternative

 

Trolly jack under the exhaust worked fine for me, was more stable then i expected.

 

I have a front stand, and still had to get innovative to swap out my steering bearings and races.

I had my bike on the wingarm stand and front stand. then I placed a 2x4 under each side of the oilpan - in contact with the lifting points. I used 2 bottle jacks to lift the bike just to the point where the front stand could be removed, and I could uninstall the stem/triples.

I evenhad to hammer out the upper and lower bearing races, and hammer in the replacement set for the all-***** bearing upgrades. Back on the front stand and lowered it down til the front stand was supporting the bike again.

cool thing about stands is that if you continue to own bikes, you'll continue to use the stands.

 

side fairings off 1 strap around each side of the frame connected to cherry picker (engine hoist -rentable like stated above) and crank her up