Lifting a VALKYRIE

[Raceman]

I need advice on lifting my 99 Valkyrie so the rear wheel can be removed. Recent purchase, 7000 mi, tires good but  10 yr old. My main concern is getting the splines lubed and O rings replaced but while the wheel is off it makes sense to put a tire on it. I'm a decent MC mechanic, but this is a BIG bike without an easy way to lift it.

[hubcapsc]

You need something like a motorcycle lift and an adapter
to fit your Valkyrie to the lift.

Usable lifts are cheap at Harbor Freight and good adapters
can be bought from MarkT, a site sponsor, or made from
plans like these:

http://www.herberts.org/wayne/valk/lowtechlift.htm

I've been refining how I lift my Valkyrie for 15 years, there's
lots of different ways to tease the wheel and final drive off.

Here's a document with lots of good pictures...

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/rear_end_service.pptx

-Mike

[WintrSol]

A big +1 on the adapters from MarkT. I was using a wooden adapter I cobbled together, and while it worked, didn't inspire the confidence. MarkT made one that works with my belly tank, and I've used it many times now. Plus, I didn't have to assemble it!

[Valkorado]

+1 on MarkT's discreet adapters.  They tuck away nicely, and are solid when used properly. 

That said, I still detest lifting my Valkyries with the cheap lifts.  When lowering the bike mine is choppy and sometimes drops faster than my comfort level permits (to butt pucker level), and when taking off a tire the weight can unnervingly shift.  Tie downs supposedly will reduce the chances of catastrophe, but I should also find something to stabilize the front crash bars for better peace of mind.  Regardless, it gives me gray hairs!  I doubt I'll ever get comfortable with it.

When a Valkyrie is lifted high enough to pull a rear tire with my setup, it looks something like this. 

[hubcapsc]

I have the aluminum Sears lift. Twist the handle to lower
the bike. My 1800 has come down at the speed of sound
more than once!

I finally have realized: when you're twisting the handle to
closed, don't close it tightly, don't snug it up, just let it bump
into the closed position and then stop. It should be easy to turn
the handle to loose smoothly without having to jerk it to loose
because you wrenched it down. Then, you can start turning the
handle a degree at a time while watching the bike. As soon as
it starts moving at all, you're done. It'll be down in 30 seconds or
so, way better than dropping like a sack of concrete...

-Mike

[Jess from VA]

I've been using my home made wood adapter for 15 years, works fine.  Do not put tools or parts where you will trip or slip and fall into the bike and knock it off the jack.

Pull the shocks, then lower it enough to take the axle out OVER the pipes.

Then raise it enough to drop the wheel out under the fender (no need to take the lower fender half off, but if you do it doesn't have to go up as high).

You may need to loosen the rear exhaust hangers so the pumpkin will clear the pipes as you raise the bike.

Do not let the swingarm crash down, it's bad on the Ujoint.  

Doing this requires a bit of finagling the jack, little up, little down, just right.

You'll need a big axle socket.

Remember the slot in the pumpkin for separation of the flange.

When the wheel and tire come off, get ready for the bike to begin to tip forward on the jack, it's no longer balanced with that rear weight gone.

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/rear_end_service.pptx

[Willow]

...  
When the wheel and tire come off, get ready for the bike to begin to tip forward on the jack, it's no longer balanced with that rear weight gone.
...

If the bike is sitting properly on the adapter that won't happen.  If you're not confident place jack stands under the engine guards and it won't be allowed to happen even if the bike is not properly mounted.

BTW, I hope we're talking about a proper bike jack and not a single pole hydraulic car jack.

[Jess from VA]

...  
When the wheel and tire come off, get ready for the bike to begin to tip forward on the jack, it's no longer balanced with that rear weight gone.
...

If the bike is sitting properly on the adapter that won't happen.  If you're not confident place jack stands under the engine guards and it won't be allowed to happen even if the bike is not properly mounted.

BTW, I hope we're talking about a proper bike jack and not a single pole hydraulic car jack.

My adapter and bike jack were all lined up fine.  My driveway where I must work is close, but not level.  I was able to hold the bike steady with one hand.  I never worked without a jackstand under a front guard again. 

[The emperor has no clothes]

I’m going to send some into shock. But I rarely use stabilizer stands or tie down straps. If you place the jack properly balanced, it’s very stable. With bags, trailer hitch, bag rails it’s too time consuming to remove everything along with the rear fender section. You do a lot of changing heights back and forth to do a tire change. Having to deal with straps and stands each move is a pain. I’ve done it before though.

[Avanti]

Remove seat place soft straps on frame pick up with engine lift.

[RonW]

As already stated the Valk needs an adapter to make a large enough flat area to rest on the lift arms. There isn't a large enough flat area under the Valk. This is largely because the Valk doesn't have a bottom frame. The engine is the bottom frame or bridges the front and rear frame.

Anyways, on the Valk, the muffler is in the way of the rear axle. So, you have to either (A) lower the muffler so it's below the rear axle, or (B) raise the rear axle above the muffler. In both cases the axle will sit above the muffler (clear the muffler), but there's a difference in that two different methods are used. At any rate, it's way simpler than removing the mufflers which is what you're trying to avoid.

(A) After removing the shocks, bike in the air, you can squat the bike by lowering the lift so that the muffler sits below the rear axle, as Jess stated. The rear wheel will stop going down as soon as it hits the floor. Meanwhile the muffler will continue to descend down since the shocks are detached. Again, the idea is to get the mufflers to clear the rear axle, here by lowering the mufflers below the rear axle.

This method has always given me the creeps because the swingarm/driveshaft will be pointed in an up angle possibly stressing the U-joint. For example the yokes on the U-joint happens not to be oriented in the cardinal directions allowing maximum swing. It's not so much the angle but it's the dropping the bike's weight abruptly on the U-joint unless you can finesse lowering the lift. Another thing, if you lower the lift too low, the lift will disengage from supporting the bike and the bike will have to balance on its own or fall over.

(B) Or, with the bike lifted and shocks removed, use a scissor jack to elevate the swingarm higher than the mufflers. Lifting the swingarm lifts the rear wheel along with it since they're connected together. The axle will now sit above the mufflers since the mufflers remained stationary. Before the scissor jack is installed under the swingarm, avoid letting the swingarm hang at too steep a down angle for the same reason as too steep an up angle.

I strap bungee cords from the handlebars engine guards to the front forks to keep the front wheel from flopping around. [edit]


Even with that, if the front wheel makes temporary contact with the floor, allowing the handlebars/front wheel to turn will counter steer (lean) the bike over, like in timber. That's even with the bike strapped to the lift. The lift goes over too, part and parcel. As Willow stated jack stands under the engine guards is good. Even a stack of 2x's and wedges would suffice.


"You may need to loosen the rear exhaust hangers so the pumpkin will clear the pipes as you raise the bike.''

Jess states the point above subtlety but you really don't want the mufflers scraping up the pumpkin (differential) as they pass by each other. I stick some wedges between the loosened muffler and hanger plate.

[RonW]

This strut via Chrisj will make things simpler. 10in center-to-center, left swingarm.
I don't know if the mufflers are off though. That is, the 10in center-to-center would work with the mufflers still on.





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JimF2424 does rear wheels this way.

[Dr K]

I run my front wheel into my wheel chock take the seat off use a strap around the frame up top where the battery sits and hang the bike from my chain hoist can’t fall off of that

[RonW]

"When lowering the bike mine is choppy and sometimes drops faster than my comfort level permits ..... I doubt I'll ever get comfortable with it." (Valkorado)

Somebody said that if you step on the lowering-pedal quick & hard so the pedal bottoms out, the lift will descend gradually. Which is counter-intuitive, but finessing the pedal has always been jerky.

[Avanti]

No lift adapter needed when lifting from the top and impossibly to tip over.

[Jess from VA]

Lifting a VALKYRIE

On the other hand, if you do drop (or ease down, once it's past the point of not being able to stop it) the bike, it's a real somnabitch to lift it back up.  The fore and aft guards on Interstates and Tourers stop it from going fully horizontal (thank goodness), but it takes quite a bit of effort to lift it back up.  Most everyone has done this accidentally, pushing it around, or throwing it over the kickstand you forgot to put down, or having your low side foot slip out on sand or pea gravel.  There are various tricks to lifting it, but an important one is to put it in gear, so it doesn't try to run away from you while lifting.

I've done it probably a half dozen times over the years (and never had any help getting it back up again).  But not for a number of years, and at 70, I've decided not to ever drop it again.   

Another option is to get the wife to lift it for you.

[Raceman]

I have a friend who is a Valkyrie guy and very experienced with the process who offered to help me . After learning the process, I'll be able to do it in the future. Thanks for all the info.

Raceman

[MarkT]

Here's a link to a thread on my lift adapter.  I have one left right now, and about to make another batch to be available next week.  Price right now is $80 plus shipping.  Yep I got socked with another price increase on steel.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,100774.msg1003012.html#msg1003012