Harbor Freight 1500 lb ATV lift failure!!!!

[finless]

So just be aware to fully test your lift before getting it under your spyder!

So I did my 4500 mile oil change this weekend. However it was not without drama.
The previous weekend I had bought the Harbor Freight 1500 lb ATV motorcycle lift.
I will say when I opened the box a couple of the assembly screws were rolling around in the box. I thought that was odd and continued. I followed the instructions, assembled it and tested it. It went up and down fine.

Come this last weekend to use it. I put it under the spyder at the frame and starting jacking it up.
Ooops not the right CG as it was lifting the front mostly. OK let it down and moved it.
Ooops now it lifting the rear mostly. Went to let it down and it would NOT go down!

Read through the manual and tried to bleed it per the instructions. During this the jack just kept going up!
I got desperate and removed all the bottom plugs and screws. Only a little fluid came out of the large plug.
Still would not go down!

I had to go buy another one to get the broken lift out from under the spyder!
Since the stuck one was lifting the rear higher than the front, I carefully lift the rear and put a ramp under the rear tire. Then with the second one I bought, I lifted the front until I could get the broken one out.
FYI the minute the load came off the broken one IT WENT DOWN! Unbelievable!
I put blocks under the front tires and move the good lift back under the frame and all was good.
Took the broken one back and Harbor Freight and they gave me no issue about returning it.

I have a feeling the first one I had bought had been returned before and the store put it back on the shelf. The 2nd one I bought all the screws were in the holes they go in for assembly and were not loose in the box. The first one the screws were all loose in the box.

Needless to say, TEST your lift using a load before getting it stuck under your spyder!!!

That fiasco cost me 2 hours and a lot of grief. Lesson learned!

Bob

[Jeriatric]

Glad it all worked out.

[NancysToy]

That's why I prefer the Craftsman lift. Price isn't everything!

[Cruzr Joe]

Finless

you get to have all the fun.

Cruzr Joe

[DrewNJ]

Glad you got it sorted out. Something like that could happen with any lift or any piece of equipment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BajaRon]

Maybe you need to brush up on your Mandarin so you can decipher those inscrutable instructions!

[Pandy]

After my '03 Wing keeled over lift and all I swore off (and at) anything to do with a HF lifting product.It wouldn't have been so bad but the LCD* at the store said "Gee nothing like this has ever happened before." I got my $$ back, and now buy nothing but disposable tarps and pond pumps from them.

Patrick



*Lowest Common Denominator. See Mc Donald's

[bluestratos]

HF sells junk, plain an simple. Some of the mechanical tools seem to work but air tools are also junk. A lot of the small parts are just as bad, just try their hose clamps if you want a laugh, lol. Then, they try to sell you an overpriced extended warranty.

[billybovine]

In Canada we don't have a Harbour Freight. We have Princess Auto where we have the pleasure of buying goods at the same questionable quality.

[SNOOPY]

Rule NUMBER 1 with any lift made in the world: if you are planning on putting any part of your body underneath something it is holding up you need to put a jackstand under it first!

[finless]

Rule NUMBER 1 with any lift made in the world: if you are planning on putting any part of your body underneath something it is holding up you need to put a jackstand under it first!

I was planning to do that but didn't get that far! The jack would not come down so I could get it on the CG of the bike to get jack stands under it! I guess you didn't read the entire story.

Bob

[SNOOPY]

I'm a dog, I can't read.

[bertmc]

Maybe you need to brush up on your Mandarin so you can decipher those inscrutable instructions!

You mean those inscrewable instructions?

[Motorcycledave]

Hi Bob
I got mine at Sears always works

I was planning to do that but didn't get that far! The jack would not come down so I could get it on the CG of the bike to get jack stands under it! I guess you didn't read the entire story.

Bob

[Chupaca]

But unfortunately many returns are just restocked and never checked. Not just harbor freight I have gotten several items from Home Depot this way. Glad nothing happened to you or your Ryde...

[Erags]

I get the heat shrink and it seams to work ok, never had any of it now shrink when applying heat, I'm just saying and I only use it on 12v equipment

[Lamonster]

It doesn't matter if you bought it at Harbor Freight, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, or Northern Tool they are all made and China and some are real junk and some not so bad.

[NetJunkie]

It doesn't matter if you bought it at Harbor Freight, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, or Northern Tool they are all made and China and some are real junk and some not so bad.

Not all of them. Shop around. Buy US made tools and they'll last a lifetime.

And yes, always put a floor stand under anything you plan to get under. Never trust a jack.

[Lamonster]

Not all of them. Shop around. Buy US made tools and they'll last a lifetime.

And yes, always put a floor stand under anything you plan to get under. Never trust a jack.

So post a link to some that are not made in China. I haven't seen any.

[Some Guy]

I just use a low-profile car jack. I jack up the front first (using my hand to level the front end if it leans) and then put jack stands under the A-arms. Then I go around back and do the same. Sure, it's more work, but it's rock-solid when I start working on it. And, for the people who know me, you know I'm a total klutz and every little thing I can do to keep from hurting myself is worth it!

[MarkLawson]

So post a link to some that are not made in China. I haven't seen any.

http://www.pitbullmotorcyclelifts.com/

Awesome lift. Goes lower and lifts higher than most. Made in the USA.

[Lamonster]

http://www.pitbullmotorcyclelifts.com/

Awesome lift. Goes lower and lifts higher than most. Made in the USA.

Forgot about them. Pretty sure that's it.

[SPYD3R]

So post a link to some that are not made in China. I haven't seen any.

HECK, when Americas TOP OF THE LINE jet fighter (F35) has components in it that are manufactured in China because those parts can't be found in any other country, why would anyone think that a basic motorcycle lift would be made in the USA..... i even checked out MADE IN AMERICA STORES http://www.madeinamericastore.com/ and there are no lifts of any kind there...

i've had some really good luck with Harbor Freight... can't complain about their return policy either....

[Jeriatric]

A group called the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) is criticizing the use of steel from China on the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

In a new campaign dubbed, “Should Be Made in America” the group has set up billboards along Interstate 880 that depict the Chinese flag with the words “The Bay Bridge 100% Foreign Steel.”

The times......they are a changing

[bullant12]

Some hand tools by HF are ok. But every single lift, air, or electrical tool has been a POS and been returned with no questions asked.

I rather get the more "complicated" tools from Craftsman.