Review: Harbor Freight rear stand.

[Mack]

Model #99701.



If you get Rider magazine (U.S. mag), they have a coupon for 20% off the $49 price on a full page Harbor Freight ad page within it now.

It is Chinese made and I found the 'truing' of it a bit poor. Resting on a flat surface, mine rocks a bit. The clear vinyl wheels roll easily, but they also dent if left with pressure on them too long.

It is a bit narrow for the S, but the 'truing' and welding by the factory is odd. I inserted a floor jack and spread the insides of the wheel support attachment points apart to 15 inches. With the supports at 14" it fits the BMW bobbins in the back easily.

One side of mine had the support slots at a slant, so bad that I had to insert a 1/16" shim on one side of the slot to make that support perpendicular to the floor rather than slant downward. Just sloppy setup in their jigs, if they even used them.

The slots in the bobbin supports are V-shaped. They can cut into the softer aluminum bobbins. I may grind mine out to fit the O.D. of the bobbins a bit better and then dip them in Plasti-Dip (i.e. that pliers handle dipping rubber stuff) to coat them.

Getting it on the stand is pretty easy. Wheels flatten a bit as mentioned, but not bad.

I also got their $10 L-shaped rubber-covered lift slides for the thing. They might fit the front under the fork tubes but I haven't tried them. I need to get the slot of the lift sliders trued a bit more before I try them and get rid of the shim mentioned. A lot of filing may be in order. I have a Pit Bull off my GT that might work, just haven't tried that on the front yet.

It's no where as pretty or nice as the $400 BMW one, but it does seem more stable on side-to-side wiggle than the BMW one as the H-F once is square tubing over the flat sides of the BMW one.

I'd call it 5 out of 10 since I need to do a lot more mods to it to get it to work better with the S, like widening the thing with a floor jack a bit more and shimming the lift slides to be square with the floor and at the same height.


Mack

[kevin_stevens]

I've had one of those since long before I bought my S1000RR, and it fit my spools just fine as it was. :shrug: The only real functional problem I have with mine is that it doesn't lift high enough for tire warmers, if that's an issue for you.

I wouldn't try the paddles on the front forks; that's not what they are for. They are for lifting under the swingarm of bikes that don't have spool mounts.

KeS

[markjenn]

I was looking at one of these and did some internet searchs - lots of people have had them fold up like pretzels. They may be fine, but I wasn't comfortable getting one.

After deciding not to get the HF, I went into the garage and started looking around at my other stands to see if any would work or could be modified to work. I forgot I had one for a ZRX I owned a few years back and didn't give it away when I sold the bike. Lo and behold, it works perfectly, is completely stable, and made of steel so stout as hell. I think its a Redline.

Still wondering if anyone has figured out a way to relocate the brake hose junction at the front so you can use a front stand with a pin under the triple.

- Mark

[66droptop]

Originally Posted by Mack

I inserted a floor jack and spread the insides of the wheel support attachment points apart to 15 inches.

Sir, you are awesome. First, you bought the cheap stand. Second, with a coupon. And third, when it didn't quite work for you, you modified it with simple tools and force. Bonus points for force.

Most on here wouldn't have bought anything but the namebrand super pricy Neimann Marcus of the stand world. Oh, and it has to be made from titanium. Because titanium is bitchin'. Or carbon fiber (or an overlay which is really just extra weight, completely negating all the raciness of carbon fiber in the first place). And they certainly wouldn't have modified it themselves. The butler would have done it after he checked the tire pressure on the Bentley. Or they would have taken it to the dealership for them to make it fit the bike.

But not you, sir. You used a jack and you subjected it to your will. And now it works. No matter how poorly those communist bastards built it in the first place. In a couple hours I'll defend America just a little bit extra and push just a bit further past exhaustion, just for you, sir.

[Papi4baby]

Thanks for the review, could you take some pictures with the bike on it so see how much clearance there is.

Thanks.

[Mack]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Thanks for the review, could you take some pictures with the bike on it so see how much clearance there is.

Thanks.

Is there a easy way to upload photos on this site? I lost my ability to post photos when AT&T managed to cut their Worldnet hosting ability.

I enlarged the lift V things for the bobbins to the inner (smaller) diameter of the BMW lift bobbins with a grinder on a drill. Then I painted them black (they were silver unlike the photo above where they are black). Then I dipped them slowly in some PlastiDip tool handle goo and that made them pretty much scratch proof on the bike. Feels like a silicon-covered pliers now.

They extended about 1/2 inch from the clamps on the lift now since I spread the clamp apart with the hydraulic floor jack. Now it's much better than original. I don't see how it could fold up or bend on the S since the entire thing is square tubing and heliarc'd uprights. I would suspect the BMW one to bend much easier that the H-F one. The H-F one is all aluminum so it doesn't weigh much either.

I also had to file and grind the channels for the sliding V lift things clamping slots so they were parallel to the floor. The angles were downward maybe 10-15 degrees. Then I had to grind the V sections of the lift things themselves so they were the same height off the floor (about 12.375" as I recall). The stand was not very true anywhere in it's original form.

It's far better now and I can live with it.


Mack

[kevin_stevens]

Originally Posted by Papi4baby

Thanks for the review, could you take some pictures with the bike on it so see how much clearance there is.

Thanks.

On my ZX-14. -- KeS

[Papi4baby]

Originally Posted by Mack

Is there a easy way to upload photos on this site? I lost my ability to post photos when AT&T managed to cut their Worldnet hosting ability.

I enlarged the lift V things for the bobbins to the inner (smaller) diameter of the BMW lift bobbins with a grinder on a drill. Then I painted them black (they were silver unlike the photo above where they are black). Then I dipped them slowly in some PlastiDip tool handle goo and that made them pretty much scratch proof on the bike. Feels like a silicon-covered pliers now.

They extended about 1/2 inch from the clamps on the lift now since I spread the clamp apart with the hydraulic floor jack. Now it's much better than original. I don't see how it could fold up or bend on the S since the entire thing is square tubing and heliarc'd uprights. I would suspect the BMW one to bend much easier that the H-F one. The H-F one is all aluminum so it doesn't weigh much either.

I also had to file and grind the channels for the sliding V lift things clamping slots so they were parallel to the floor. The angles were downward maybe 10-15 degrees. Then I had to grind the V sections of the lift things themselves so they were the same height off the floor (about 12.375" as I recall). The stand was not very true anywhere in it's original form.

It's far better now and I can live with it.


Mack

Just use photobucket or imageshack and they provide links to picture hosting in forums.

Originally Posted by kevin_stevens

On my ZX-14. -- KeS

Thanks bud.

[Mack]

I was out playing with the stand tonight checking the length of the screws into the sides of the radiator mentioned elsewhere. Mine were fine (flattened end and not a point) and missed going into the radiator by 1/8" or so.

It only raise the bike maybe 3/8" off the floor. Not very much and you cannot get your finger under the tire on mine. The annoying part is the damn vinyl wheels compress and flatten. When you roll it out, you will notice it rolls like it's got a couple of flat tires - because it does!

Might be better to find some hard rubber rollers about 3" in diameter and 1 inch wide and replace the vinyl ones with those. It would raise the rear tire to maybe 3/4" or so. May have to grind out the opening for them in the stand to fit though as the stock vinyl ones look to be maybe 2 5/8" diameter.

It works okay for what it is, just needs a lot of help to get it there.


Mack