And it WORKS (or I wouldn't be posting pics)
http://s719.photobucket.com/albums/ww20 ... ke%20Lift/
Total out of pocket less than $30.
Already had most of the material in my stash from construction
projects I've worked on - strictly discarded odds and ends - that's why the curious mix of materials.
I made it work with what I had.
Lifts to 2 stabilized / braced heights, 16" & 24".
Has removable on-ramp that can either be removed once the
bike is on the platform, or left in place to support the rear wheel
if the front wheel needs to be removed.
No More Laying On The Ground !! My old knees just don't take
all that up and down any more when doing major work on the
bike.
The Lift She is DONE!
Moderator: Moderators
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Very innovative. I bought a Handy Lift a couple of years ago and my knees and back have thanked me. Your ideas and technical skill will save your limbs ... I hope.
-
frkn_toaster
- Basic User
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:50 am
- Location: Everett, WA
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
That is gloriously MacGuyver-esque.
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Very well put indeed!frkn_toaster wrote:That is gloriously MacGuyver-esque.
Of course, half the fun for a tinkerer is engineering and building something.
When it works.
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Bravo! I really need to learn to weld. Kind of scary looking with it up there and the back wheel hanging off into empty space like that. 
-john
-john
2017 Husqvarna 701
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
-
boxermania
- Quadruple Lifer
- Posts: 3644
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:37 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA.....aproaching retirement
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Nice effort, will make things much easier.....how difficult is to get her on the CS?
Member #312
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
The front end is tied down but the bike balances very well on the centerXdot wrote:Bravo! I really need to learn to weld. Kind of scary looking with it up there and the back wheel hanging off into empty space like that.
-john
stand with very little weight at either end but what there is is biased
toward the front. I can still easily rotate the front tire with one hand
when the back wheel is hanging.
But then think how much easier access is for trans R&R for spline lube
etc.
About welding -
With the help of a friend who had just gone thru welding school, I learned
how to weld - oh - 45 years ago. Had an old stick welder that I still have
but think it's older than I am even.
Was on the farm, then, welding was an indespensible tool.
Of course was nice when it came to building hot rods, too.
Then got out in the working world and eventually became a CWI
(Certified Welding Inspector under the auspices of the AWS American
Welding Society). I thought I knew something about welding before
I went thru that training! Have learned a tremendous amount over
the last 20 years.
Welding with wire feed self shielded flux core is a breeze and a very good
way to start. I bought a 220 volt Lincoln a few years ago, can use flux
core or mig which is gas shielded and works really well on thin material.
Wire feed welders can weld mild steel and stainless. One thing I can't
stress enough is to buy a good quality name brand welder. The little
Lincoln wire feed machines just plain work and do nice work easily.
Not that expensive, not that much more than the generic stuff you find
in Lowes etc. You might get a good one, you might not. A little difference
in the quality of the machine is well worth a few extra $ if you're going to
weld just about anything for the ease of use and quality results.
I use self shielded flux core(no inert gas needed) for most all general welding.
With the 220 volt machine (have it plugged into a regular dryer outlet) it will weld heavy enough material to do most home jobs. I've built
trailers and even the frame for a 40' clear span car port out of 6x6x1/4"
square tube steel, but by knowing how to set the welder in ways not
normally done for the 1/4". Has stood for 15+ years in some fierce winds,
so guess the welding was OK.
You can start by familiarizing yourself with things by getting The Welder's Handbook.
Then take a nite class at a Vo tech or something. There's lots of reasons
why you don't want something you've welded to fall apart. It's easy to
make a nice looking weld that won't hold a thing unless you know a few
things that only some research and a class will give you.
Even with my poor eyesight and shaky old hands, I still enjoy doing that.
And flux core or mig wire feed is the easiest process to learn.
Go for it!
Last edited by macx on Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Thank you. It's not as handy to use as a commercially made oneboxermania wrote:Nice effort, will make things much easier.....how difficult is to get her on the CS?
with an integral hydraulic cylinder, but for a few times a year and
the cost saving, it'll do just fine.
Oh, no doubt about the easy! I had been thinking of something like that ever since I bought the bike summer of 08, was never home with a chance
to turn it into reality before. What tripped the trigger was having to swap
transmissions with the bike on the floor. That did it! Never again!
I've got bad knees and not the best back, plus being in my mid 60's -
well - - .
Actually was easier to get it up on the CS than I had anticipated.
(How often does something like THAT happen ?!)
I have a little platform about 8" high that I use when working on
my 4 wheeled vehicles. It's about 10" wide and 3' long. I placed
that alongside the platform, wheeled the bike up the ramp - also
easier than I feared - and getting it up on the CS was just like
when standing on the ground cuz my platform I was standing on
was close to the same height as the lift platform.
While I had the bike up, I did my little thing with the exhaust tip and
cleaned the bike, which it sorely needed. SO much nicer standing
pretty much straight up and working on that pesky front wheel!
I'm planning some more work as soon as I can find either a good complete
low ratio trans, or the low first gear parts to convert mine. Then a different
ratio FD and the rubber chicken swingarm bushings. Having it up that
high will make all that SO much less aggravating.
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Macx,
Thanks for the great, informative, and enjoyable write-up. Maybe I'll get me a welder and try my hand at it. So many things that wood just isn't appropriate for.
John
Thanks for the great, informative, and enjoyable write-up. Maybe I'll get me a welder and try my hand at it. So many things that wood just isn't appropriate for.
John
2017 Husqvarna 701
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
John
How true!
I forgot to mention that in most smaller wire feed welders they'll have
a little chart that tells you the settings for the thickness of material you
are welding and what size mig (Metal Inert Gas) wire or flux core you
are using. Also kind of a handy guide for what size wire to use.
In my Lincoln it's very simple - voltage settings are simply A, B, C, etc,
and wire feed speed, which also controls amps, is 1 thru 5. The faster
the wire speed the more amps because you're melting more metal,
so the thicker the metal the higher the wire speed so you get more amps
for a hotter arc to penetrate farther.
I'd recommend a 220 volt, however, close to the same price and you can
weld considerably thicker material.
You should be able to pick up a Welder's Handbook at any welding supply store or probly on line like Amazon.
It's fun, interesting, and oh so handy.
Good luck - you ever have any questions feel free - [email protected]
How true!
I forgot to mention that in most smaller wire feed welders they'll have
a little chart that tells you the settings for the thickness of material you
are welding and what size mig (Metal Inert Gas) wire or flux core you
are using. Also kind of a handy guide for what size wire to use.
In my Lincoln it's very simple - voltage settings are simply A, B, C, etc,
and wire feed speed, which also controls amps, is 1 thru 5. The faster
the wire speed the more amps because you're melting more metal,
so the thicker the metal the higher the wire speed so you get more amps
for a hotter arc to penetrate farther.
I'd recommend a 220 volt, however, close to the same price and you can
weld considerably thicker material.
You should be able to pick up a Welder's Handbook at any welding supply store or probly on line like Amazon.
It's fun, interesting, and oh so handy.
Good luck - you ever have any questions feel free - [email protected]
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
I have been thinking of getting one. When I wired my shop I ran 6-gauge two-phase plus neutral and ground specifically so I could run a 220V welder. Now that I have a bike lift to build it looks like I'll need to learn.
-jb
-jb
2017 Husqvarna 701
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
2007 Husqvarna TE250
2004 BMW Rockster
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Go for it!
You want to make sure you know what you're doing when welding something
that takes a good deal of weight.
Would be a shame to see a nice bike come crashing down!
If you get to that point, get ahold of some scrap metal, like 1/8th",
and practice, practice, practice.
Remember these things: wire "stickout" of about 1/4" to 3/8" (how far the
wire protrodes out of the tip); backhand welding (angle the tip toward the
weld at around a 50 to 60 degree angle and as you weld move "backwards" away from the weld puddle, always aiming the wire at the base of the weld;
oscillating the wire from one side of the joint to the other & pausing very briefly at the far left & far right side of the weld bead which will fill in "undercut" or metal that has melted away; preparation, preparation, preparation - get a small i.e. 4" hand held side grinder and clean all surfaces
at the joint & around 1/2" wider each side than the weld bead. On 3/16" & thicker, grind a V shaped bevel at the joint (taper both sides) and move a little more slowly to fill that bevel in. On thin mat'l i.e. 1/8" just barely taper
the edges and move across the joint without pausing or it will melt the edges; remember a good fit is 75% of making a good weld - no gaps over
1/16" wide between pieces; get your welder equipped with a tip for .035" flux core wire, the smallest available, but plenty big for anything a 220 volt
wire feed welder will weld; nip off the end of the wire before you start each new arc or you can trap slag in the weld; don't move too fast or you can stir air into the molten weld puddle and you will get porosity (small bubbles) in the solidified weld that you can't see on the surface but that can cause cracks; watch your weld puddle as you practice, you'll see how the weld melts in with the base metal and you want to keep the puddle "full" without any missed spots, kind of like applying caulking with a caulk gun. You generally don't want a weld bead in one pass wider than about 1/4", and you want to "travel" (move the tip along the joint) just far enough each time you go across the joint to overlap with the last crossing, generally around 1/32".
That will help keep the weld full but without getting to built up in the middle.
That's the basics and will get you a good start for practicing.
Wear a leather glove on your left hand, you don't need one on the right.
An auto darkening lens is SO much help because you can see where you're
positioning your wire before you strike the arc. They're not that expensive any more. I always momentarily blink my eyes shut just when the arc
starts cuz it takes a split second for the lens to darken and that way you
avoid arc flash. Too much arc flash (& it doesn't take much at all!) & you
can burn your retinas and permanently damage your vision. And wear a long
sleeved shirt and button it up to the top or you WILL get a NASTY sunburn
in a hurry esp if you're not tanned. You can even hold the gun up about
1/2 way or more from the trigger with your gloved hand and use it guide the tip, really helps; when you're done welding, remove the wire spool from the welder (reel the wire in the gun back onto the spool and keep ahold of it cuz it can unravel like a spring, push one end into the little hole at the edge of the redl and bend it just a little so it stays in there, then put the spool in an air tight plastic bag and suck the air out of it or the flux inside the core of the hollow wire can absorb moisture over time and cause porosity in the weld. When you feed the wire into the machine, make sure the end is clipped and it straight or it might not feed into the liner, and take the tip off of the gun
so the wire can feed thru; do NOT look into the end of the gun while you are feeding wire or you can lose an eye - same goes for keeping all fingers etc away from the end while you're feeding wire in - you can turn the wire feed
up to full while feeding wire as it'll go much faster; and keep the end of the tip cleaned of slag and spatter; get a chipping hammer and a welder's wire brush and chip the slag off the weld and brush it after you stop so it's clean before you start the next arc.
See, it's simple! :-)
You want to make sure you know what you're doing when welding something
that takes a good deal of weight.
Would be a shame to see a nice bike come crashing down!
If you get to that point, get ahold of some scrap metal, like 1/8th",
and practice, practice, practice.
Remember these things: wire "stickout" of about 1/4" to 3/8" (how far the
wire protrodes out of the tip); backhand welding (angle the tip toward the
weld at around a 50 to 60 degree angle and as you weld move "backwards" away from the weld puddle, always aiming the wire at the base of the weld;
oscillating the wire from one side of the joint to the other & pausing very briefly at the far left & far right side of the weld bead which will fill in "undercut" or metal that has melted away; preparation, preparation, preparation - get a small i.e. 4" hand held side grinder and clean all surfaces
at the joint & around 1/2" wider each side than the weld bead. On 3/16" & thicker, grind a V shaped bevel at the joint (taper both sides) and move a little more slowly to fill that bevel in. On thin mat'l i.e. 1/8" just barely taper
the edges and move across the joint without pausing or it will melt the edges; remember a good fit is 75% of making a good weld - no gaps over
1/16" wide between pieces; get your welder equipped with a tip for .035" flux core wire, the smallest available, but plenty big for anything a 220 volt
wire feed welder will weld; nip off the end of the wire before you start each new arc or you can trap slag in the weld; don't move too fast or you can stir air into the molten weld puddle and you will get porosity (small bubbles) in the solidified weld that you can't see on the surface but that can cause cracks; watch your weld puddle as you practice, you'll see how the weld melts in with the base metal and you want to keep the puddle "full" without any missed spots, kind of like applying caulking with a caulk gun. You generally don't want a weld bead in one pass wider than about 1/4", and you want to "travel" (move the tip along the joint) just far enough each time you go across the joint to overlap with the last crossing, generally around 1/32".
That will help keep the weld full but without getting to built up in the middle.
That's the basics and will get you a good start for practicing.
Wear a leather glove on your left hand, you don't need one on the right.
An auto darkening lens is SO much help because you can see where you're
positioning your wire before you strike the arc. They're not that expensive any more. I always momentarily blink my eyes shut just when the arc
starts cuz it takes a split second for the lens to darken and that way you
avoid arc flash. Too much arc flash (& it doesn't take much at all!) & you
can burn your retinas and permanently damage your vision. And wear a long
sleeved shirt and button it up to the top or you WILL get a NASTY sunburn
in a hurry esp if you're not tanned. You can even hold the gun up about
1/2 way or more from the trigger with your gloved hand and use it guide the tip, really helps; when you're done welding, remove the wire spool from the welder (reel the wire in the gun back onto the spool and keep ahold of it cuz it can unravel like a spring, push one end into the little hole at the edge of the redl and bend it just a little so it stays in there, then put the spool in an air tight plastic bag and suck the air out of it or the flux inside the core of the hollow wire can absorb moisture over time and cause porosity in the weld. When you feed the wire into the machine, make sure the end is clipped and it straight or it might not feed into the liner, and take the tip off of the gun
so the wire can feed thru; do NOT look into the end of the gun while you are feeding wire or you can lose an eye - same goes for keeping all fingers etc away from the end while you're feeding wire in - you can turn the wire feed
up to full while feeding wire as it'll go much faster; and keep the end of the tip cleaned of slag and spatter; get a chipping hammer and a welder's wire brush and chip the slag off the weld and brush it after you stop so it's clean before you start the next arc.
See, it's simple! :-)
-
Daryl_stamp
- Lifer
- Posts: 373
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:55 pm
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
TWO THUMBS UP, thanks for sharing.
Have been contemplating a system that would use a car jack that I already have, your pics are great. Will start laying out my available materials soon.
Never considered a sideways run for the jack.
Great work & great tips about welding.
Bought a 220V Lincoln rig like that 16 years ago and have run many 10# spools through it over that time without any problems.
The literature in the box contained order forms for books from Lincoln; over 6" thick worth of books for less than $100; way better price per unit of thickness than my college textbooks. Also came with videotape (pre Youtube days); watched that several times & then started practicing. Still have & use my first project, a vise stand. Also learned to judge weld quality & penetration by pounding / bending / 'cheater bar'-ing welded tabs untill something broke; once the welds & the 'weld to base metal interface' stopped failing I knew I was in pretty fair shape. Crude; but effective. Sky's the limit once you've got a welder, grinder, porta-band.
DLS
Have been contemplating a system that would use a car jack that I already have, your pics are great. Will start laying out my available materials soon.
Never considered a sideways run for the jack.
Great work & great tips about welding.
Bought a 220V Lincoln rig like that 16 years ago and have run many 10# spools through it over that time without any problems.
The literature in the box contained order forms for books from Lincoln; over 6" thick worth of books for less than $100; way better price per unit of thickness than my college textbooks. Also came with videotape (pre Youtube days); watched that several times & then started practicing. Still have & use my first project, a vise stand. Also learned to judge weld quality & penetration by pounding / bending / 'cheater bar'-ing welded tabs untill something broke; once the welds & the 'weld to base metal interface' stopped failing I knew I was in pretty fair shape. Crude; but effective. Sky's the limit once you've got a welder, grinder, porta-band.
DLS
Re: The Lift She is DONE!
Yes, those basics sure do open up lots of possibilities. I bought a
cheap drill press and a 4" side grinder a few years ago which are
also just about indespensible but wish I could lay hands on an inexpensive regular band saw to make really straight & square cuts. A tubing notcher would also make a handy addition.
One thing I had difficulty with in making the lift, and wish I could
have done better at, was making the holes perfectly parallel in each end of the 4 support legs. I have a small drill press, but still had just enuf problems so had to ream a few of the holes out just a bit to get the pins to go thru the legs and brackets at both top & bottom. Even inserted a long pin in the drilled hole and used a long level to get it vertical when trying to align it with the hole I was going to drill in the opposite end, and had made a jig I clamped onto the drill press table, but that still wasn't quite good enuf even tho I had drilled the bracket pin holes on the drill press, too, to get them straight.
As a result of the reamed holes the pins don't fit precisely and the
table is not as stable as I'd like it on the way up and down.
It's adequately stable lengthwise as I was able to install a good brace from the middle of the left side to the lower part of the left rear leg, but not diagonally (i.e. left front to right rear leg) as the light end is able to swing a little out of straight front/back alignment to the right and consequently go a couple inches lower if the bike isn't quite close
to perfectly positioned over the lifting point. When I did get the
bike properly positioned, I spray painted black around the center
stand feet so I've got a precise location to use on successive lifts.
Am working on a diagonal brace from the upper part of the left front leg to the lower part of the right rear leg. I will probly have to place the jack & the track on the opposite side (jack track is not permanently attached so it can be shifted lengthwise under the platform for balance purposes, now might have to also use it from the opposite side), so it isn't between the legs and in a position to interfere with a bottom front left to top right rear brace.
Diagonal bracing placement is a little tricky with the jack under the platform. If there was a way
to keep the jack totally out from under the platform it would be much simpler, but haven't quite figured out a satisfactory way to connect to and lift the platform that way, being my floor jack isn't permanently built in like the commercially available lifts which can then operate thru a linkage.
The bracing I've made for each end (X on the heavy end, triangulated
bracing on the light end) allow me to remove the jack and the track
for good access to all areas of the bike without stumbling over the jack and make the platform very secure and steady, but that doesn't get installed until the platform is at the full 24" height.
EDIT: Well, after studying the geometry of it, that wouldn't work
because a diagonal from the bottom of the left front to the top of
the right rear would be longer in the folded position than in the
upright position.
Here's the lift I patterned mine after as I felt I couldn't build a scissor type mechanism that would be stable enough.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb-ca ... -2792.html
Only I felt a full sized platform would keep the bike more stable
for major surgery like removing the transmission as it would have
support under both or either end as well as on the center stand.
Actually, that lift in particular wouldn't work at all for transmission
R&R.
If I would have built it so the lift folds lengthwise instead of crosswise with the jack then also positioned lengthwise, the jack would have
then been in the way for X bracing between the left and right legs
esp on the heavy end.
In this link http://www.motorcycleliftsdirect.com/Mo ... c06c2743f6 the lift on the
left is permanently X braced but I don't know if it would work with
the jack having to be completely under the platform when in the folded position. Might be too high to easily roll the bike up on it, or it would have to be quite long to get room for the jack underneath in the folded position, and then the jack wouldn't be lifting under the
balance point for the weight, stressing the jack legs quite a bit.
In order to get the jack under the weight balance point which is
very near one end, it would have to be "outside" of the framework
but then also the lift point wouldn't be directly under the balance
point, altho it could be within 6" or so.
Maybe I just need to find a cheap cylinder at harbor freight or Northern Hydraulics that I can mount permanently under the platform similar to the lift on the left. Course then I'd need a pump, too.
Hmmm. More study.
My wife and I are leaving Monday AM on a 2 week trip to see some relatives on both sides that are getting up in years and live a long
ways away, (SE MO to central MN to central WY to E MT to Portland OR to San Diego and back to MO, with side trips thru Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon) so that will have to wait awhile. I'll tackle it when I get back and post what I come up with and the results incl pics.
If you have any inspirations, feel free to make suggestions! :-)
EDIT: Found that engine hoist / cherry picker long stroke jacks are
available for about $50 shipped on ebay, one of those would work
nice.
But I think I have it figured out - if I position the floor jack on the
opposite side (the right side, towards which it folds) it will give
me room on the left side to connect the two left side legs with a
torque tube (weld a length of same size pipe between the 2 legs)
just high enough to clear the nose of the jack when the platform is in the fully raised position. There isn't any load to speak of on the light / rear end, so that should do just fine to keep the light end aligned with the heavy end during raising and lowering.
cheap drill press and a 4" side grinder a few years ago which are
also just about indespensible but wish I could lay hands on an inexpensive regular band saw to make really straight & square cuts. A tubing notcher would also make a handy addition.
One thing I had difficulty with in making the lift, and wish I could
have done better at, was making the holes perfectly parallel in each end of the 4 support legs. I have a small drill press, but still had just enuf problems so had to ream a few of the holes out just a bit to get the pins to go thru the legs and brackets at both top & bottom. Even inserted a long pin in the drilled hole and used a long level to get it vertical when trying to align it with the hole I was going to drill in the opposite end, and had made a jig I clamped onto the drill press table, but that still wasn't quite good enuf even tho I had drilled the bracket pin holes on the drill press, too, to get them straight.
As a result of the reamed holes the pins don't fit precisely and the
table is not as stable as I'd like it on the way up and down.
It's adequately stable lengthwise as I was able to install a good brace from the middle of the left side to the lower part of the left rear leg, but not diagonally (i.e. left front to right rear leg) as the light end is able to swing a little out of straight front/back alignment to the right and consequently go a couple inches lower if the bike isn't quite close
to perfectly positioned over the lifting point. When I did get the
bike properly positioned, I spray painted black around the center
stand feet so I've got a precise location to use on successive lifts.
Am working on a diagonal brace from the upper part of the left front leg to the lower part of the right rear leg. I will probly have to place the jack & the track on the opposite side (jack track is not permanently attached so it can be shifted lengthwise under the platform for balance purposes, now might have to also use it from the opposite side), so it isn't between the legs and in a position to interfere with a bottom front left to top right rear brace.
Diagonal bracing placement is a little tricky with the jack under the platform. If there was a way
to keep the jack totally out from under the platform it would be much simpler, but haven't quite figured out a satisfactory way to connect to and lift the platform that way, being my floor jack isn't permanently built in like the commercially available lifts which can then operate thru a linkage.
The bracing I've made for each end (X on the heavy end, triangulated
bracing on the light end) allow me to remove the jack and the track
for good access to all areas of the bike without stumbling over the jack and make the platform very secure and steady, but that doesn't get installed until the platform is at the full 24" height.
EDIT: Well, after studying the geometry of it, that wouldn't work
because a diagonal from the bottom of the left front to the top of
the right rear would be longer in the folded position than in the
upright position.
Here's the lift I patterned mine after as I felt I couldn't build a scissor type mechanism that would be stable enough.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb-ca ... -2792.html
Only I felt a full sized platform would keep the bike more stable
for major surgery like removing the transmission as it would have
support under both or either end as well as on the center stand.
Actually, that lift in particular wouldn't work at all for transmission
R&R.
If I would have built it so the lift folds lengthwise instead of crosswise with the jack then also positioned lengthwise, the jack would have
then been in the way for X bracing between the left and right legs
esp on the heavy end.
In this link http://www.motorcycleliftsdirect.com/Mo ... c06c2743f6 the lift on the
left is permanently X braced but I don't know if it would work with
the jack having to be completely under the platform when in the folded position. Might be too high to easily roll the bike up on it, or it would have to be quite long to get room for the jack underneath in the folded position, and then the jack wouldn't be lifting under the
balance point for the weight, stressing the jack legs quite a bit.
In order to get the jack under the weight balance point which is
very near one end, it would have to be "outside" of the framework
but then also the lift point wouldn't be directly under the balance
point, altho it could be within 6" or so.
Maybe I just need to find a cheap cylinder at harbor freight or Northern Hydraulics that I can mount permanently under the platform similar to the lift on the left. Course then I'd need a pump, too.
Hmmm. More study.
My wife and I are leaving Monday AM on a 2 week trip to see some relatives on both sides that are getting up in years and live a long
ways away, (SE MO to central MN to central WY to E MT to Portland OR to San Diego and back to MO, with side trips thru Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon) so that will have to wait awhile. I'll tackle it when I get back and post what I come up with and the results incl pics.
If you have any inspirations, feel free to make suggestions! :-)
EDIT: Found that engine hoist / cherry picker long stroke jacks are
available for about $50 shipped on ebay, one of those would work
nice.
But I think I have it figured out - if I position the floor jack on the
opposite side (the right side, towards which it folds) it will give
me room on the left side to connect the two left side legs with a
torque tube (weld a length of same size pipe between the 2 legs)
just high enough to clear the nose of the jack when the platform is in the fully raised position. There isn't any load to speak of on the light / rear end, so that should do just fine to keep the light end aligned with the heavy end during raising and lowering.