How can I move, all alone, a disabled motorcycle (heavy, no front wheel)

How can I move, all alone, a disabled motorcycle (heavy, no front wheel).

Any ideas? I'm all alone and don't have a pickup. I can rent a truck but
how do I get the heavy bike (rear wheel and engine and frame) onto and off
the truck.

 

Call the local (to you) Mormons. Usually good at helping
move house. Look in the phone book under "The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints".

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


How can I move, all alone, a disabled motorcycle (heavy, no
front wheel).

Any ideas? I'm all alone and don't have a pickup. I can rent
a truck but
how do I get the heavy bike (rear wheel and engine and
frame) onto and off
the truck.

 

Rent an engine hoist (the free standing boom type) from the local auto
parts place. Charge is usually minor and sometimes free if you return
it the same day or the next.

 

Oh yeah, and get some nylon tow straps instead of trying to use chains.

 

Do you have an engine hoist?

 

You can get a 1/2 ton crane that will go in the back of a truck for
$100 at harbor freight. 2 Ton for a couple hundred.

If you're gonna have a bike you might want to pick up a truck or
trailer to cart it around when necessary.

Jim

 

I remember a friend in college commenting that the thing he used his bike most
for was going the the shop for parts for it.

 

A couple possibilities. A cart (hand truck) like the ones used
to move refrigerators. You might be able to hook it under the front
forks. I'm not sure it would lift high enough to get the frame off the
ground though. An equipment dollie might also work.
You didn't mention what bike you're moving so no guess on the
weight. Bikes can weigh up to 1000 lbs. or so.
Maybe it would work better to rent a van. They aren't as high.

 

Just give me a call I will come over and put it in my van Then
happily drive away

What brand bike is it?

Bikers tend to be a friendly group, look for other local bikers they
might help you move it

 

Andy comments:

Put the tailgate down.

Set two 4x4s about3 feet apart and fasten to make a ramp from
the ground to the tailgate. I would suggest 10 foot lengths.

Lay the bike on the 4x4s sideways with the rear wheel over one
and the engine over the other, at ground level. Try to get it so it's
more or less evenly weight distributed....

Walk the bike up the ramp -- one side a foot or so, then the other
side a foot or so. If necessary, use a prop, or a rope, to keep the
bike from sliding back.....probly not necessary with 10 foot ramp
length.

This will take about 10 or 15 minutes, a little at a time, but you
will work it up. Then use the 4x4s for a nice garden border in the
yard......or something....
With a pile of wood and some rope, you can fashion about any
sort of ramp you want. That's how they built the pyramids....
probly....

Andy in Eureka, Texas

 

Agree

If you don't have anybody to help you, you shouldn't be buying a bike.
This isn't the last time you're gonna have to haul it somewhere.
you can rent a low-profile tilt-bed trailer. It's MUCH safer than trying
to load it into a pickup, wheels or not.
Again, DO NOT try to do this yourself.
Imagine yourself pinned under the thing with a broken leg and
nobody around.

 

Lots of rental trucks have lift gates.

You'd definitely need tie down straps and some
way to move the bike around as you're getting it
on and off the truck. Maybe strapping it to a dolly
would work.

 

U-Haul rents box vans with powered lift gates and a cargo floor that's
lower than the typical pickup truck bed and U-Haul also rents very low
motorcycle trailers with loading ramps.

Once your don't have a front wheel at all, snag an abandoned
supermarket shopping cart and hacksaw the basket part off so you can
rest the motorcycle forks on the wheeled bottom half of the cart.

You can probable use the axle clamps on the bottom of the forks to
secure the motorcycle to the shopping cart when you have to maneuver
the motorcycle around the garage.

Sawed-off shopping carts are good for moving engines around the garage
too.

Also, while you're scrounging shopping carts, get a few plastic milk
crates to store parts in. Impecunious motorcyclists have been using
milk crates for motorcycle workstands since the Beatles were a
group...

 

Perhaps he used his motor cycle to get parts for the car?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..



I remember a friend in college commenting that the thing he
used his bike most
for was going the the shop for parts for it.

 

Have a car?

http://crossquote.com/funny-crazy-redneck-auto-repair/car-bike-tow.jpg

;-)

 

<Considers garage and shuffles feet embarrassedly>

 

They were also pretty handy for the market that paid ~ $120/each for them...

 

They were also pretty handy for the market that paid ~ $120/each for them...

 

Well, you do have a certain point, but I wasn't suggesting that the OP
go out and steal a shopping cart that's in good condition and chop it
up.

Despite the fact that some newer shopping carts have automatic
immobilization devices that prevent the cart from being taken off the
store's parking lot, and the fact that some stores pay rewards to
people who go out and collect stray carts, some carts will eventually
wind up a long way from the store, as homeless people use them to
carry all their possessions.

Carts will wind up in rivers and flood control channels and parking
structures, and some of these carts could be put to good use by
impecunious riders who want a free engine cart.

The supermarket would not want a shabby looking cart in their store
anyway.

And, the store's insurance company has already *paid* for the loss of
the missing cart.

And, if you visit the same store 12,000 times over a 33 year period,
your grocery purchases have probably amortized the cost of the cart...

 

The agricultural equipment dealer down the street sells Kubota
tractors that have four six-foot diameter wheels with narrow tires. I
can't figure out what they're good for, since regular tractors have
two narrow spaced smaller diameter wheels up front so they will follow
the furrow while plowing...