Lifting the rear of RT swing arms with a modified HF MC lift - Wanted to share and get feedback.

[UtahPete]

Brainstorm (I think); why not make a fork lift out of a cheap motorcycle lift to lift the back of an RT without getting on the ground? This is a workaround I came up with using a 20 year old Harbor Freight lift I wasn't using any more.

The trick is to remove the cross pieces from the bottom front of the frame, and the cross pieces on the lift arms, so as to be able to get the lift straddling the wheel to be able to lift directly on the swing arms just after of the axle.

I had to remove the mudflap from the hitch (it was redundant anyway) and use some scrap 2" angle iron to widen and lengthen the lift platform. The bottom of the frame is a little narrower than the width of the tire, so I can't quite push the modified lift in as far as I'd like, so I'm going to extend the lift platforms a few more inches.

It's not pretty but someone with welding ability could improve on this idea I'm sure. I'll be tinkering some more with it, but just wanted to share and get feedback.

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[UtahPete]

In these pics, I've extended the two platforms so they reach further under the swing arms. You can see the platforms are offset to the left; that's because the swing arms are also offset from the wheel, to accommodate the belt drive sprocket.

It's actually pretty stable side to side at full lift (I have chocked the front wheels). I wouldn't wrench on it without jack stands or blocks under the rear wheel, but it's definitely in a position now to access the rear shock, the rear wheel and tire, and even easily slide big blue or another lift under the frame.