Word of warning regarding the Abba Skylift

[ADSrox0r]

This is more a 'cooly story bro' for bants but also a tip;

Had the Zed up this weekend for service and coming to the back end of what I wanted to achieve for the day. Now, the Abba Skylift has three preset holes for different heights that you slide a big chunky pin into and drop the hydraulic ram onto for safety. Once it's 'sat' on the pin it's all good, you just pump it up once to release the pin when you want to drop it again.

Aaaaanyway, noticed the stroke on the ram was getting shorter and thought to myself I'd best top up the hydraulic fluid when I'm finished. I'd dropped the ram onto the pin with the Zed up in the air. Went to pump it to release the pin and.......fuck! Nothing. I've now got quarter of a ton stuck in the air because the pin is locked in place by the weight and the ram won't lift to release the damned thing.

Managed to get it back down after fabricobbling a jerry rigged bottle jack and a length of timber under the sump to just nudge it up in the air and release the pin. Without that I would've been royally fucked.

So, my word of advice; always check and service your hydraulic lifting gear BEFORE you get the vehicle in the air
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[MattEMulsion]

The question that begs to be asked is where has the hydraulic oil gone? Do you have a leak?
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[nowhere.elysium]

[cb1rocket]

Didn't the whole bike come crashing down once the bottle jack was removed?
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Honda H100S2 Rebuild - https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=253852

[ADSrox0r]

Nah, it was just air had got into the ram so needed purging but I didn't want to do it with it up in the air (although the safety pin would technically mean it's perfectly safe...but, I was tired and a little drunk). It was hydraulically sound but had obviously let air in on the stroke as it went up.

Which subsequently leads me to top tip number two; if you have a hydraulic ram or bottle jack that's not pumping up any more try a purge first. Simply open the release valve and pump it twenty times, then shut the valve off and it should just raise again. If that doesn't work then make sure the oil is topped off. And if it still doesn't raise, well you gotta strip it down and find out if either of the one way valves is farked. But nine times out of ten a simple air purge does the trick.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[supZ]

[ADSrox0r]

Yeah, you might want to read again. I said top up 'when I'm finished', ie. the bike is down again. I'm a drunken old fool but I'm not daft enough to start pissing about with a hydraulic ram with quarter of a ton sat on it.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[Commuter_Tim]