Exhaust jack???

[acid]

Just a wild idea guys...

I love my @ but I'm dreading the day when I've dropped it when no-one's around for miles or hours as I've never quite been able to lift it myself. I dream of green laning it - at least on something fairly dry and level - but I can imagine adding soft or sloping ground into the mix could make it almost impossible to lift unaided.

I've been idly pondering equipment that could help. I love this guy's rear mounted winch on his KTM ADVrider - View Single Post - winch on a motorcycle which would help pulling it out of mud but I guess couldn't lift a dropped bike if there weren't any trees or high anchor points around.

Anyway this evening I spotted these Exhaust Jacks | ARB 4x4 Accessories » Products » ARB Recovery Equipment so called Exhaust Jacks. What an ingenious idea! The smallest I've been able to find so far is rated for about 3 tonnes, weighs about 5 kilos and I think is about 50cm wide, so yes very big and bulky for a bike I admit. I'm just curious if anyone here has used one of these and got any thoughts whether it could be made to work with an @'s exhaust?

I figured as they're soft and collapsible they could be squeezed under the bodywork of a fallen @ and inflated enough to be able to lift it easily even in the mud, without damaging the bike. What do you think?

I read on a 4x4 forum somewhere someone said a vehicle can tend to be pushed off it sideways if it's inflating at an angle - and I guess it wouldn't be a level surface under the bike Maybe it could be tied in place?

Please, what are your thoughts guys? Am I nuts? Any better ideas other than working out til I look like Arnie?

[jasonbc]

Just a wild idea guys...

I love my @ but I'm dreading the day when I've dropped it when no-one's around for miles or hours as I've never quite been able to lift it myself. I dream of green laning it - at least on something fairly dry and level - but I can imagine adding soft or sloping ground into the mix could make it almost impossible to lift unaided.

I've been idly pondering equipment that could help. I love this guy's rear mounted winch on his KTM ADVrider - View Single Post - winch on a motorcycle which would help pulling it out of mud but I guess couldn't lift a dropped bike if there weren't any trees or high anchor points around.

Anyway this evening I spotted these Exhaust Jacks | ARB 4x4 Accessories » Products » ARB Recovery Equipment so called Exhaust Jacks. What an ingenious idea! The smallest I've been able to find so far is rated for about 3 tonnes, weighs about 5 kilos and I think is about 50cm wide, so yes very big and bulky for a bike I admit. I'm just curious if anyone here has used one of these and got any thoughts whether it could be made to work with an @'s exhaust?

I figured as they're soft and collapsible they could be squeezed under the bodywork of a fallen @ and inflated enough to be able to lift it easily even in the mud, without damaging the bike. What do you think?

I read on a 4x4 forum somewhere someone said a vehicle can tend to be pushed off it sideways if it's inflating at an angle - and I guess it wouldn't be a level surface under the bike Maybe it could be tied in place?

Please, what are your thoughts guys? Am I nuts? Any better ideas other than working out til I look like Arnie?

Those inflatable ARB jacks have been around for years only problem with lifting a bike with one once the bike gets up to a certain angle the jack would probably fly out like space hopper or football then you would be back to square one,, you could always try a ground anchor and manual winch or just go out riding with a mate and use the old buddy buddy system

[Joz]

Not trying to be smart but do you know how to lift your bike? Put your back against it, squat down and lift with your knees. Yes, she's heavy, but with the right technique you may find that it's not too bad. With a few mates around it may be a good idea to gently lay her down in the grass and practice picking her up if you're concerned. Better to learn how & know you can do it in a controlled environment instead of a muddy slope.

[acid]

Not trying to be smart but do you know how to lift your bike? Put your back against it, squat down and lift with your knees. Yes, she's heavy, but with the right technique you may find that it's not too bad. With a few mates around it may be a good idea to gently lay her down in the grass and practice picking her up if you're concerned. Better to learn how & know you can do it in a controlled environment instead of a muddy slope.

Thanks, I do know the lifting theory yes, although I will add it's hard to get your back against a bike without panniers that's almost horizontal. Here I'm interested in exploring the options when those methods still aren't enough.

[Ysbytymike]

Agree there about learning how to lift.

Had a beemer for years and dropped her a few times. Needless to say my back was kna**ered afterwards. Recently I went on a one day session with an experienced off road rider offering lessons and learned two very good tips that day. 'How to recover a bike off a hill and how to pick up the heaviest of bikes quite easily'.

Make sure the bike is in gear, lock the steering to one side, grab the handlebars with bent knees and lift from there. Its amazing how easy it is.

As mentioned. Lay the bike down with the help of some mates and try the above (but) make sure its in gear, otherwise it'll run away from you as your lifting.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[acid]

Those inflatable ARB jacks have been around for years only problem with lifting a bike with one once the bike gets up to a certain angle the jack would probably fly out like space hopper or football then you would be back to square one,, you could always try a ground anchor and manual winch or just go out riding with a mate and use the old buddy buddy system

Thanks. I still wonder if the jack could be held in place somehow.
I can't figure out how I'd lift a bike using a winch and ground anchor when the ground is lower than the parts of the bike that need lifting? Wouldn't that just drag or rotate the bike along the ground down towards the anchor?

[stuart]

If you're bikes in its side it has probably got a sencer to kill the engine so no exhaust gasses to fill the bag, if the bike can run on it's side do you realy want to run it?, if you still want one try "cpc.co.uk" they sell them at what seems to be a reasonable price.

[stuart]

just looked
DRAPER TOOLS|61432|INFLATABLE AIR JACK | CPC

seems like they don't sell them any more

[Snaphappy]

Stuarts right your bike will probably not run on its side the other thing is those jacks are designed around big engines 6, 8 cylinders with enough power pushing out through the exhaust to inflate the bag, if you were to fit one to the bike the engine would stall,

probably.

[Pussyhorse]

Another vote for practicing your picking up technique.

I'm not exactly He-Man and I have no problems picking up my 1150GSA with a full tank of petrol. The XRV is a piece of piss compared to that!