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Newbie Question....


rwynne24

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So since I am fairly new to motorcycles and my dad has only had Harley's his entire life I wanted to see if you guys could help me out! I wanted to get my chain cleaned as well as just take an overall look around and under the bike but I don't have the rear spools for it. My dad however has a motorcycle jack where it essentially looks like a floor jack for a car with the 2 bars and such. Is there a way to jack my bike up with this? I can't find anywhere underneath where I imagine it would go without causing some sort of damage.... I do have the M4 exhaust installed if that would pose an issues. Just tired of doing the whole 2 person pushing the bike while I'm spraying and cleaning it deal lol. Any help is appreciated it! Thank you!

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This does not answer your question, but I got a rear stand from Harbor Freight for about $30. It is pretty good quality and I use it more than I expected.

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You really need a rear stand -- you can't lift the bike with a normal floor jack-type lift. And most rear stands don't *require* spools -- they are just a convenience and a peace of mind for some people.

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Is this the stand you were talking about ?  
http://m.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-swingarm-rear-stand-65620.html
 
If not would this one work for our bikes?
That is the one I have. It works great. After the first few times it gets less nerve-racking to use :)    I hold my bike by the seat strap when I am putting it on the stand and that seems to work well. The first few times I had a friend with me to help in case I got it wrong. 
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This does not answer your question, but I got a rear stand from Harbor Freight for about $30. It is pretty good quality and I use it more than I expected.
I'm sure I will get poo poo'ed  but I've put my jack under the oil pan just getting the rear tire off the ground with the kick stand holding the weight lol. 
 
Now I have this from Harbor Fright ... It works ok.
 
http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-cleaning-stand-98800.html
 

2015 FZ-07 2003 2014 GSXR 1000

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This does not answer your question, but I got a rear stand from Harbor Freight for about $30. It is pretty good quality and I use it more than I expected.
I'm sure I will get poo poo'ed  but I've put my jack under the oil pan just getting the rear tire off the ground with the kick stand holding the weight lol. 
 
Now I have this from Harbor Fright ... It works ok.
 
http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-cleaning-stand-98800.html

Nobody here will "poo poo" you doing this, but we cannot guarantee we won't point and laugh when you drop your $7000+ investment (quite possibly on top of yourself). 
Bottom line is if you have the scratch to buy and ride a motorcycle, why not spend a tiny amount and get a quality piece of kit that will work for years and not run the risk of damage or personal injury?  (I popped for a PitBull stand myself -- can't argue the bulletproof quality)
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Went a picked it up earlier and honestly it does the job! To be honest I've had the bike for about 7 months and haven't cleaned the chain once.... Honestly wasn't sure of chain matinence with this being my first bike and I've been putting it off, yes I feel stupid for not doing it lol. But! She's back to that nice silver chain and not all covered in crap so I'm happy, definitely going to be cleaning her from now on since I have the proper tools. I'm going to go for the pit bull stands in a couple months if this one seems to be getting crappy as time goes on.
 
Another question!
Has anyone had a "bad battery" in their bikes? Mine was working perfectly fine until it got cold. Now in a matter of 2 days I'm jumping her and it's starting to be a pain. My sisters bike (2013 ninja 250) sat for atleast 3 weeks and started right up just fine as well as my dads 2016 harley and we all have them in the same garage. I finally threw a battery tender on her tonight because with this 30 degree and lower weather it's not always possible for me to get her out especially since I'm starting my spring session. Just wanted to know if I should give Yamaha a call on this one!

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I had my battery fail to start the bike only once... and its because I was stupid and left the key on overnight in the garage
what part of the country? How cold did it get?

ATGATT... ATTATT, two acronyms I live by.
 

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@rwynne24, I have a battery tender on mine. They come with a pigtail lead that I have running to under the seat. It cost about $40 and I never have to worry about the battery when it sits for a while.

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I picked up a rear spool stand for piece of mind while 'lifting' the bike.  I find it helps if I stack 2 pieces of 2x4 under the kickstand to help level out the bike a bit first; just make sure the ground is level, so your bike doesnt tip away from you...which for obvious reasons would be very bad. ;)
 
+1 for "Battery Tender".
 

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.          Fuss Life.

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I'm in Delaware and it's probably been in the 30's-40's. Seems to have enough juice to have my display come on but as soon as I go to start her it's just "clicking" and I end up jumping her from my truck. Hopefully the battery tender helps out, since I'm back in school I'm leaving it in my dads garage for him to ride if I can't get over there. I'll call Yamaha and see if they have anything to say, I just find it odd that as soon as it got cold I'm having this issue.... Even after running it for a good 15 miles after I jump it and then 2 days later it being dead? I'm just ready for summer!!

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your battery isn't getting charged or it's on it's last legs, or you have a parasitic load. With the Tender on it you shouldn't have any more trouble as long as you're starting from your house. Now, go to work and let it sit for 8hrs you might be back to 'click'.
 
My money is on a parasite.

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I don't know how many times I've had to replace an alternator on a car. I could jump start it and it would run but everything was running off the battery which drained the hell out of it quick. Then there have been batteries with a dead cell so it wouldn't hold a full charge which caused similar problems to yours. It could also be parasitic as mentioned but to save yourself time and trouble check the simple, most likely things first. BTW, what jack/lift did you end up buying? You said you picked it up and it does the job but you didn't say what it was you bought. I'm guessing you went with the:
 
 
m.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-swingarm-rear-stand-65620.html
 
Is that correct?

Beemer

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Easy way to test the battery/charging system is start the bike and see if your getting over 14v on the battery, kill the bike and leave all the lights on and see if your voltage drops bellow 12.3ish pretty quickly. Make sure the battery is charged up before doing this test. If you don't have a multimeter you can get a cheap free one from Harbor freight that will work "okay".

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Pattonme : How would I go about handling it if it is a parasitic load? Should I give Yamaha a call and see if it's under warranty?
 
Beemer: Yup! That's the one I bought and it worked amazingly! We'll see over time how it holds up, but for $30 I don't think you could beat it!

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Patrasitic loads are the bane of techniciansi
Especially modules that go to sleep and wake up... but alas
Get it to the dealership if you suspect a parasitic.... that should be covered under the warranty as long as there arent any major aftermarket electronics installed
also.... the battery itself should be covered by the 1yr warranty

ATGATT... ATTATT, two acronyms I live by.
 

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when measuring voltage at the battery with the engine running. you need some RPMs on the motor so have someone maintain a nice 3000 RPM while you measure for the ~14V.

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Just re-read thru all of this.
 
1st that stand you have really needs to have either frame rails under the motor like your Dad's hardley or a nice big flat surface underneath somewhere to sit on those arms. I'm thinking it looks like http://www.zoro.com/craftsman-motorcycle-jack-atv-1500-lbs-9-50190/i/G4316855/?gclid=CICYvKr3uMoCFYMXHwodolkHiA&gclsrc=aw.ds A rear stand like what's been already mentioned is a better choice for this bike.
 
One thing no one has mentioned - the starter motor, whether it be a car motor, a big twin or yer sister's Ninjette draws a large amount of current every time you hit the button. Even with a properly functioning charge system, if you do a lot of short hops, it's possible to draw the battery down to the point that it will need some real time on a float charger to get back to fully charged again. If you just let the bike idle for 15 mins, this will not replenish what the starter motor sucks from your battery
 
One other question - are you sure you have not left the parking lights on when you shut it down? Only a small bulb in the headlight nacelle and the tail light will be lit.
 
All that said, even though batteries are pretty reliable out of the box these days, it's possible to get a bad one.

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