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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenance?
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Message started by Cirj44 on 08/14/26 at 18:33:45

Title: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenance?
Post by Cirj44 on 08/14/26 at 18:33:45

Has anyone figured out a good way to lift the Savage to make it easier to work on?

I have a Pittsburgh ATV/motorcycle jack, but the lifting arms don’t line up well under the bike. I fabricated a cradle from ½-inch plywood that sits over the lifting platform and added two 1×1 blocks to support the frame rails. It works reasonably well when secured with four ratchet straps.

What lifting methods or setups are the rest of you using?

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by Dave on 08/16/26 at 15:03:33

I have a lift with a clamping wheel chock...and also a very good wheel chock that sits on the garage floor.

I can put the front or rear wheel in the chock and strap that end down - then jack the bike in the middle to raise the other end.

This method works great for me.

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by splash07 on 08/17/26 at 04:10:22

I use a cinder block wrapped in a towel. I wouldn't recommend it though lol.

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by Cirj44 on 08/17/26 at 08:04:06

Thanks guys. Methods are interesting.
Dave, what kind of lift are you using?

Here is a mock up of my rig.

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by Axman88 on 08/17/26 at 19:47:06

My S40 seems pretty straightforward to lift, relative to some other machines I own. I think I just used a car scissors jack, that I've added a strong, but relatively small ~ 1.25 thick x 3.25" wide x 14" long slab of maple to. The wood plank is long enough to bridge the frame rails, and narrow enough to find a spot for between features welded to the frame. I add some shims as needed to ensure I'm pushing against the frame rail on both side, and lift front or rear, but I don't try to lift the whole machine on the narrow footprint of a scissors jack.

My Honda Shadow 1100, was much more of a challenge, much heavier, with a softer engine underbelly, frame rails at different heights, and more limitations on access. For that I built a cradle.

Motorcyclejacks dot com has designed a patent pending adaptor for motorcycle lifts, they imaginatively call the "Universal Adapter". It offers 4 height and position adjustable perches. I won't post a link, because their marketing and website are awful, but I attached the biggest picture I could grab. Sells for ~$90, according to the website. I'd want to at least see better pictures before investing, but the concept looks promising.

The idea appears somewhat similar to that used by the clamp-on adaptors from RedLine, which appear to be designed to clamp to a heavier duty lift, but offer height adjustable perches. These would allow adjusting a parallelogram lift to frame rail span, with the lift crosswise to the bike's main axis. Pricey, in my opinion at $250 for the set of 4. https://www.redlinestands.com/catalog/lifts-c-290/parts-accessories-c-290_304/two-post-parts-accessories-c-290_304_517/redline-re2pa-2-post-lift-motorcycle-atv-adapters-p-1572

Too bad Vevor hasn't included threaded perches on their reasonably priced Motorcycle Lift. It does appear in some pictures, however, that the perches, which appear to be adjustable in span, can be rotated to either axis, so perhaps they are threaded? However, the feature isn't called out, either as rotatable or individually height adjustable. Vevor makes decent quality for just a few dollars more than dirt cheap Harbor Freight quality. https://www.vevor.com/hydraulic-motorcycle-hoist-c_10310/vevor-motorcycle-lift-scissor-jack-stand-1100-lb-with-saddle-atv-lift-dirt-bike-p_010780317451 If they made the perches individually height adjustable, I'd rather have two of these, bolted securely to fairly wide, 3/4" plywood pads, than a single parallelogram lift. Would be quite a bit more adaptable, and secure, in my opinion.

I own a parallogram lift, like your Pittsburgh, but it almost never gets used. Always seems to be either overkill, or inconvenient, or in the way of what I'm trying to do. If I had more workspace, I'm sure it would see more use.

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by verslagen1 on 08/19/26 at 10:35:38

It all depends on how high you need to lift.

front end a few inches, jack stands under the foot pegs.
rear end ditto, floor jack under the center or muffler mount.
both ends from a few inches to the rafters chain hoist hooked into the square frame tube.

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by Serowbot on 08/22/26 at 11:56:10

40 second lift
Cost,.. a couple dollars
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEbuOh9l1es[/media]

Title: Re: Best Way to Lift a Suzuki Savage for Maintenan
Post by Tocsik on 08/24/26 at 18:50:30

I made a couple like serowbot posted. One that's long with eye bolts in the ends. I strap the bike to the eye bolts to do bigger jobs like removing both wheels at once. I made a shorter one to keep handy for smaller jobs but need the bike level and stable enough to remove the seat and tank.