Jen


Most of the jacks, regardles the brand are strutted too far apart for a comfortable fit for the small frame of the Savage. What i did was lay a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, with carpet over it (to prevent damaging the finish on bike frame)on top of the jack, and the bike sits quite nicely on it.
A couple of tie down straps are also a good idea, as it will stabilize the bike as you perform necessary work on it.  If you don't have any straps just use some rope, and tie in a way that the bike has no play from side to side. My jack has loops on it, to anchor these said straps/ropes... Another tip is, all the jacks have a brake function on the casters. Make sure they are applied, so the jack does not roll.

With all this in mind, the bike should be quite stable, and you need not worry about the belt, or guard hitting...Mine looked like it would, but if the bike is placed correctly on the plywood,  there is actually about an inch clearance.

Mine is actually stored for the winter , raised off floor, on jack. I would love to take a picture of it for you, but my digital camera is on the fritz.

.....Hope this helps.......Good luck, and watch those skinned knuckles.....cheers

Michael

This may seem hick to some of you, but I use an engine hoist to pick up my Savage.  I use a bike tie-down through the hoist hook to the rear shocks, and another one at the bar between the risers.  Works great, and no worries about it fallling over.

Of course I already had the hoist from working on old cars.  This would not be my first choice for bike wrenching only, as it takes up lots of space.  But as long as it's there...

See my post of maintenance.
Looks sofisticated the red bar but works the same as the $20 bike lift as posted before.
The other is a  scissors jack ; a left over from my Datsun car I owned years ago.

Greetz
Kropatchek

DangMan wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


many of us have built that stand.

i call it "the center stand".

I've since bought a motorcycle jack but still use the homemade one for a lot of jobs because it's so simple and fast.