DIY cradle for California 1400 jack and roller: try or bail?

[Robert Gibson]

Isn't that the truth! Yeah the U.S. is the only country in the world not working on adopting the metric system as the standard of measurement. I have worked in machine design for over 40 years started out using imperial units, but have been working with metric measurements since 2000 exclusively in my work. I was fired from one job due to refusal to use imperial units. That company actively converted over to metric units a year later.

The construction business here is very deeply entrenched in imperial units and the only way I see it changing is for material manufacturers/suppliers to actively make the conversion.

I have no problem with imperial or metric although when it comes to fluids your system can cause confusion as a UK gallon is 8 pints and a US gallon is 10 pints.
I did however take a youth to task when wanting to buy some AF Allen keys in a tool store, said individual didn’t have a clue what I was asking for. Surely if you work in that environment you should have a basic knowledge of both systems of measurement.
Jeez I must be getting old, (and less tolerant). .

 

[kiwi dave]

I have no problem with imperial or metric although when it comes to fluids your system can cause confusion as a UK gallon is 8 pints and a US gallon is 10 pints.

You mean that a US gallon is larger than an Imperial gallon?

You might want to Google this.

 

[roadventure]

1 U.S. gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints

 

[kiwi dave]

Yes, but the US pint is 16 fluid ounces, whilst the Imperial pint holds 20 fluid ounces.

But wait, the fluids ounces are not quite the same size.

The good thing about standards is that is lots of them!

 

[DeadEye]

Geezzz and the ounces aren’t the same either !!
Number of ounce US multiply(x) by 1.0416666666667, equal(=): Number of ounce UK
All the more reason to go Metric !

 

[kiwi dave]

Metric ain't the golden rule, either.

It was originally defined as the ten-millionth part of the meridian arc between the North Pole and the equator via Paris. Unfortunately, they got it wrong.

 

[Robert Gibson]

You mean that a US gallon is larger than an Imperial gallon?

You might want to Google this.

Nope, no need to google, I was already aware that a imperial gallon is approximately 4.54 litres as opposed to US gallon 3.78 litres.

 

[DeadEye]

I’ve looked this up a couple times in the past, but had never seen this answer.

“In 1775, there were different sizes of gallon for different commodities. A gallon of wine and a gallon of ale were different sizes. The English colonies used the same units as Great Britain, so those two gallon sizes were common on both sides of the Atlantic. This occasionally caused problems.

When the US became independent, it needed to establish its own standard units. It did so by adopting the old units unchanged. Except for the gallon. That problem was dealt with, and the old wine gallon became the gallon for liquid volume in the US.

The UK (it switched from GB to UK in 1800) also needed a simplification, and in 1824 they revamped their standard units. They, too, took the opportunity to remove an excess gallon and the old ale gallon became the gallon in the UK.

By the time they realized how annoying the difference between US and UK gallons was, it was too late to change it. Later UK laws regarding units paid more attention to similar issues. In 1959 the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and other English speaking countries agreed to use the same definition of the yard and pound, in terms of the meter. The gallon? Not fixed.”


So it’s the wino’s fault, if they were Beer drinkers the US would have had the Big gallon !

 

[countryguz]

I made one up out of some wood I had lying around and bolted it to the jack, it now lifts up almost level and it's stable enough to remove both wheels while it is in the air.

View attachment 21436 View attachment 21437 View attachment 21438

John L., I am a little late to this party. Have a few questions. What is the minimum height needed to get the bike in the air to remove both tires at once? Are there any mods to this approach that you would recommend now that it is 2 years ago? Some have used a cradle approach with curved blocks and this just uses square edge blocks and offsets the center attachment to adjust for the center of gravity. I am preparing right now and getting the lift/parts and pieces before I have to remove my tires so I can be ready. Thank you

 

[John L]

John L., I am a little late to this party. Have a few questions. What is the minimum height needed to get the bike in the air to remove both tires at once? Are there any mods to this approach that you would recommend now that it is 2 years ago? Some have used a cradle approach with curved blocks and this just uses square edge blocks and offsets the center attachment to adjust for the center of gravity. I am preparing right now and getting the lift/parts and pieces before I have to remove my tires so I can be ready. Thank you

Not sure on the minimum height requied to remove the wheels, if yours is a Cali then nowhere near as high as the Eldo which has a much longer rear guard. I've made no modifications to the cradle since it was made, except to use a small removable wooden block between the the lugs on the rear of the frame cradle which adds a bit more support where the cradle only touches on it's front edge because of the angle of the frame rails, I center the the jack/cradle under the bike and then place the block between the cradle and the frame. It gives a more solid contact point than just using the frame rails. I've found the bike is quite secure once it is jacked up, although I loosen any major nuts or bolts, axles etc. before lifting it if and if removing the wheels I remove the axles with the wheels on the ground and then jack the bike up until the wheels can be pulled out, rather than trying to pull the axles while it is in the air.

 

[John L]

John L., I am a little late to this party. Have a few questions. What is the minimum height needed to get the bike in the air to remove both tires at once? Are there any mods to this approach that you would recommend now that it is 2 years ago? Some have used a cradle approach with curved blocks and this just uses square edge blocks and offsets the center attachment to adjust for the center of gravity. I am preparing right now and getting the lift/parts and pieces before I have to remove my tires so I can be ready. Thank you

Have a look at Roadventures post here before you remove the rear wheel the first time, it is bloody heavy, and reverse it to put it back in, roll the wheel back under the bike and slide the axle through while the wheel is on the ground then raise it up slightly and slide the wheel along the axle and back onto the splines...

Rear Wheel Removal (what the manual doesn't tell you...)

Recently I ordered a set of AVON replacement tires for my California. The OEM Dunlop 251 was worn down to the wear bars at 5100 miles. That tire seems to be too soft for a touring type bike. I have used the AVON A71/A72 tires on other bikes and have had good luck with them. Hopefully they...

www.guzzitech.com

 

[countryguz]

I have been looking at jacks and was considering the scissor manual type but it appears there may be more control with the type of jack that you have shown in the pics. I have been using the center stand and single bottle jacks and jack stands on the CA EV1100 and it was manageable but I think a jack like yours is better unless someone has another suggestion. Some of the jacks appear to be a little unstable yet strong. Let's Roll has a nice trolly but their jack does not get the bike hi-enuff. The scissor jacks look strong but you have to be "in the face" with the bike while laying on the ground to make adjustments. I've looked at the U-tube reviews, but any real experience with Guzzi would be more beneficial to me. Thx....

 

[roadventure]

I was given a high-quality US-made jack and matching roller (probably for Harleys) to roll my 2014 Cal 1400 around my cramped garage. The bottom of the bike frame goes from horizontal to angled (toward the swingarm) and, because the bike seems rear-heavy (maybe it's the panniers and top case), there's nothing under the angled part to meet the jack or roller. Jacking the bike under the frame as close to the rear as I could still left the rear wheel on the ground. My idea was to build a temporary cradle and mount it under the frame to "extend" the horizontal area of the frame so I could move the jack and roller toward the rear where I needed them for balance and to raise the rear wheel. I made a cradle out of 1-1/4" drilled steel tubing and 1/4" flat stock and bolted it together with Grade 8 bolts. I had to notch and brace the cradle on the shifter side to clear welds on the frame. The cradle has 2 cross braces to secure the sections at proper distances. The upper arms are a slip fit over the rectangular cross-piece on the swingarm frame (clearing vital parts), and the front ends of the cradle bolt to U-nuts I set on the handy holes on the bike frame near the crash bar bolts. Now that I've built it, the big question is, would I damage my bike by lifting it with the swing arm and the frame bearing the weight? Not worth trying if damage is possible View attachment 21339 View attachment 21340 View attachment 21341 . Thank you all in advance.

Pete,

Great Job! YES, this will work with no problems. And do, see my post about rear wheel removal and replacement as already noted by John L. Hopefully it will save you some effort.