Motorcycle Lift experience?

[Dark Sky]

I sold my 5th wheel toy hauler back in February, have been overseas working but coming back soon and will be in the market for a dp in December or so. I want to buy one of the rear mounted motorcycle lifts on the market, presently favoring the Cruiserlift. It uses a 12v motor and cable system instead of a hydraulic system. I tried the Search Engine but no luck. Does anybody have good or bad experience with any of these systems?
Thanks for your time!

[Ron_H]

Be aware of the capacity of the coach to carry the weight of the lift and motorcycle slung off the back end. As it hangs off the back the effect of the weight is amplified. Some single axle units can handle the weight but many cannot. A tag axle rig would be best suited for this, but not essential if you do your homework and select the right rig.

[Gordon Dewald]

We considered a lift but decided having our motorcycle exposed at the back of the coach was not what we wanted.

Lots of people use them and swear by their use. I like the idea of a cable system to lift the bike.

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by Dark Sky

I sold my 5th wheel toy hauler back in February, have been overseas working but coming back soon and will be in the market for a dp in December or so. I want to buy one of the rear mounted motorcycle lifts on the market, presently favoring the Cruiserlift. It uses a 12v motor and cable system instead of a hydraulic system. I tried the Search Engine but no luck. Does anybody have good or bad experience with any of these systems?

Thanks for your time!

One caveat. When you go looking for a DP, be aware of the weight you will be cantilevering off the back. I'm pretty sure the Cruiserlift folks can help you with calculations in this regard. A tag axle will help you with the total weight and help you manage the weight transfer off the steer axle.

Good luck & have fun.

[530ktm]

Firedup has some good information regarding these types of lifts, hopefully he chimes in.

[bruce91]

Originally Posted by Dark Sky

I sold my 5th wheel toy hauler back in February, have been overseas working but coming back soon and will be in the market for a dp in December or so. I want to buy one of the rear mounted motorcycle lifts on the market, presently favoring the Cruiserlift. It uses a 12v motor and cable system instead of a hydraulic system. I tried the Search Engine but no luck. Does anybody have good or bad experience with any of these systems?
Thanks for your time!

Traveling several years with only the DW's toad (Ford Fusion) I always wanted to have my Harley with us to explore the area and sometimes we just needed to do our own thing when away for more than a month. We liked our coach and didn't care to upgrade to a toyhauler, plus i like the extra living space not given up for the toy hauler area.

Thankfully the DW had no objections to me getting a truck, rampage MC lift, adding supersprings, air shocks and sway bar to the truck to take the bike along. Now i'm 70 years old and very fit for my age but thinking smart i got the rampage lift. Just watching youtube videos of guys using ramps is all i needed. What a sweet and safe product to secure your bike on the ground and winch it up in to the truck bed. The lift easily gets removed from the truck and stores on top of my MC repair lift in the garage that is a work bench when thats not used, takes up no more space sitting on top. My truck is now the primary toad and travels like it wasn't there.

Once at a Florida state park arriving a little early I was unloading the bike in the overflow lot and an onlooker was in awe how easy this lift worked. He commented "looks like you have all the toys but wheres the boat" My reply was it's in the coach. A seaeagle fasttrack inflatable kayak.


Rampage Lift Motorcycle Loader Rampage Power Lift for Motorcycles, Trikes, Snowmobiles [RampageLift] - $2,595.00 : Open Road Outfitters, Motorcycle Campers and Trailers, Harley Hitches, Escapade, Time Out, Mini Mate

[Dark Sky]

Thanks very much for the responses. I want to have my weights sorted out well before I buy the motorhome, in order to be sure my plan will work. I will consider the 'bike in the truck bed' option. However, we full timed in our 5th wheel for a while, and ultimately our only "car" was a 1 ton duallie. It pulled great but was not the perfect choice to fetch a loaf of bread. In this case the truck would be a 1/2 ton so at least it could go through a car wash. I am contacting the respective manufacturers and will consult the makers of the motorhome I plan to buy before pulling the trigger. This was wise counsel.

[Triker56]

For Rear Lifts have your front & rear axle weighted when loaded for travel. Then you can add on the extra weight of a lift by below.

Measure the distance from the center of rear axle to the center of the weight(Lift)
Divide that number by the RV’s wheelbase.
Multiply the result by 100 to get percent.

That percent of the load is added to the load and becomes the total load added to the rear axle.
That percent of the load is subtracted from the front axle weight and unloads the front axle by that amount.
800 lb bike, Lift 100 lb=900 lb
Center axle to rear 120” wheelbase 240”
120 divide by 240=0.50 X 100= 50%
Weight is 1350 lb added to rear axle
Front axle will be 450 lbs lighter

Make sure your rear axle is not overloaded. Gas RV's usually have less carrying capacity then a DP.
And not all DP can't handle the extra weight on the rear axle.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Dark Sky

I sold my 5th wheel toy hauler back in February, have been overseas working but coming back soon and will be in the market for a dp in December or so. I want to buy one of the rear mounted motorcycle lifts on the market, presently favoring the Cruiserlift. It uses a 12v motor and cable system instead of a hydraulic system. I tried the Search Engine but no luck. Does anybody have good or bad experience with any of these systems?
Thanks for your time!

Dark Sky,
Well, we've "been there done that" sort of thing. I did quite a bit of research on all the lifts and, to me, in my opinion, the Hydralift is by far, the highest quality, most durable, least amount of moving parts, and structurally stable motorcycle lift on the market. The others, some cable driven and some with a single vertical hydraulic cylinder will get the job done. I have observed many of these other lifts with larger, full dress bikes on them and, many of them have way too much movement for my comfort.

The Hydralift is rock solid and has no movement what so ever. The problem with Hydralift, it's also the most expensive on the market. You're looking at somewhere near $4,700.00 before taxes and shipping. But, if you get interested in a Hydralift, they're quite often for sale either on ebay or Craigslist.

You have to be ready though, they can go pretty fast because people know what the value is.

Now, We used one for over 8,000 miles and were seriously happy with it. I installed it on our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT and Allison 3000MH trans. Despite all the warnings of all the people (who mostly have NEVER done anything like this) saying that the back of the coach would fall off, the front end would be so light that it would porpoise all over and a whole lot more, that coach drove straight down the road, no wandering, no porpoising, no light front end handling, no detrimental effects what so ever.

I did all the weights before the addition of the lift and the bike which, is an '08 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing which, tips the scales at very close to 900lbs. In the end, after the bike and lift were installed, the front end came up a whopping 1/16" of an inch. And, as far as weight transfer, I lost a massive 190 lbs off the front end.

Yes, the rear of my coach was OVER LOADED, no doubt about that. My GAWR of the rear is 17,500 lbs. I was running down the road at 21,000 lbs on the rear. No one died, no massive car accidents, the world did NOT come to an end because I was over weight. As stated, we did it for well over 8,000 miles without one issue.

But, things changed and we changed. So, now, we sold the Hydralift (it went real fast) and purchased a 2011 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 and installed a Rampage M/C lift in the bed. The truck now carries that 900 lbs. Wing. And the truck also has ZERO problems carrying that much weight. So, yes, we've done it a few ways. If you have any questions, PM me and I'd be glad to help.
Scott

[hypoxia]

Any of the motorcycle lifts will work OK, the weight on the rear tires is the biggest concern. The Overbilt lift I have has hauled bikes for well over 50,000 miles. It has been on 3 coaches so far.

For a half ton pickup I am considering this loader, it's aluminum which I believe saves about 100 Lbs. over the steel ones. They have photos of it mounted on the back of a motorhome which interests me also. A loader is easier to use than a normal lift. Heavy bikes are no fun to push around. Motorcycle Loader

[Dark Sky]

I really appreciate all the feedback and information, and will take it all into account. I also will come back and post the outcome, but won't be shopping until December, so it might not be until February or so. I've got a request out to Fleetwood Excursion owners to see if anybody has weighed their coach in 'traveling' condition. I've also made contact with a rear bus loader (Cruiserlift) and a truck loader (Rampage). I'll be looking at other brands as well. So, sequence of events is to decide if we will tow a truck or a car, then look at our weights, and then come up with a short list of coaches to consider. And of course, one option is to just leave the bike at home.... not getting any younger. I'd like to meet the weight limits, but I know there are variables such as overly conservative yellow stickers for various marketing reasons. I don't want to see this thread go off into the Weight Wars, where everyone is either an idiot for being too conservative, or totally irresponsible for ignoring 'the limits'. The tone here seems a lot more friendly than the last forum I was active on.
Thanks again, this is a lot more input than I expected.

[Dark Sky]

Hey Fire Up, thanks for your specifics and your experience. I will look up the dimensions on your rig wrt wheelbase and overhang and transfer the math over to the rigs that I shop. A very long time ago I taught a course on stress analysis, but 'CRS' has set in. I'll have to blow the dust off the old calculator....

[stetler]

I just purchased a 04 Fleetwood Excursion 39s with a Hydra-Lift installed on the back. Its been on for the last 7 years or so. I've hear they changed up a few things from the older ones to the newer ones being sold.
The last owner use to haul a Goldwing on it and put roughly 26k miles on the coach with no issues.

In about 2 months I'll be hauling my Harley on it or my BMW. I'll chime back on here and give you some feedback on how it handles.

I think I'm going to Rhino Line the lift to clean it up. Not sure why Hydra-Lift uses such cheap paint. pretty much looks like a old car with Primer.









My bike.

[JohnFreyja]

My experience is about the same as Fire Up, had a 40' that drove just fine with a Harley Ultra Glide, but legally I was over weight on the rear axle. Used that as an excuse to move up to a 45 with tag axle. Keep an eye out for a used MH with the Hydra Lift.