Jacking up bike from skid plate.

[WingVetteStrom]

Shop manual is sprinkled with warnings not to jack up the bike using pressure on the skid plate mounting bars, as they aren't sufficiently strong to support the weight of the bike.   Taking the skid plate off to jack up the bike from the oil pan seems silly to me.   If those skid plate bars are so weak that they can't support the bike, how are they supposed to support the bike against a sturdy hit on a solid object?

 

I've seen several people on Youtube jack up the bike from under the skid plate.

[Simmons1]

48 minutes ago, WingVetteStrom said:

Shop manual is sprinkled with warnings not to jack up the bike using pressure on the skid plate mounting bars, as they aren't sufficiently strong to support the weight of the bike.   Taking the skid plate off to jack up the bike from the oil pan seems silly to me.   If those skid plate bars are so weak that they can't support the bike, how are they supposed to support the bike against a sturdy hit on a solid object?

 

I've seen several people on Youtube jack up the bike from under the skid plate.

I wouldn't worry about it. Almost everyone lifts their bikes from the skid plate.

[Hollybrook]

I do it with my CamelADV skid plate with no concerns. 

[WingVetteStrom]

3 hours ago, Hogan said:

So where in the manual does it say to not do it?

 

I think all it probably means is don't use a regular car jack, which has a very small surface area (round, castellated plate) because if it is placed in the centre of the skid plate it will bend the plate up into the motor and be unstable.

 

If you use a motorcycle/atv style jack it won't be a problem:

 

It's a 'skid' plate not a 'bash' plate. You shouldn't be doing anything more then letting the bike slide over edges with it.

It says it in every place that involves raising the bike.  Page 4-81 under a "Notice" in the upper left column for example.   That way the notice is described, even with the type of jack you picture supposedly isn't kosher.

[Uncle M]

3 hours ago, Hogan said:

So where in the manual does it say to not do it?

 

 

@Hogan pages 6-34 and 6-35 in my 2020 manual (Canadian bike) says "If necessary, insert a piece of wood between the motorcycle jack and the engine crankcase."

"NOTICE: Do not lift the motorcycle from under the skid plate or the frame sub-members."

Regardless, I've always lifted mine from under my Advspec bash/skid plate and I haven't noticed any problems with doing it that way either.

[Uncle M]

@WingVetteStrom oops you beat me to it!

[Ray Ride4life]

I have a AdventureSpec skidplate and always put my scissor jack under it.
Here it's a bit forward for working on the front for working on both sides i can lift it a bit further to the back and for just the back a little more.
Whit the bike complete off the ground i have to strap it down with this small plateau.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Ray Ride4life

[WingVetteStrom]

7 hours ago, DuncMan said:

The stock skid plate is weak. Most aftermarket plates will support lifting just fine like my AltRider plate does. However, you can insert so pieces of wood between the stock plate and the engine to prevent the stock plate bending during a lift. 

The way the notices are written, the issue isn't the stock (or any other )skid plate, the issue is with the strength of the down tubes that are there only to allow installation of a skid plate.  (Engine is a stressed member.)

I have hooks mounted into the ceiling of my man cave, if I have to jack up the bike will partially support the weight of the bike with tie down straps around the center of the handlebars and hooked to the ceiling.

Every time I try to outguess engineers, I lose.  LOL!

Edited November 13, 2022 by WingVetteStrom

[Alan M]

30 minutes ago, WingVetteStrom said:

The way the notices are written, the issue isn't the stock (or any other )skid plate, the issue is with the strength of the down tubes that are there only to allow installation of a skid plate.  (Engine is a stressed member.)

I have hooks mounted into the ceiling of my man cave, if I have to jack up the bike will partially support the weight of the bike with tie down straps around the center of the handlebars and hooked to the ceiling.

Every time I try to outguess engineers, I lose.  LOL!

Don’t over think this.

 

Buy a decent bash guard (AS, etc), a lift like the one Hogan mentioned and you’re good to go.

[Uncle M]

11 hours ago, Hogan said:

We must have different manuals.

Section 6 in mine is the cooling system and it only has 15 pages.

There are warnings in the relevant sections but they all say the same: "Securely support the vehicle so that there is no danger of it falling over."

 

My manual:

XTZ690/XTZ690-U
SERVICE MANUAL
©2019 by MBK Industrie
First edition, July 2019

 

@Hogan I didn't realize T7 manuals aren't the same in all of Yamaha's markets globally, so that's good to know.

The warnings you quoted are in my manual too, but so are the notices @WingVetteStrom and I quoted. As @Alan M notes, not useful to overthink it: Yamaha says lift the bike from under the crankcase, most of us are lifting it from under a sturdy non-OEM bash plate. Both methods seem to work well.

[WingVetteStrom]

18 minutes ago, Uncle M said:

@Hogan I didn't realize T7 manuals aren't the same in all of Yamaha's markets globally, so that's good to know.

The warnings you quoted are in my manual too, but so are the notices @WingVetteStrom and I quoted. As @Alan M notes, not useful to overthink it: Yamaha says lift the bike from under the crankcase, most of us are lifting it from under a sturdy non-OEM bash plate. Both methods seem to work well.

Yes, but (putting aside the possibility that Yamaha is being over cautious), it's not the strength of the bash plate that matters, according to Yamaha anyway, it's the strength of the down tubes that the bash plate attaches to.    Maybe I'm "overthinking" it as you say, but just repeating what the manual says regarding the downtubes, not the bash/skid plate.

Edited November 13, 2022 by WingVetteStrom

[Alan M]

42 minutes ago, WingVetteStrom said:

Yes, but (putting aside the possibility that Yamaha is being over cautious), it's not the strength of the bash plate that matters, according to Yamaha anyway, it's the strength of the down tubes that the bash plate attaches to.    Maybe I'm "overthinking" it as you say, but just repeating what the manual says regarding the downtubes, not the bash/skid plate.

It probably is the strength of the bash plate that matters.

 

The standard plate is like a tin can so if you jack under it the point load will be quite high,  a stronger plate will be able to spread this load more equally to all pickup points.

 

At the end of the day it’s your bike, do what makes you feel comfortable.

[Mark T700]

I've seen others use motorcycle lifts and platform scissors jacks though the OE and aftermarket skid plates.  I've seen blocks of wood between the skid plate and the crankcase/oil pan to prevent buckling/oil canning the skid plate.  (While the engine is a stressed member, I'm not sure I like the oil past casting participating in lifting the bike....maybe that's just me.)

 

I've read the cautionary notes in the manual about lifting the bike and the resulting discussions that the manual cautions are tip over cautions, or are skid plate damage cautions, or are cautions about the strength of the weak down tubes.

 

Lots of words on how NOT to lift the bike.  Many cautions don't do this or don't that.  We're on our own?  Your bike, your rules...of course.  But is there a Yamaha recommendation?  These bikes were supported, somehow, in a fixture of some type, through features with structural integrity, during the assembly process.   Maybe I missed the approved process?  Yamaha specifies which soap grease paste to use on shift linkage.  You'd think there'd be a "Lift it this way" picture or tool. 

[Canzvt]

So there is a "Lift this way" picture. See below. This is from the early ('20) EU manual.

 

As for the down tubes, think about it a bit. They are robustly attached to the frame at the front/top and the rear/bottom with cast fittings and large bolts. They MUST transfer any skid plate impact into the rest of the chassis to absorb or they would fold/crush allowing the exhaust and then the sump to take the impact. Many on here, myself included have taken massive hits on the skid plate with no damage to the down tubes, exhaust or engine cases.

 

My guess is that the lawyers got involved due to Yamaha selling in litigious regions and printed the warnings to absolve them of liability from people who lift their bikes via an under chassis lift and then it fall off damaging the bike or the operator. Remember, the manufacturers have to accommodate ALL the idiots (not really all as society continuously finds new idiots...) they sell to with over cautious warnings.

 

Here's how my bike is stored whenever it is NOT being ridden including 5 months of winter...

[WingVetteStrom]

Well, given that I've removed the passenger pegs, that ain't an option.  LOL!   Think I'll just put my Harbor Freight special under the Outback Motortek skid plate and pray.

[mpb1]

So a skid plate (not the stock "ferring") is there to support a bike plus rider plus impact on a rock or log.  I'm sure gently lifting the bike is 10% the force of be-bopping down a hill and high-centering me plus the bike plus luggage on a sharp rock at speed.

 

Scissor jack on a real skid plate is how I've lifted my bike 1000 times.  Works great.  Before I got an aftermarket skid plate I lifted it maybe 200 times on the stock ferring.  It was always fine too.

[Lunch]

Has anyone here lifted the bike from the OEM skid plate? I just got a motorcycle/atv jack and want to install some parts, but I don't have an aftermarket skid plate and want to make sure I'm not going to f up the OEM plate.

[3chorder]

On 4/2/2023 at 12:20 PM, Lunch said:

Has anyone here lifted the bike from the OEM skid plate? I just got a motorcycle/atv jack and want to install some parts, but I don't have an aftermarket skid plate and want to make sure I'm not going to f up the OEM plate.

I did this a week ago - about four separate times. I put two 1' 2x4s on top of my craftsman floor jack to provide a larger surface area and jacked it up from under the OEM skid plate. No problem here.

[Lunch]

13 hours ago, 3chorder said:

I did this a week ago - about four separate times. I put two 1' 2x4s on top of my craftsman floor jack to provide a larger surface area and jacked it up from under the OEM skid plate. No problem here.

Thanks! I actually just went for it and jacked it up with a sheet of plywood between the skid plate and the jack. Everything went well and the bike was surprisingly stable. 

[motonap]

Get a couple of pieces of 4x2, scribe them to fit the contours of the bash plate and place them between the scissor lift & bash plate. That is about as even as the pressure should get along the whole plate to lift.