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Motorcycle lift or table rebuild of pneumatic cylinder

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Texas Rider

Texas Rider

Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
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Location
Leander-Liberty Hill (NW Austin)
First Name
Ken
I will pay for postage + $5 for your trouble/gas if you are willing to send me the old parts.

I am looking to build a database of parts needed to rebuild the cylinders used in pneumatic motorcycle lifts. Both my Handy BOB and Direct Lift Pro Cycle have needed to be rebuilt.

If you rebuild your lift cylinder (any brand or model), I am interested in detailed and accurate measurements of the seals and the plastic/nylon bushing or bearing that is on the shaft end of the cylinder.

Just so you know, generally the bushing/bearing can easily be removed without damaging it by gently pushing it into the cylinder, once the seal has been removed; the seal holds the bushing/bearing in place. The bushing may or may not need to be replaced. The kits from Direct Lift and Handy both include the bushing.

Again, I am interested in these seals and bearings for all pneumatic lifts, but I also need to know the exact model of the lift and the approx age (if you know it); the age may be important as the parts change over time.

If you are in the Tx Hill Country I might be willing to come help you disassemble the lift and remove the seals. There are a few tricks to make this process easier; I found them both the hard way and from watching videos. The Handy video is very informative and suggest it be consulted regardless of the lift brand; most of the other Youtube videos demonstrate bad practices.

Please send me a PM if you are interested.
 
Seals and bearings are virtually always standard sizes. Parts store, tractor places or GOOGLE can almost always help. Get the basic measurements of OD, ID and height then look at the catalogs.
SKF, FAG, NSK, NTN, TIMKEN and China, Korea all standard dimensions.
 
The bushings/bearing are not standard sizes - at least on my Direct Lift. I have been scouring the internet without success.

As I build the database, I plan to source the parts needed for each lift.

The Direct Lift uses metric sizes of seals.
 
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Go online to Handy Industries and they sell kits. I have a spare for my 1k lift and my B.O.B. list is fine. Kits are reasonably priced and available. Why waste time?

For 1k lift:

Six inch seal kit Clickety Click $76.00

For B.O.B. lift:

Eight Inch Seal Kit Clitecty Click-Click $78.00

CKQB5034.JPG
 
Another good point, if you shoot a little STP mixed with oil as specified in the handy industries owners manuals, the seals may last for our lifetime. Dryness or water and grit are the enemies of the seals. I find that flipping the lift on it's side or top and fully extending it is one of the easiest ways to do the deed.
 
I rebuilt my Handy BOB last year and I agree the kits are readily available and somewhat reasonably priced. That's not necessarily true for all the other brands however. A Direct Lift kit is $199 before sales tax at Derek Weaver.
https://www.derekweaver.com/bikers-...er-seal-kit-for-direct-lift-motorcycle-lifts/

I think I can source the parts, which may require having some of them made (bushing/bearing) and sell them for $50 per kit. I have not been able to find a standard size of bearing/bushing to fit my Direct Lift. While I found some that are dimensionally close, they are not exact and I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of rebuilding a lift and hoping a part fits or provide a proper service life.

Wouldn't some people appreciate the savings? My guess is that kits are not available for some of the odd ball lifts. Having a database could help the owner's. Potentially, they could order the kit and have it on hand when disassembling the lift rather than waiting days for the parts to arrive after tearing into it to determine what parts are needed.
 
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I agree, I am old and misread it, I thought you needed help finding it, rather than cataloguing the various sizes for lifts. I would buy the Derek Weaver one and use it as a pattern to see if you can produce a cheaper one. The Handy stuff lasts longer if you lube it. I have had my lift since like 2001 or two and only put two seals in it. The second one was only because I installed the bushing backwards and it eventually blew out. I also keep my air pressure about 110-120 psi so I can extend the life of the seals.
 
Texas Rider said:
The bushings/bearing are not standard sizes - at least on my Direct Lift. I have been scouring the internet without success.

As I build the database, I plan to source the parts needed for each lift.

The Direct Lift uses metric sizes seals.
Click to expand...
Doug, Did you clean up your work space?
 
I buy seals for any hydraulic cylinder made from a wholesale seal distributor , a factory seal kit for a backhoe boom cylinder can be as much as 300 bucks from the dealer and 25 bucks if I measure and buy wholesale plus I can specify the packing material to be standard or lifetime for a couple bucks more . Most air cylinders I have worked on were a simple O ring piston and rod seal , replace them with 90 durometer Viton for a couple bucks and never touch it again . Lip seals will all have the size on them and O rings are a simple measurement , no manufacture of cylinders molds their own seal material .
 
Both my Direct Lift and Handy BOB use seals and not O-rings. I failed to measure the bearing/bushing on the Handy lift when I rebuilt it, but the Direct Lift has a non-standard size of bushing. After extensive searching, I have not been able to find a bushing that perfectly matches the OEM part.

My thought is to source these parts including, if necessary, having the bushings manufactured and building kits to sell with significant ($60) savings over the OEM prices.

Having the bushings made in limited quantities is expensive per piece. To get the per item cost down means significant lot sizes and several hundred dollars per lot.
 
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Might be cheaper to change the cylinder to something over the counter unless it is a non standard that is made by the manufacture , I have used air cylinders on machinery that work 10 hours a day 5 days a week and last 10 plus years before failures . I have no idea what kind of arraignment your working with but one thing I strive to do is when I find a part that fails more often than I think it should I dont hesitate to make changes and improve the performance of said machine , I would expect a lift table cylinder to last for years even in a commercial shop where it was up and down several times a day . Screw compressors use a air cylinder for throttle control , its bolted to the motor and operates the governor up and down as air demand changes . Vibrating its entire life and they last 3 or 4 thousand hours of engine run time and cost 65 bucks . I just replace with new when needed . Not from the dealer .
 
My Direct Lift seals lasted 12-14 years and the Handy was much older than that. I think, generally people are getting 12-15 years out of their lift seals.
 
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I have put seal kits together and had the bushings locally manufactured. These fit the 6" cylinder on the Direct Lift Pro-cycle replacing the Rotary part #YG09-9180. This kit is based on the parts found in my lift which is approx 15 years old. While Derek Weaver says the parts changed in 2017, a call to Rotary did not confirm this. They said they have one seal kit for all Pro-cycle years regardless of age.

If anyone has a post Nov 2017 Direct Lift Pro-cycle lift needing seals, I would like to speak with you.

I believe that Derek Weaver calls this lift the Weaver Pro-1000. Back in the day I purchased my table from Derek Weaver and took advantage of local pick up pricing to save the delivery cost; they knock $200 off the price for local pick ups.

Currently, they are selling the Weaver W-1500 Hi-Rise lift (air/Hydraulic) for $1,649 local pick up. That appears to be a great deal, but I know nothing about the lift and have never seen one.
 
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Texas Rider said:
I have put seal kits together and had the bushings locally manufactured. I will sell a seal kit for $40 (delivered via USPS) without the bushing, or $60 with the bushing. These fit the 6" cylinder on the Direct Lift Pro-cycle replacing the Rotary part #YG09-9180. This kit is based on the parts found in my lift which is approx 15 years old. While Derek Weaver says the parts changed in 2017, a call to Rotary did not confirm this. They said they have one seal kit for all Pro-cycle years regardless of age.

If anyone has a post Nov 2017 Direct Lift Pro-cycle lift needing seals, I would like to speak with you.

I believe that Derek Weaver calls this lift the Weaver Pro-1000. Back in the day I purchased my table from Derek Weaver and took advantage of local pick up pricing to save the delivery cost; they knock $200 off the price for local pick ups.

Currently, they are selling the Weaver W-1500 Hi-Rise lift (air/Hydraulic) for $1,649 local pick up. That appears to be a great deal, but I know nothing about the lift and have never seen one.
Click to expand...
Hello, How can I order the YG09-9180 seal kit. Thanks, Gary
 
Have you sent the seal that I paid you for in early May. I am back in UK so no access to my mail box. If bushing is worn (which it is isnt) I can knock up some teflon bushes on my lathe
 
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