REVIEW: Harbor Freight 1500 lb. Capacity ATV / Motorcycle Lift

If you own an ATV or a motorcycle, and you ever want to do any kind of routine maintenance or work on it, eventually you’re going to need some kind of a lift to get it safely off the ground. Especially if you intend to work on wheels, chains, brakes, or similar components. In that case, you’ve got a few options.

• There are small dirt bike stands, and if you have a lightweight bike you can just drag it up onto one. They’re super cheap and portable.
• If you have a heavier bike, you could opt for a manual hydraulic lift, like the one reviewed here.
• If you have a super heavy bike, you could go for a heavy duty flatbed lift. But they are large, and expensive.

Decisions, Decisions…

Harbor Freight currently sells this lift in two versions, and either one will do the job. The Pittsburgh 1,500 lb. Steel ATV/Motorcycle Lift runs $139.99, weighs 70.8 lbs, and lifts from 4-1/4″ to 16-3/8″. The Pittsburgh 1,500 lb. Aluminum ATV/Motorcycle Lift is the one I actually own, and it runs $229.99. It’s lighter at 56 lbs, lifts higher at 5-3/4″ to 19-1/4″, and has an extended handle for easier operation. Harbor Freight also runs coupon emails on this stuff constantly, so it’s worth waiting a week or two for a discount before you buy either one.

A few years ago I stopped shopping at Harbor Freight altogether. The thing is, a lot of their products are super cheap, but at the end of the day I would replace them with a name brand unit and it would always perform better. Eventually I decided to just buy the good one off the bat, and gave up Harbor Freight.

So I don’t know what it says about the world when the good one actually comes from Harbor Freight! Because this jack is indeed a good one.

The Review

First of all, you can’t beat the simplicity. There is a one piece handle, that is easily removable. You insert it into a receiver, where it locks into a little pin which you turn left to release the hydraulic pressure, or right to tighten it up to hold the pressure while you work the jack. There is also a little screw which you can tighten to keep the handle in the jack, even if you want to pull a motorcycle around on it by the handle! Or just loosen the screw to remove the handle while you get up under the bike to work.

Speaking of getting up under it: the last thing you want is to jack up a heavy motorcycle and have the jack fail on you. So there are a couple of holes in the arms that appear when the unit is fully raised, and a bar slips right through for safety in case of hydraulic failure. The only way the bike is coming down with that bar in there is if you knock it off, which let’s face it, is a possibility. Unlike a heavy duty lift, you can’t exactly strap the bike to it for stability.

But I can say that my 260 pound Hawk was on the lift while I basically tore it apart from front to rear, and although it wiggles around a little bit, there was never a concern that it was going to fall down.

So, the bottom line is: if you have a lot of space and budget isn’t an issue, get a heavy duty foot powered lift. But if you need something portable, or that generally doesn’t cost too much or take up a lot of room, the aluminum Harbor Freight ATV/motorcycle lift will do just fine.