Tenere 700: Rescue Jack

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 Rescue Jack

Due to mostly solo riding & a mid '60s body with back issues I made a rescue jack to facilitate easier & safer lifting of the bike off the ground after a fall.  Eastbound's MotoWinch is one of the few commercially made mono-pod jacks + there are a few privateers like the MotoBikeJack, Dustriders Motorcycle Hoist & my favourite, but no longer in production, the 'Dirt Napper' by Keith Products (see demonstration video below) which I emulated many of the design elements, one of which is the ability to break down to easily packed lengths like tent poles.

Material & Design

I used 1/8" (3.175 mm) thick 1" (25.4 mm) & 3/4" (19 mm) 6061 aluminum square tubing (sourced locally from Metal Supermarkets) incorporating 1" x 11" (27.9 cm) lengths for the 3 extension pieces & 3/4" (19 mm) x 6" (15.2 cm) lengths for the joining inserts equating to 14"/extension length including the insert, for a total assembled height of 45" (114.3 cm)...the 14" (35.56 cm) length of each section allows it to fit within my Tactix Large Hard Case, but could be longer or a little shorter if desired (too short reduces leverage & ability to lift the bike mostly upright). 

Since I do not have easy access to aluminum welding I utilized some 3/16" (4.76 mm) thick aluminum angle plate I had for the 8" (20.3 cm) x 4" (10.1 cm) base & cut a 1" square hole in the bottom for the 1" X 3" (7.62 cm) square tubing to insert into the base as a stanchion & bolted it to the vertical part of the plate together with a 3/4" x 6" square tubing insert for the next extension to slide over. Each extension has one 3/4" x 6" insert bolted to it. The 3/4" tubing required filing down to fit inside the 1" tubing.  All bolts are stainless allen button head bolts w/nyloc nuts sourced locally from Pacific Fasteners...3 x 40 mm M8 for the base stanchion & ratchet top plate, 2 x 35 mm M8 for extension tube/insert, 1 x 15 mm M8 for the ratchet top plate & 1 x 50 mm M10 for the ratchet side plate.

 

I repurposed a Snap-on ratchet with 1.5" (3.8 cm) strap used for tie downs of loads & reversed the ratchet direction so that it tightens the strap in the downward direction vs the usual upward movement. The ratchet is attached to one of the 1" square tubing extensions utilizing pre-drilled holes on the ratchet frame sides & bolted an 1/8" thick steel plate to the top bridging the ratchet frame & the extension tube. I shortened the Snap-on webbing strap to 7.5'' (2.28 m), which is the maximum length of strapping that can be wound onto the ratchet without binding while connected to the bike in the upright position. The ratchet also has a separate 8" (20.3 cm) long strap with a 5" (12.7 cm) loop at the end that fits over most foot pegs & connects to the main strap via a j-hook. 

1/2" thick exterior rubber stair tread was attached to the bottom of the base via #14 x 5/8" stainless screws to aid traction & protect the aluminum + the kit includes a 16" (40.6 cm) piece of 1" (2.54 cm) wide velcro that does double duty to hold the assembly together for packing & to secure the front brake lever in the on position to prevent the bike from rolling during jacking. Weight is 5.4 lb (2.4 kg), cost was approximately $60.


Dirt Napper Demonstration Video by Keith Products 

The Dirt Napper incorporated a longer ratchet handle for increased leverage & discovered from his various iterations during development that positioning the base stanchion tube closer to one edge of the base aided stability.

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