Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[Kelly E]

I have 2 .060" over 10 to 1 compression motors with ported big valve heads and lightened rods ready to assemble. After cancer treatment I never got back to them and got sucked into bikes again.

I have a GM 2.8 V6 from a Fiero and a Camaro T-5 sitting in my garage that I bought to swap into my car. The stock engine is pretty tired and a full rebuild is easily the cost of the engine swap and would still have a lot less horsepower.

I have an 85' GMC S-15 with the 2.8L V6 with a 5sp. I've done a ton of work to that motor and now it's putting out about 240hp. It's a hoot to drive but I have been tempted many times to put the motor in the 72' MG /GT.

[Terry in Australia]

Twas a beautiful day today and while I would have preferred to ride one of my bikes, I needed to do a shakedown run in my little truck to blow the cobwebs out, and confirm that the work I'd done had fixed it's issues. All up I drove it around 120 miles, and it ran like a new one. I stopped on the way home to buy some steel and some wheels for the motorcycle loading system that I'm currently building in my head.

Triton Saturday 21 May 2022 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[dave500]

i think it looks great with stock wheels,needs a faux faded sign on the side like "Terrys moto transport"or similar?

[Terry in Australia]

i think it looks great with stock wheels,needs a faux faded sign on the side like "Terrys moto transport"or similar?

I have thought about that Dave, my dad was a sign writer, it's a pity he's long gone, I used to watch him painting signs on truck doors when I was kid, I would have loved one of his signs on my door.

[BenelliSEI]

i think it looks great with stock wheels,needs a faux faded sign on the side like "Terrys moto transport"or similar?

I have thought about that Dave, my dad was a sign writer, it's a pity he's long gone, I used to watch him painting signs on truck doors when I was kid, I would have loved one of his signs on my door.

Terry..... That’s one good looking rig! Maybe a storage box between the cab and the rear fenders? Looks like it needs to be filled…..

[grcamna2]

i think it looks great with stock wheels,needs a faux faded sign on the side like "Terrys moto transport"or similar?

Stock size wheels/tires look good,plus probably good on fuel mileage.
I'm interested in the M/C loading system you're planning.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, it's a great little truck and I'm enjoying tidying it up. I've got a shiny new Pioneer stereo that the family bought me for fathers day in 2014 for one of the subaru's, but the Subaru's stereo still works, so I'll install it in the Triton, and I bought some marine speakers that I'll try to find a spot in the cab to mount them, under the dashboard isn't my first preference.

The motorcycle loading/unloading system is still just a picture rattling around in my head, but I've bought a little 12V 4500 pound winch, some steel, some wheels, a piece of aluminium checker plate and some tie down straps, and this week I'll buy some more steel from an actual steel place, the hardware store stuff I bought yesterday is fine for the "trolley" I'll be making, but I need some 3 or 4 inch angle iron for the frame that the winch will be dragging onto the truck bed. I've also got some boat rollers coming from Amazon, so it's all happening. I opened a box yesterday that contained a front wheel locking thingie that I bought years ago to put on my bike trailer and "never got around to it", but that's a good thing now as I'll be mounting it on the trolley, that will roll up onto the frame, which will in turn be pulled up onto the truck's bed. 

The truck's bed is close enough to 8' long x 6' wide, so it was nice to just throw the steel and stuff in the back at the hardware store, in the old days (BT - Before truck) I'd have to hire a trailer to pick up stuff, so it was very satisfying yesterday to just chuck it in the back and haul it home. John is right, a tool box between the cab and the rear fender would be good, as there's no room inside the cab worth talking about. I'll keep looking for one, but it won't be easy, single cab Triton's are few and far between here, most of the ones I see are twin cabs. I'd love to find a good tub rather than the tray, but I haven't seen one so far.

[grcamna2]

Terry,the truck looks much better after you have removed the rear-most rack up there;that thing looked huge up there.

[RAFster122s]

Terry are you build a U channel to capture your sled whilst on the ramp so there is no chance of it tipping over if you are not on flat/level ground? Being stable without the sled from being able to turn over is the challenge when moving something up an incline…. The transitions when it changes from an angle to the break point where the sled becomes parallel with the truck bed is a challenge as well…
 I noodled on this for my MC moving business idea…

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,the truck looks much better after you have removed the rear-most rack up there;that thing looked huge up there.

Thanks Bill, I hated that thing too. When I was at the wrecking yard where I bought the wheels on Wednesday I was reversing it back in a really tight path between cars stacked on top of each other and I bumped into a car body that was over-hanging the car that it was stacked on, with that rear rack thing, so as soon as I got home I removed it. I'll re-cycle it and use the steel in my loader.

David, yep, already thought of that, it's part of my cunning plan. (in my head) I don't want a lot of hardware bolted to the bed when I'm not hauling bikes, so still working on that, some of the loading systems that you can buy are ridiculously over-engineered.

[grcamna2]

Terry,ultimately:how many large bikes will fit in the rear of the truck ?

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,ultimately:how many large bikes will fit in the rear of the truck ?

I’d imagine that two would go in easy Bill, but in reality I’ll only be setting it up to carry one. My main reason for setting it up is to pick up an occasional “bargain” or move one of my unregistered bikes to my storage unit. Most bikes that I buy are in pieces, but occasionally I buy a complete one.

If I do buy a replacement for the ill fated BMW and find something nice interstate again it’ll be more than a coin toss this time to decide whether to ride it home or drive my little truck and collect it. As much as I love an adventure, the “pot hole incident” could have ended badly, and a road trip is almost as good as a ride….

[grcamna2]

Terry,ultimately:how many large bikes will fit in the rear of the truck ?

I’d imagine that two would go in easy Bill, but in reality I’ll only be setting it up to carry one. My main reason for setting it up is to pick up an occasional “bargain” or move one of my unregistered bikes to my storage unit. Most bikes that I buy are in pieces, but occasionally I buy a complete one.

If I do buy a replacement for the ill fated BMW and find something nice interstate again it’ll be more than a coin toss this time to decide whether to ride it home or drive my little truck and collect it. As much as I love an adventure, the “pot hole incident” could have ended badly, and a road trip is almost as good as a ride….

I understand.    The system you want will work to load then hold the bike in place during transport?

I would personally like to have a pair of long ramps that hook in to the rear of the truck bed in many spots as a contingency to your loading system,just in case you decided to load 2 of them.The one ramp to winch the bike up into the truck while the 2nd ramp is there for you to hold onto the bike as you're walking/holding/guiding the bike up beside it.I was thinking 2 long aluminum ramps that could be bungeed up onto the bed of the truck between the bikes.
Do they make a 12vt variable speed small winch(remote activated?)that could be mounted along a horizontal sliding bar toward the front/cab of the bed that you could use to walk a bike up there and then take 2 large bikes;both ratcheted-strapped down side by side at 4 points front and rear ?
I realize that would be more work by yourself but would be a viable option.

[ofreen]

I stopped on the way home to buy some steel and some wheels for the motorcycle loading system that I'm currently building in my head.

There's a bunch of homemade m/c loaders on YT, as I am sure you've already seen.  This one handles a big, fat Goldwing -

[Terry in Australia]

I stopped on the way home to buy some steel and some wheels for the motorcycle loading system that I'm currently building in my head.

There's a bunch of homemade m/c loaders on YT, as I am sure you've already seen.  This one handles a big, fat Goldwing -

Thanks Greg, yep I've been drawing inspiration from lots of Youtube vids, I'm not inventing anything, just fabricating my own version. That guy's one is nice and neat, but way too many pins going in and coming out, I need to dumb it down to my own "Terry Proof" level.

Bill, yes I've thought about a sliding mount for my little 12v winch up front so I can load more than one bike, and the trolley that will go on the sled will be under one half the width of the tray so I can slide another sled with another bike up there, but at this stage I'm only doing one. I definitely don't want to use any type of ramp to roll a bike up into the back of the truck for the reasons David mentioned, ramps aren't much fun on uneven, sloping ground, unless I buy/fabricate one of those fancy 6 foot wide folding ramps, which I have to then store in the back of the truck with maybe two bikes and other parts. (and no, I don't want to fabricate a ramp/tailgate assembly) I much prefer the trolley/sled variation.

[ken65]

After watching the video of the bike ramp , I too thought about the  number of pins and the stopper.
I have a bike lifter with just one pin ,forgot about it and twisted the lifter when i let it down.
At the time I an FJ1200 on it and nearly lost it.
Don't get me wrong, he did a good job and it works for him.

[simon#42]

An eight foot piece of wood nine inches wide and two inches thick has worked well for me for 45 years .  You could be over thinking this one terry !

[dave500]

yeah dont over think it!years ago a mate with his own skip truck business got sick of getting taxis when he dropped his truck or bike off for service,so we knocked up a jigger to strap the bike to and he can now drop either off and ride or drive home no taxi cost!

[Terry in Australia]

An eight foot piece of wood nine inches wide and two inches thick has worked well for me for 45 years .  You could be over thinking this one terry !

Thanks Simon, and whatever works for you is good, but my Triumph Rocket III and Honda Valkyrie are both around the 800 pound mark, and I still remember the Rocket sliding towards me when the ramp slid out from under it, and my mere (then) 350 pounds wasn't enough to stop it going down, out of desperation I missed the left grip and grabbed the clutch lever ($119 plus shipping for a new OEM lever assembly) which snapped off in my hand. I did stop it from hitting the ground, but only just.

If all I had were lightweight race bikes or dirt bikes I mightn't bother, but I have a vast array of bikes including some real porkers (CB750's and Z1's included) and apart from the safety and convenience of having my own motorcycle loader, it's already becoming a fun project building something a bit different, as I'm getting a bit sick of doing full bike restorations, like I've been doing for the last few years.

I was out in the autumn sunshine measuring various things and nutting out how long and wide the sled needs to be, and I must say I was enjoying it. Tomorrow I'm gonna buy some more steel, and then I'm gonna fire up my vintage Australian made ARC welder, for the first time since I bought it many years ago. Should be fun.

[Terry in Australia]

Oh, and yesterday/today I drove my little Subaru to Bairnsdale and back (400 miles) to attend my uncle's funeral. Yes, I do love sh1tboxes, both cars and bikes. I've only ever owned one new car, and as nice as it still is 7 years later, I prefer my sh1tbox Subaru, especially on the backroads where I can throw it around corners and it sits as flat as a skateboard, while it's little 2.2 litre non-turbo engine will stick with old school V8's, much to their drivers disgust. Best 500 bucks (350 USD) I ever spent.

Subaru Monday 23 May 2022 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[simon#42]

yes most of my bikes are pretty light  . took my gs1000 to brands hatch a couple of weeks ago and could not believe how heavy it felt .

[grcamna2]

I stopped on the way home to buy some steel and some wheels for the motorcycle loading system that I'm currently building in my head.

There's a bunch of homemade m/c loaders on YT, as I am sure you've already seen.  This one handles a big, fat Goldwing -

Thanks Greg, yep I've been drawing inspiration from lots of Youtube vids, I'm not inventing anything, just fabricating my own version. That guy's one is nice and neat, but way too many pins going in and coming out, I need to dumb it down to my own "Terry Proof" level.

Bill, yes I've thought about a sliding mount for my little 12v winch up front so I can load more than one bike, and the trolley that will go on the sled will be under one half the width of the tray so I can slide another sled with another bike up there, but at this stage I'm only doing one. I definitely don't want to use any type of ramp to roll a bike up into the back of the truck for the reasons David mentioned, ramps aren't much fun on uneven, sloping ground, unless I buy/fabricate one of those fancy 6 foot wide folding ramps, which I have to then store in the back of the truck with maybe two bikes and other parts. (and no, I don't want to fabricate a ramp/tailgate assembly) I much prefer the trolley/sled variation.

Terry,there's enough width for two of your custom sleds up there,if desired?  that's an option that could be considered at some point at a later time 

[Terry in Australia]

yes most of my bikes are pretty light  . took my gs1000 to brands hatch a couple of weeks ago and could not believe how heavy it felt .

They are heavy old bikes Simon, I've had a few GS1000's (a couple of "S" and 3 or 4 "E" models) and they're fantastic bikes, but bloody heavy. Compared to a Rocket III or Valkyrie though, they're very slim indeed.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,there's enough width for two of your custom sleds up there,if desired?  that's an option that could be considered at some point at a later time 

Yes Bill, the plan is to make one that will be less than half the width of the tray, that way I can make another one if I need to sit another bike beside it.

[grcamna2]

Terry,there's enough width for two of your custom sleds up there,if desired?  that's an option that could be considered at some point at a later time 

Yes Bill, the plan is to make one that will be less than half the width of the tray, that way I can make another one if I need to sit another bike beside it.

Terry,what is max load capacity for your truck ?