Discussion
They are rather dangerous things and I'm always very careful around them.
There should be a little base plate about 8"x5", but that's it - you can buy larger bases for jacking on soft surfaces, but they're not really intended to improve stabiliity - in fact, being unstable is a 'feature' of farm jacks because you can push the car off the jack sideways to escape from ruts.
What are you lifting? I have a special adaptor for lifting my Defender - would be pretty difficult without one.
btw - never take your hand off the jack handle until it is fully up (i.e. parallel to the jack), unless you want a broken jaw. It's a fairly common accident with Hi-Lifts.
There should be a little base plate about 8"x5", but that's it - you can buy larger bases for jacking on soft surfaces, but they're not really intended to improve stabiliity - in fact, being unstable is a 'feature' of farm jacks because you can push the car off the jack sideways to escape from ruts.
What are you lifting? I have a special adaptor for lifting my Defender - would be pretty difficult without one.
btw - never take your hand off the jack handle until it is fully up (i.e. parallel to the jack), unless you want a broken jaw. It's a fairly common accident with Hi-Lifts.
...and keep it clean, and don't let it get rusty, and don't use it for maintenance!
I use mine for wheel changing, but only in conjunction with wheel chocks and/or the transmission brake with diff lock engaged. Even then it's a bit dodgy - I once forgot to engage diff lock and the vehicle rolled forward as soon as a rear wheel came off the ground.
I use mine for wheel changing, but only in conjunction with wheel chocks and/or the transmission brake with diff lock engaged. Even then it's a bit dodgy - I once forgot to engage diff lock and the vehicle rolled forward as soon as a rear wheel came off the ground.
Eggman said:
...and keep it clean, and don't let it get rusty, and don't use it for maintenance!
I use mine for wheel changing, but only in conjunction with wheel chocks and/or the transmission brake with diff lock engaged. Even then it's a bit dodgy - I once forgot to engage diff lock and the vehicle rolled forward as soon as a rear wheel came off the ground.
You didn't RTFM, did you?I use mine for wheel changing, but only in conjunction with wheel chocks and/or the transmission brake with diff lock engaged. Even then it's a bit dodgy - I once forgot to engage diff lock and the vehicle rolled forward as soon as a rear wheel came off the ground.
Mine came with my SJ, and I kept hold of it when I sold that.
The only thing I've actually used it for was jacking up the back of my Shogun - with front wheels very substantially chocked - far enough to get sufficient axle drop to change out the rear coils, as nothing else I have could get anywhere near high enough.
As it was, I jacked it up centrally from the mid-point of the towbar mount - which is huge - with the rear wheels still on just in case it went sideways, and stuffed axle stands underneath at arms length before getting anywhere near the underside of it.
Even then, I was wondering what on earth they were actually designed to do!
The only thing I've actually used it for was jacking up the back of my Shogun - with front wheels very substantially chocked - far enough to get sufficient axle drop to change out the rear coils, as nothing else I have could get anywhere near high enough.
As it was, I jacked it up centrally from the mid-point of the towbar mount - which is huge - with the rear wheels still on just in case it went sideways, and stuffed axle stands underneath at arms length before getting anywhere near the underside of it.
Even then, I was wondering what on earth they were actually designed to do!
I don't believe that there's a situation where a hi-lift feels safe jacking a vehicle. However, mine did become essential in my early days of off roading, where I was bottomed out on a byway (unavoidable tractor ruts), about 2 miles from the nearest road.
We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
JimexPL said:
I don't believe that there's a situation where a hi-lift feels safe jacking a vehicle. However, mine did become essential in my early days of off roading, where I was bottomed out on a byway (unavoidable tractor ruts), about 2 miles from the nearest road.
We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
A high lift jack actualy makes a pretty good winch. The reason you were having such a problem keeping tension on the rope was probably the way you had rigged it. Have a look at this video it is probably easier to understand than me trying to explain it.We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xldBPnzohtI
The best and safest way to lift a vehicle with a high lift jack is to use a Lift Mate attachment. Again the video describes it better than me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q881HaMAWkk
bigblock said:
JimexPL said:
I don't believe that there's a situation where a hi-lift feels safe jacking a vehicle. However, mine did become essential in my early days of off roading, where I was bottomed out on a byway (unavoidable tractor ruts), about 2 miles from the nearest road.
We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
A high lift jack actualy makes a pretty good winch. The reason you were having such a problem keeping tension on the rope was probably the way you had rigged it. Have a look at this video it is probably easier to understand than me trying to explain it.We jacked the landy out with my 4ft hi-lift - took over an hour - it only moved about 6 inches on each pull as there was no way of keeping the tension in the rope. I now have a winch for such situations!
The hi-lift has become my only in car jack recently since my bottle jack sprung a leak. Does anyone know of a decent supplier for bottle jacks with the axle shapes (i,e, not flat) heads?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xldBPnzohtI
The best and safest way to lift a vehicle with a high lift jack is to use a Lift Mate attachment. Again the video describes it better than me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q881HaMAWkk
Without it, we would have been in the dark, trying to find a friendly farmer to pull us back to civilisation (unlikely, as he had locked the gate at the other end of the byway and we had to take the gate off its hinges...).
JimexPL said:
That's exactly how we used it. However the distance from the nearest solid object (tree), meant that we were using 2 ropes, 2 tree strops and a chain. Taking up the slack and give in the 2 ropes used up quite a few notches on the jack, but it did work.
Without it, we would have been in the dark, trying to find a friendly farmer to pull us back to civilisation (unlikely, as he had locked the gate at the other end of the byway and we had to take the gate off its hinges...).
Here is a video which shows you how to take up the slack in the rope and still be able to winch the entire length of the jack.Without it, we would have been in the dark, trying to find a friendly farmer to pull us back to civilisation (unlikely, as he had locked the gate at the other end of the byway and we had to take the gate off its hinges...).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOcQHqLx90g
I like to know all this stuff because I travel offroad on my own up here in the Highlands and getting stuck can mean a very long walk just to get a phone signal and a very long wait for a tow.
normalbloke said:
Bill said:
Eggman said:
Waffle waffle, I love Landrovers!
FWIW I can't remember ever using mine in anger, but it is handy for rehanging gates
) and used a bottle jack to change wheels as taking up the slack on a 110 with a suspension lift and dislocation cones took foreverGassing Station | Off Road | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff