Hi-Lift Jack storage options?

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Daniel Hull

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What are some of the ways people are carrying hi-lifts? I have found two options that might work for me (I don't have a bumper tire mount or any such thing...relatively stock vehicle):

1. I have a front runner roof rack, so I could attach it to that via the optional accessory they sell or some other means (e.g. quickfist clamp). I'm not crazy about this option since it puts the weight up so high, and also looks like it would catch a lot of wind on the highway.

2. Just drop it across the footwell of the back seat. This seems like the best option. It keeps it down low and also keeps it clean, yet accessible. I would need to find some way to hold it tight against the rear seat to keep it from moving around, especially in the case of a roll-over. Ideal would be to build some sort of box that held it so it is not getting a constant stream of apple-jacks and cookie crumbs from the monsters that inhabit that region. Of course it doesn't earn any poser points there.

Other ideas?
 

mbw

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If it is a stock vehicle and you have no safe jacking points for it... leave it in the garage.

Get a bottle jack and some maxtraxs or something.

1. a quickfist clamp might not hold that much dynamic mass in a crash, that is risky.

2. Putting it in the 2nd row footwell sounds dangerous unless its bolted down.. and why would you want to put a muddy rusty heavy piece of steel there where you probably will have lots of other light/clean gear.

How do you intend to use the thing without steel bumpers or sliders or anything?
 
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Daniel Hull

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A bottle jack is, in my opinion, inferior to the hi-lift for lifting a wheel to place something (e.g. maxtrax) under it because you have to overcome the suspension, where with the hi-lift (and the wheel lift adapter) you can lift the wheel directly. This is my primary application for the hi-lift jack. You also have the problem of getting the bottle jack under the jack point and on a stable base...which can be impossible with a buried wheel. One can also carry a jack stand to place under the vehicle once it is sufficiently lifted with the hi-lift if you need to change a tire. So, hi-lift jack points would be nice but they are not essential to making productive use of the jack.

People do use quickfists for mounting the hi-lift, but you have to put a bolt through it as well. I have numerous concerns with using the rack mount - lots of people do it but that doesn't make it right.

Mine is brand new so no concerns about mud and rust at this point, and if the day comes that I have to use it...then I'll be thankful to make that trade-off. I agree on the concern about having a strong attach to the vehicle if carried in the footwell...I haven't really figured out that part (or tried much yet) so I'm soliciting the experience of the forum. The bolts for the seats are there if a bracket were crafted to mate with the jack, or possibly new holes could be added to the seat brackets.

I plan to eventually get a few chains and probably a synthetic winch extender to use as a last-resort winch. No need to caution me on the dangers, etc. It actually has some advantages over a front mount winch in that you can pull in any direction...which would have been really helpful with a truck I was trying to help extract from a ditch a few weeks ago, while a front mount winch would have probably only pulled him further into trouble.

And if you really get into a SHTF situation (roll-over accident for example...you or others), you can use the hi-lift as a sort of "jaws of life" with the right jack-mate adapter. So...lots of legitimate reasons to carry a hi-lift...which is why it's pretty much standard equipment for off-road equipped vehicles.
 

umbertob

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To lift a wheel (with the optional wheel adapter) the Hi-lift would work very well indeed. To replace a flat tire - which is the main reason most of us get a jack when wheeling I guess - would be problematic as the LR4 really doesn't have any suitable jacking points that would work safely though, unless you install sliders with suitable nerf bars, steel bumpers... Those Hi-lifts take commitment, and that's even before you decide where to store them.

How about an air jack? I have seen them in action, they can be a bit of pain to inflate via exhaust (especially with the LR4's dual exhaust, less so if you can find a nearby donor vehicle with a single exhaust) and slow to inflate with a compressor, but they seem to be quite versatile, work on just about every surface and are definitely easier to carry than a hi-lift inside a cabin.
 

Daniel Hull

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I looked at the air jacks and decided they were not suitable for an LR4 due to the dual exhaust. I believe I'd read some threads where people had tried different methods to make it work but nothing looked very good. If you have a good air compressor they might work, but I haven't been that impressed with them in the reviews I've read.

Here is a little review showing air jack and hi-lift in use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc7Tni99dlQ


Flat tires are for me a small concern compared to getting stuck. With a flat tire you can probably still move the truck to a place where even the supplied scissors jack would be workable in most cases. I carry plugs and an air compressor so I may even get away without changing the tire. And again, a jack stand makes the high lift with the wheel adapter work fine for tire changes.
 

mbw

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So...lots of legitimate reasons to carry a hi-lift...which is why it's pretty much standard equipment for off-road equipped vehicles.

I know that. I have seen so many people carry them and never use them. *shrug* I guess if you really get out there and get into lots of situations where you need it, ... but im picturing a "relatively stock" lr4 and it's typical trail use and it reminds me a lot of the huge number of rigs that, even though they get used on trails, never use those things.

So that was my thought. Not saying they aren't neat tools, but for the size/weight/use I won't carry one. Maybe I am just not ******** enough. :D
 

Daniel Hull

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I hear you. I had a similar opinion...lot's of posers carrying around rusted hi-lifts on their jeeps...until a few weeks ago when I was on a fairly easy trail and ran across someone stuck sliding down the off-camber hill due to ice on the road. Several trucks were on hand and none of us equipped to get him out. So, summoning up my Boy Scout motto "Be prepared!" I've vowed to not venture off paved roads without adequate means of getting unstuck. Most of our off-roading is solo, so more reason to be self-reliant. Maybe I'll never use it but I'll feel a little better knowing I have it just in case. Also planning to get a set of Crux bridging ladders for traction.
 

umbertob

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Someone used a Hi-Lift to get me out of a pickle with my old Sport a few years ago, so the tool definitely has its merits. I slid and found myself high-centered over some boulders in a rock garden up in Big Bear. The exhaust basically was sitting on this huge boulder and even with the suspensions in super-mega off-road height the rear wheels just spun helplessly. Yanking me off with a winch or a strap would have probably destroyed my exhaust and taken my rear bumper in the process as well - or worse.

Instead, we used a D-shackle attached to the factory recovery point of my Sport's rear bumper as "hook" to lift the rear end of my Sport with a Hi-Lift and eventually threw enough rocks under both my rear wheels until I was able to drive over the boulder on my own power. The shackle rested against the upper portion of the bumper cover as I was being lifted, but only left a couple of marks on the plastic in the end. The exhaust was fine.
 

danrhiggins

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Not much to add to this conversation as all points have been covered. I carry my Hi Lift on my roof rack. Yes, it adds weight. But, heck, I have my spare and 2 MaxTrax up there as well. I just need to be aware of branches, etc and off camber trails. Though I have the wheel lift attachment I will also be adding steel sliders in a couple of weeks.
 

Finlayforprez

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I do the same as Dan.... I have a Hi Lift jack bracket on my Baja Roof rack and it works quite well. I have used the jack several times and it does well, but I do have jacking points on my Tactical 4x4 rock sliders, as well as on my Kaymar rear bumper.
 

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