do i need a high lift jack?

A HiLift is not used for changing tires, it is used to get your truck unstuck. You can change a tire with a HiLift, but the HiLift is very unstable and vehicles frequently fall off. If you must use the HiLift to change a tire, then you should put the spare UNDER your truck while you remove the flat tire, then put the flat tire under the truck while putting the spare on. The reason is that if the truck falls, the tire underneath will keep it off the ground, and you can get the truck back onto the jack again. Even better, is that if the truck falls off the jack, it won't land on your foot.

I agree HI-Lift is terrible for tires but almost a necessity in the woods they work great for getting unstuck not as good as a winch but it definitely has a place on my Jeep. Glen

47CJ2A

Jeff Strickland wrote:

My stock jack just barely gets my bald 30s off the ground in my garage. I'm going to look for a bottle hydraulic with more travel and keep a metal plate to use as a base under the back seat, especially I'm getting 31 BFG ATs this weekend. The stock jack might just reach but the hydraulics arent that expensive and a hell of alot nicer than cranking that stupid stock jack.

Tom

Whats the deal with that, I must have the midget jack or something. Figures though Chrysler must have given the purple TJs smurf jacks. Guess I'll dig out the stupid thing tomorrow and find out why it only went up as far as it did.

Tom

could always put a block under the jack......

VERY dangerous indeed! Ask my neighbor, I was trying my new hi-lift out while raising my YJ to do the rear brakes. I placed the jeep on jack stands, did the brakes, raised the jeep back off of jack stands, removed jack stands ( always be aware of where you are putting your limbs and where the vehicle may fall!) Then while lowering the jeep, the hi-lift went side ways and bounced the rear end a little --- my neighbor leaped over the fence and ran over to check on me---- he was more frightened then I was.

I now stick to a floor jack when at home, but carry the hi-lift for off road situations. Extreme car should be taken when operating these jacks. And like others mentioned - ALWAYS block the vehicle up and avoid getting in the path of danger.

mud

93 YJ

Mike Roma> Stock works fine. I prefer and carry a small floor style hydraulic

Any links to such a thing? JELo

Google on auto floor jacks and pick a price range. A 2 ton to 5000 pound range unit can be gotten for

20-25 bucks. And up for more features such as a butterfly brace, low profile, etc. With the warning that a low profile jack may tend to have smaller wheels. I got mine at Orchard Supply on sale several years ago, it seems to be working fine on ordinary old brake fluid.

Personally, I don't see the big deal about it... When I grew up, all cars had jacks somewhat similar to the high lift jacks... This was back when cars were made of solid metal and had bumpers that you could use to lift the entire vehicle... Yeah, we got shitty gas mileage, but a door ding was when someone ran into you after running a red light...

If you don't see the big deal about a Hi-Lift's jack danger, then you're in a very small minority. And all the cars I drove as a kid in the sixties, plus my '57 Chevy, had jacks that were similar but not NEARLY as tall. None were near the 48" length of the shortest available Hi-Lift. And why do you think all the car manufacturers stopped using them? Too many people getting hurt from them. I remember that like it was yesterday, there were all kinds of cautions about those jacks... which, again, weren't nearly as tall as a Hi-Lift is.

Jerry

-- Jerry Bransford KC6TAY, PP-ASEL The Zen Hotdog, make me one with everything! See the Geezer Jeep at

One of the first things I bought after getting my CJ was the Hi-Lift. The second time I used it, I was checking the guts of my rear brakes - on the flat, level garage floor. I had just put the wheel back on and had gotten one or two lugnuts finger tight when I heard a little groan and suddenly the jeep swung a little sideways, smacking me in the face as it fell. Yeah I know (now), shoulda used stands too... I considered myself sufficiently warned at that point, thanked my guardian angel and bought a hydraulic floor jack that afternoon. I should really put that POS on Ebay.

I put the jack under the axle.

I have a HI-Lift, it works well when used as intended. Is it a very safe jack? No. The name should be changed to Hi-Lift Extrication Device, then people can use the same sensible precautions that are required with a winch, or a strap, etc. If it had a decent base plate, it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

That's a fact, I bought mine from Dick Cepek back when they only had one store out in El Cajon, (early 70s) the salesman pointed out the base and told me how to use it to get out of a high center situation, he then told me never use it to lift more than one wheel at a time if I used it as a regular jack and to be damn careful doing that. The '56 CJ is long gone but the jack remains. Dave Shannon snipped-for-privacy@cox.net (Spring Valley CA) '01 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

I remember my grandfathers ~56 caddy [gas cap was hidden under a rear taillight, had to push a reflector to get the tail light to pop up], that jack was a blue three legged beast that had chains between the legs to keep the at a set distance, it also had a crank on top for raising and lowering. My dad used it when ever he worked on his 53 ford sunliner and they even used it to lift one corner of a covered porch to replace some blocks.

"Dave Shannon" wrote in news:jO%Ra.872$Ye.73@fed1read02: