Hi-Lift mounting

NEVER, EVER, EVER have your head or other body parts directly over the handle of the jack (other than your hand, obviously). Broken heads, jaws, arms, etc are all very common with improper use of a highlift.

NEVER get under the rig with a highlift holding it up. Make sure there is another jack, and some sort of block so that if it falls it will not crush you.

Keep your jack well lubed (white lithium works wonders on it)...or its not going to work when you need it to.

Be very careful when using the jack.

When used carefully they can be a wonderfully usefull tool ... for getting unstuck. I have driven off a highlift jack more than once back when my rig was stock. Or jacked it up to put rocks under the wheels.

If there is a way to avoid it, dont use the highlift for changing a blown tire.

I am sure the others will chime in with lots more information.

Speaking of Darwin Candidates, did anyone from the SF Bay area get a good look at the SUV that flipped on its side from some tourist trying to take it down Lombard's snake area? Looked like a Ford Exploder, but was busy and couldn't really ident it before the news changed topic.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III proclaimed:

The best or better said 'proper' place to mount one of those 'widow maker' jacks is on the back wall of the garage or barn which also is the only safe place to use it.

It really amazes me that folks bring a farm tool in a Jeep and expect it to be a miracle tool or something.

Some poor fool farm boy couldn't afford a real jack or even a hand winch so he got stupidly creative and figured out he could use dad's barn lifter and fence post puller with a chunk of chain to pull his Jeep out of the back 40.

Unfortunately someone else saw him do it so now we have a trend of bringing killing and maiming tools along on an already dangerous sport.

I can change a tire, jack up my Jeep to put logs or rocks under it, push it over and even drive off my hydraulic floor jack I keep tucked in behind the passenger seat and if my Warn winch quits, I have a hand back up winch...

My $0.02,

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Carl Saiyed wrote:

...

Aside from all the other horror stories... if you *must* use this thing, make sure that you watch the mechanism carefully when jacking, both up and down... make sure the pins are fully engaged in their holes before ending your stroke. In the same vein, don't jack quickly, and make sure that the handle strokes from lock to lock before reversing direction. That's the one that gets folks in trouble... aside from rolling off of it, or having it spit out from under the bumper sideways. __ Steve .

I agree with Mike. I used to carry a hi-lift, but no longer. I've seen too many of them collapse under load, and more than one handle go out of control and whack the operator. I carry a bottle jack for jacking and a Warn winch for pulling. I also carry a Ham radio to call for medical assistance the next time I see a jeeper nearly kill himself with a hi-lift.

Truthfully, I think most hi-lifts are mounted to make jeeps "look good," and most are seldom used, if ever.

Isn't this thing sort of based on the old style bumper jacks? I have never seen one (high lift that is).

Snow

The other trip is the bumper jacks were really 'well' behaved compared to the high lifts....

Scary eh....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

That is what I meant. The fact that the jack was designed 'specifically' to fit your vehicle with the slots made them a 'lot' more stable than the high lift can ever dream of.

They also took trying to get them to spontaneously send the handle ballistic or drop to the ground, not like a high lift that would rather do that than work.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

I once inherited a high lift jack with a work vehicle, gave it away the first chance I got :).

If you really must have it on your jeep have a look here-

Gotta be the neatest cleanest most sensible idea I've seen yet for these things.

Howard

I just put a bikini, windjammer and toneau cover on the Jeep and used bungie cords to mount it on top of the roll bars just behind the speaker pods...fits perfectly and looks great...

Jeff '03 TJ & '95 ZJ

I use mine alot. Never for service work, only for recovery. It's hard to stack rocks under the tires when the tires are resting on the rocks.

Despite the fact that I use my HiLift jack way too much - nobody should get stuck as much as I manage to get stuck - I agree with Mike that the HiLift is very possibly the most dangerous tool you will ever own and use.