Highlift jack

There you go with another one 'needing' the stupid thing and not even reading the directions....

He was really lucky, it came down fast and hard.

Mike

Jerry Bransford wrote:

His jack is broken.

A properly working HiLift will never drop its load if the selector is set to the Raised position. There are two pins, and one of them is ALWAYS engaged in a hole when raising a load, while lowering the load, one of the pins is ALWAYS out of a hole, and this means the load can drop unexpectedly, and cause the handle to flail away at everything within its reach.

The biggest danger of a HiLift is the load will shift when it is raised very high, and this shift can - and often does - cause the load to fall. When this happens, the jack falls over, the lifting mechanism does not drop.

Personally, I think you need to lighten up a bit. Jeeping, particularly rock crawling, is a dangerous activity right out of the gate. If one is going to drive a vehicle at extreme angles and over stuff that was never intended to be driven over, then one is engaged in dangerous activity. Period. Using a HiLift is certainly a dangerous activity, no question about it but we arer already spending the entire weekend doing dangerous activities. The only application for a HiLift is to get a vehicle unstuck from rocks or stumps, where the vehicle needs to be lifted so something can be placed under a tire so the vehicle can proceed under its own power. I have often times lifted my Jeep on the HiLift, then slowly driven off of the HiLift, then gone back to get my jack. All I needed was to shift the weight from one corner to another, and the HiLift was the perfect tool for the goal. Yes, a HiLift is dangerous, but most offroading is dangerous.

That is beside the point, Bill.

Jerry B says the manual warns of sudden drops when in the up position unless it has more than 100 lb on it. My buddy didn't read the book obviously. I have seen them just drop when trying to set them up or put them away lots of times too.

This one guy was trying to change a front axle using only a High Lift when I got there!

I will never lighten up about those jacks, sorry Jeff. I just have seen too many people like my buddy and even you it would seem that don't read the book or take lessons on the use of the thing.

By pointing out my reasons for disliking them, a good discussion normally occurs on a lot of 'do's and don'ts' about them so everyone gets some education, even me.

I think folks deserve to know the 'worst' part about something as well as hearing about how 'wonderful' and 'useful' such a dangerous 'toy' can be.

Mike

Jeff Strickland wrote:

Hi Mike,

I'm never in the woods without the hilift. Saved my can several times. Ever try changing broken leaf spring ubolts & pin with a bottle jack? That said, I agree 100% with your statement below. These periodic discussions serve well to remind us how improper use or a momentarily lapse of prudence can be fatal.

Steve

Mike Roma> By pointing out my reasons for disliking them, a good discussion

"Mike Romain" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca...

I agree with everything you have said relative to the safety of the HiLift Jack. I just think that it is a useful tool that people should carry and use, even if they must use it with caution.

Pointing to a guy that did everything possible wrong with his jack does not point to problems with the jack, it points to problems with the idiot that is using it. As for dropping loads of less than 100 pounds, I am not sure that is a fact if the lever is set to be raising the load, it is certainly a fact when lowering the load. When they are working properly, you should be able to set the direction lever to raise the load, then pull the handle and raise the lifting mechanism, and the pins will ratchet as they go over the holes in the stalk. The lift will easily drop, sometimes drop unexpectedly, when the lever is set to lower the load but there is no load on the jack. When this happens, the lift could easily hit a foot and cause some serious pain. By the time the load weighs less than 100 pounds on the lift, it is already on the ground, so the falling load ought not be a problem in this case. Having said that, the load will never fall, unless the jack tips over, if the selector lever is set to raise the load. Another safety, for lack of a better word, first action that a user can employ is to tie the handle in the raised position. When the handle is raised, the pins are inserted into at least one hole, and if the handle can be locked in that position, it will not flail about and destroy everything within reach. HiLift supplies a wire-clamp that is supposed to hold the handle up when the load is raised. The operator is supposed to use the handle to raise his load, then leave the handle raised so that the wire-clamp is secured to the stalk of the jack. I am not sure, but I think that many people might take the wire clamp off thinking it serves no purpose. My clamp is damaged and I do not rely on it, so if I must leave my Jeep on the jack for any reason, I use a bungie cord or even some tape to hold the jack handle raised - this locks the lift mechanism in place until somebody comes along and lowers the handle. If the handle falls from this position on its own, that is when the handle will flail about wildly and harm everybody and everything within its reach.

Whenever I take my HiLift off of its rack, I also pull out my can of WD40 and spray the moving parts and fully exercise those parts before I try to use the jack. I have learned over the years that the pins can stick, mostly due to what I do to my jack for months on end between uses. My jack suffers through mud and water, then more water from washing the mud off, and I expect it to get sticky. WD40 returns it to serviceable condition in a matter of seconds, and when I take of on a planned trip, I will even do a PM service to my jack while I am still at home.

I am not here to sell HiLifts, but as dangerous as they are, they have a place on the back of just about any Jeep. They can be a valuable tool despite the dangers they present.

Actually, it was YOU that brought them up by suggesting they were an attempt by American car makers to come down to Japanese quality. These bumpers came about as a result of federal mandate, not competitive pressures from Japan.

And the bush guard on the front of your Bronco is completely irrelevent.

I have a nice small floor jack that tucks in tight under the back of my passenger seat. It works well and is pretty stable.

I Have seen spring pins changed using one of those high lifts. Really scary.....

I sure won't disagree that they have their uses and can remember some fun with the floor jack and my 1/2 ton Chevy pickup high centered in some back corner of Vancouver Island. A tall jack would have been handy. I still got out....

Mike

Steve wrote:

Hi Bill,

Don't get me wrong, the bottle jack does it for me 99% of the time and I always prefer to lift from under the axle where possible. It's just that sometimes, say if I'm balls deep in ice water or I need to take the weight off the springs for a repair, the hilift is far more effective.

Steve

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote: