Jack Advice

I'm looking for a jack to use for changing the tyre in an emergency on my landy. I don't want to be carrying my trolley jack around with me, and the original has disappeared. The biggest problem seems to be height and stability for jacking the vehicle. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers Dave

Reply to
dht
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A fairly good bottle jack should be fine, and easy to store. I've left the argument as to which jack is safer than other jacks. They're all sodding dangerous if used incorrectly or without extreme care.

Reply to
Mother

I have a small Halfords bottle jack which works fine, although I would be reluctant to use it off-road. Goes under the axle/spring on my S3, and it lifts OK.

Something a bit bigger might be a better choice.

Reply to
David G. Bell

A lot would depend on which Landy I guess, but my Disco has a bottle jack in the engine compartment that works. Gotts to be a tad careful about it though .. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

At the ange of five I was helping my Dad change a wheel on his VW LT motorcaravan. With everything securly in place he allowed me to opperate the wind up jack, but in a classic 999 moment he allowed his attention to be diverted while his eager son slowly jacked up the camper. His face was a picture when he turned to find the hightop van at an insane angle, ready to topple, and little me still winding away. There was no disaster, but it was a good introduction to jacking up vehicles.

Will a defender or series LR stand on three wheels? If a jack fails while changing a wheel is it going to roll onto your head or balance nicely?

David

Reply to
DavidM

Heheheh, saw something similar with a 'friend' who had a garage next door to him with a 'proper' ramp and vehicle hoist. His old, but good, Ford Sierra on the hoist, he's stood pressing the button and diligently watching the roofline .. until the garage owner brought in the coffee .. which he collected with the other hand while hand one was still pressing the hoist lift button. A change of exhaust became a new roof panel ... ;)

Now there's a challenge .. I'll try it this weekend with my Disco .. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

It's the head one.

Reply to
David French

That's a shame. So in the wind and rain, probably blocking a small country lane, you have to balance 1.5 tons of old steel on a bottle jack or choose a corner that will take the hilift. Carefully trying to get the new wheel on, hoping that the jack does not slip, knowing that one wrong move might end in big trouble.

I might get one of the giant exhauset inflatable lifting bags, just incase of a puncture.

Reply to
DavidM

I generally actually carry a small 2 ton trolley jack (Halfords special, about £20 ish) as well ... ;)

And two cubed blocks of wood .. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

I was being flippant. ;)

If used properly, the bottle jack will be perfectly safe. The ones LR supply with their current vehicles are perfectly up to the job. Even so, you're not going to want to do anything like sticking your head under the diff casing without having it on axle stands as well. But to change a wheel, it's fine. Personally, I don't normally put my head under the vehicle when changing a wheel :). REMEMBER TO CHOCK THE CAR TOO - LR supply chocks on their current vehicles (on the Discos at least) for this purpose.

I would never recommend using a hi-lift to change a wheel, unless there is no better alternative, because the vehicle is too unstable on a hi-lift. I had to do it once (bottle jack no good on soft ground, didn't have an alternative support) and knew I was risking possible damage to the vehicle if it had fallen off, although I made damn sure I wasn't likely to drop anything on myself. If you're off-road and you get a puncture, you may have no choice, but it's best avoided. Try using your hi-lift in various positions and see how stable it is, then you'll understand why.

David

Reply to
David French

No, no, no. The head is not _under_ the LR, it's attached to your body?! ;)

I was just wondering whether a Land Rover would balance on three wheels, or drop onto the brake drum or roll over completely in the event of a jack failure. Head crushing would occur as a result of the LR rolling over completely ontop of anyone trying to change a wheel, probably along with leg, nad and chest crushing.

I'm just worrying over extreme outcomes (head crushing) in difficult situations.

Hilift jacks really are unstable, thats why they are so good at getting a grounded LR out of deep ruts. Jacking it up then pushing it sideways shouting TIMBER at the same time, called scaling or something like that by "professionals". Probably safe for changing wheels if you have rock sliders with lifting holes and a set of chocks.

Anyway, I agree with all the chock stuff and bottle jack advice, and keeping heads well clear, all good stuff.

David

Reply to
DavidM

Given suspension travel, I'm pretty sure your hub would hit the deck, although I've not tried it. Of course, then it's difficult to get it all jacked up again, potentially. Depending on loading, the weight of the vehicle could tipple onto the aforementioned hub as well. I think you'd struggle to have the whole vehicle over, otherwise it'd capsize every time you put a wheel into a ditch. It's not a Suzuki after all!

Reply to
David French

I once had a wheel come off an 88, at some speed.

There was a slight flat work on the rim of the brake-drum, and no other damage. It was a long walk to fetch the wheel back from the middle of a field. Jacking was tricky, as I couldn;t get the jack under the axle.

The worst of it was buying new wheel nuts.

Reply to
David G. Bell

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