High lift jack placement

So , you're riding along on a trail that has some big ruts in it and your straddling them to keep from bottoming out, but you're not paying attention and you slip into the big rut and now you are sitting on your transfer case skid plate and wheels are not really touching anything. How to you place the bottle jack, under the vehicle, level enough that the vehicle won't slip off, and safe enough for you to operate the jack? Don't ask me how
I came up with this scenario, but I do know a HIGHLIFT JACK SAVED MY ASS!
Yes you had to be creative to come up with that hypothetical scenario. It's my personal opinion that the newer the Jeeper and the less time he has offroad on seriously tough trails, the more he'll believe he needs a hi-lift. When I first got into offroading I bought a Hi-Lift within my first month, thinking it was required. The last time I carried/used that Hi-Lift was 15 years ago in 2003. Someone snapped a photo of the Hi-Lift's precarious situation while I was taking care of a broken front axle shaft and it scared the crap out of me when I saw the photo a week or two later. I would have been better off using the bottle jack. That was the last time I ever used a Hi-Lift and it's actually the last time I saw one used on the trail. Few use them now, they're just too dangerous and rarely are they the best tool for the job.

They do make great fence post removers though.

This is that photo that convinced me to never use a Hi-Lift on the trail again. No it wasn't crooked like that at first, the Jeep rocked backwards on the Hi-Lift several minutes afterward. At least I was smart enough to have placed the tire under the frame while the Hi-Lift was in use. Mrblaine was with me that day, I'm surprised he didn't find a 2x4 to smack me about the head with my use of my Hi-Lift that day. It was a good lesson, thankfully I didn't get hurt.

The same thing could easily happen when the need to jack up a Jeep high enough to get a flat tire out of a deep rut lol. Which is the same reason automotive manufacturers stopped including that type of jack many years ago. Too many accidents. too dangerous. Not to mention it's slower at changing a tire with than with the factory jack.

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Clearly the HiLift was a solution to the problem. Whether or not it was the best or safest solution is the real debate.

Was there no winch? No lockers? No shovel? No vehicle in front or behind for a pull?
 
Another vote for the Bogart safe jack. It has been able to handle any trail repair I have needed it for in the last 6 or so years. I bought it after watching 2 hi lift incidents on the same run- one guy took out his back rear quarter window and other guy almost took out his leg with one.
 
that first video needed a little wd40 and it would have worked much better they work much better with a little oil on the pins clean out any dirt and a little oil works wonders you can also push up on the handle hard and it can drop all at once yes they can be dangerous but with a lot of common sense and watch what your doing they can be a life saver


Oil attracts dirt which can cause parts of the jack to bind such as the pins not fully engaging. I recommend keeping the jack clean and mount it inside so it is clean and doesn't rust.
 
It was a carryover from the early cars (up to around the late '30s, I believe). It was where you would hang your "lap robe". The heaters of the day didn't effectively get the warm air to the back seats, so it was common to have a lap robe hanging there to offset the chill the rear passengers had to endure. ;)

Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and dirt was new...…..
 
It was a carryover from the early cars (up to around the late '30s, I believe). It was where you would hang your "lap robe". The heaters of the day didn't effectively get the warm air to the back seats, so it was common to have a lap robe hanging there to offset the chill the rear passengers had to endure. ;)
I have a bear skin lap robe, roughly 4x5 feet square, from at least the 1910's maybe older. They go way way back to the horse and carriage days.
 
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[QUOTE="jjvw, post: 279570, member: 6026"]I have a bear skin lap robe, roughly 4x5 feet square, from at least the 1910's maybe older. They go way way back to the horse and carriage days.[/QUOTE]

Fur is not dead...
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Take Jack safety seriously.