*DONT BUY A* Hi-Lift jack questions answered

[Jerry Bransford]

thank you. most floor jacks ive looked for are triple the cost of a hi jack. hence my interest in one.

Decent quality hydraulic floor jacks are available at Harbor Freight Tools for not much $$$. A friend gave me a 2 3/4 ton floor jack years ago and I've been using it ever since. Like at https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore,f,EAFeatured+Weight,f,Sale+Rank,f&q=floor+jack

I can only suggest you reconsider the continued use of your Hi-Lift. I too thought it was required when I first got into offroading but it wasn't long before I learned it just isn't the right tool for the job. My Hi-Lift has literally not been out of my shed in 16 years now (the last time I used it in 2003 taught me a great lesson) and I've never regretted that decision.

 

[Jon Wildes]

I like that the title of this thread suddenly changed :risas3:

i thought you might lol

 

[Jon Wildes]

Decent quality hydraulic floor jacks are available at Harbor Freight Tools. A friend gave me a 2 3/4 ton floor jack years ago and I've been using it ever since. Like at https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore,f,EAFeatured+Weight,f,Sale+Rank,f&q=floor+jack

I can only suggest you reconsider the continued use of your Hi-Lift. I too thought it was required when I first got into offroading but it wasn't all that long before I learned it just isn't the right tool for the job. My Hi-Lift has literally not been out of my shed in 16 years now (the last time I used it in 2003 taught me a great lesson) and I've never regretted that decision.

oh i haven't bought it yet. y'all saved me $100+

 

[Jon Wildes]

well, case closed and thats why i love this forum. free advice from people who know i shit ton more than me. thanks guys.

 

[mrblaine]

you weren't lying.

You walked up to a hornet's nest and told everyone that nothing will happen if you start smacking it with a stick. Had you snuck up on it and dropped it into a bag so no one gets stung, the response would have been entirely different.

 

[cliffish]

thats why im asking questions. im not trying to anger people here. I feel like i just pissed the whole forum off and they are mad at me lol.

No haters rather the opposite, we like our forum friends and want them to stay around and be safe. It is not a dumb question if you don't know the answer. I am sure I have asked many questions here that have rolled a few eyes.

 

[Chris]

I wouldn't take any of what we're saying as pissed off or angry... I can guarantee you no one is either of those.

I think you just touched on a very controversial subject. It's one of those things where there's so many reasons not to do it, and we're all very passionate about educating people why that is.

Believe me though, no one is angry.

We just don't want to see someone get hurt, or make a rookie mistake.

Believe me, once upon a time I didn't know any better and also thought a hi-lift jack was a good thing to carry. I'm glad I learned otherwise!

 

[Mr. Bills]

I agree with @mrblaine that a hi lift jack is the wrong tool for changing a tire, on the trail or anywhere else.

However, I must respectfully disagree with @Chris and some other knee jerk haters that "veteran offroaders never use them (nor do they carry them)." High lift jacks can be useful in recovery situations that do not involve changing tires, for example lifting a a high centered rig and then pushing it off a rock or log, using the jack handle to sleeve a bent tie rod, or the bar to retain the tire when a Dana 35 breaks an axle shaft, etc., and many veteran jeepers and desert rats do carry high lift jacks even though the odds of ever needing to use them are very small.

If one always travels with a group that is well equipped with recovery gear or always offroads on highly trafficked trails where help is sure to come along within a reasonable time then there is no need to carry a high lift jack, but I frequently travel in extremely remote areas where one must be totally self sufficient because any help would be days away and believe that having options to MacGyver myself or someone I encounter on the trail out of a bad situation is a good thing.

That being said, for tire changing duty and general repair work I carry the factory jack and also a 6-ton bottle jack, Bogert Manufacturing bottle jack extensions and pads, and an offroad jackstand:

 

[Jon Wildes]

I agree with @mrblaine that a hi lift jack is the wrong tool for changing a tire, on the trail or anywhere else.

However, I must respectfully disagree with @Chris and some other knee jerk haters that "veteran offroaders never use them (nor do they carry them)." High lift jacks can be useful in recovery situations that do not involve changing tires, for example lifting a a high centered rig and then pushing it off a rock or log, using the jack handle to sleeve a bent tie rod, or the bar to retain the tire when a Dana 35 breaks an axle shaft, etc., and many veteran jeepers and desert rats do carry high lift jacks even though the odds of ever needing to use them are very small.

If one always travels with a group that is well equipped with recovery gear or always offroads on highly trafficked trails where help is sure to come along within a reasonable time then there is no need to carry a high lift jack, but I frequently travel in extremely remote areas where one must be totally self sufficient because any help would be days away and believe that having options to MacGyver my way out of a bad situation is a good thing.

That being said, for tire changing duty and general repair work I carry the factory jack and also a 6-ton bottle jack, Bogert Manufacturing bottle jack extensions and pads, and an offroad jackstand:

View attachment 73436

View attachment 73437

Thank you

 

[fuse]

The thing that baffles me is that the Hi Lift design remains so dangerous in spite of its known flaws. Seems like it would be possible to make it safer by improving stability and making it so the handle doesn't go flying if you let it loose.

But then maybe you end up with something like @Mr. Bills Safe Jack...

 

[mrblaine]

The thing that baffles me is that the Hi Lift design remains so dangerous in spite of its known flaws. Seems like it would be possible to make it safer by improving stability and making it so the handle doesn't go flying if you let it loose.

But then maybe you end up with something like @Mr. Bills Safe Jack...

They did improve the design and make it much safer. That is how we got bottle jacks.

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

I never would have thought the hi-lift jack would be a problem but I've never used one. Based on what I've read here I believe that they easily become a problem in not every, but too many situations.

Are they just a giant version of the 1960s-1970s bumper jacks or are they somehow designed worse?

 

[lowranger]

I've seen enough YouTube videos to know that I'd never use a Hi-Lift jack on the trail, that's for sure.

I've also noticed that all of the veteran off-roaders never use them (nor do they carry them), which speaks volumes to me.

The only people I ever seem to notice that carry them are the posers.

That statement isn't intended to offend anyone, it's just an observation is all.

My personal opinion is that I would never use one for trail use, nor would I recommend one.

I'm a Veteran Jeeper.....bought my first Jeep (1944 Military) in 1973, since then a CJ-5, 1988 YJ and now my 2000 TJ. I have a Hi-Lift jack starting out on my 1974 CJ-5 I bought in 1976. And have had it every since and have used it. I've always had a Jeep and used it as one. Hunting, working on the ranch, etc. I don't think I'm I "poser", don't want to be lumped into their category. We all have choices.

 

[mrblaine]

I'm a Veteran Jeeper.....bought my first Jeep (1944 Military) in 1973, since then a CJ-5, 1988 YJ and now my 2000 TJ. I have a Hi-Lift jack starting out on my 1974 CJ-5 I bought in 1976. And have had it every since and have used it. I've always had a Jeep and used it as one. Hunting, working on the ranch, etc. I don't think I'm I "poser", don't want to be lumped into their category. We all have choices.

It is like most things that folks don't understand. Early on, every new Jeep owner wants to get the right stuff. The big 3 most recommended items used to be a Hi-lift, Optima Battery, and a K&N air filter. As time went by and we learned some things, the recommendations fell off but the stigma of the consistent recommendations regardless of merit did not.

If you know how to use one, go for it. I don't use one, don't carry one, and although I do know how, I've never found anything a hi lift can do on the trail that I can't do with my winch with one exception. I can't rob the handle from a hi lift to slip over a bent tie rod. I have however told lots of folks to leave the jack at home and just bring the handle.

 

[Westtown Willy]

Are they just a giant version of the 1960s-1970s bumper jacks or are they somehow designed worse?

Yea they’re very similar to those, same concept. They don’t make those anymore, probably for the same reasons we’re talking about here. There are some differences. Those old style ones (the ones I had in my first few cars) were much shorter because cars are much lower to the ground and there was usually a designated place/notch to put it on the bumper. I think one of the issues with the high lift jacks is that while the concept is the same the chances of error are greater given that jeeps are higher, some much higher, and designed to allow the axles (wheels) to stay on the ground so you’re starting the jacking process at a much higher level and going much, much higher. You can actually go beyond the full height of the high-lift & not even lift the corresponding tire off the ground & in those circumstances where you do get it off the ground with the jack maxed out it can be a precarious situation, particularly if you’re off road on an uneven surface… this is why there are so many recommendations to use a simple bottle jack under the tube, the second that jack makes contact with the tube it begins lifting the tire so to change it you only need to jack it up an inch & boom, the tire comes off; at that point the odds of something bad happening due to the jack slipping or bowing or whatever else can go wrong with a maxed out high lift are extraordinarily low

 

[Chris]

Okay, clearly “poser” was the wrong word to use, as I’ve obviously offended people.

I just see them on so many pimped out JKUs that I couldn’t help it.

Anyways, to you guys who use them, by all means, carry on. I would simply never recommend or use one myself.

I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Starrs]

I've seen enough YouTube:jaja-no: videos to know that I'd never use a Hi-Lift jack on the trail, that's for sure.

I've also noticed that all of the veteran off-roaders never use them (nor do they carry them), which speaks volumes to me.

The only people I ever seem to notice that carry them are the posers.

That statement isn't intended to offend anyone, it's just an observation is all.

My personal opinion is that I would never use one for trail use, nor would I recommend one.

What this jeep poser definition? Lol :lol:

 

[Mr. Bills]

. . . I've never found anything a hi lift can do on the trail that I can't do with my winch with one exception. I can't rob the handle from a hi lift to slip over a bent tie rod. I have however told lots of folks to leave the jack at home and just bring the handle.

That's funny.

I used to carry a length of scrap angle and some hose clamps to strengthen bent tie rods or repair who knows what just enough to get off the trail. I've lent my jack handle too, but sometimes its hard getting stuff like that back.

 

[glwood]

We can all agree on one thing - the words 'hi-lift jack' in a post will always evoke a spirited discussion, shall we say...

They're like Jack's magic beans.

 

[MutantNinjaTJ]

I tried to warn him! :lunchacos:"You'll put your eye out with that thing!"