Best place to mount a high lift jack?

[Chris]

I don't think there's any argument that when presented with no-winch or a high-jack, that having a high-jack is handy.

However, if you have a winch, I think a high-hack is practically useless.

Bottom line: get a winch

 

[Serbonze]

I don't think there's any argument that when presented with no-winch or a high-jack, that having a high-jack is handy.

I agre with an addition to that statement: "when presented with no-winch or a high-jack, that having a high-jack is handy as long as you have the knowledge, experience, and proper equipment to use it correctly and safely."

 

[StG58]

Those things can hurt you bad.

 

[Chris]

I agre with an addition to that statement: "when presented with no-winch or a high-jack, that having a high-jack is handy as long as you have the knowledge, experience, and proper equipment to use it correctly and safely."

Very, very true.

Both a winch and a high-jack and be very, very dangerous if you don't know how to properly use them.

 

[Stinger]

Ok, I'll throw my two cents in here. I have a hi-lift jack, and carry it on top of the front bumper.

I don't use it to jack the Jeep up to change a tire. I do use it for a myriad of other things, including winching. Winching with one gives you time to contemplate your many sins and think about how to mount a winch. There are various attachments available that make a hi-lift extremely useful at times. The weight of a hi-lift, three shots of chain, various shackles other rigging bits is more than a good winch and mounting plate, and only slightly less expensive. I have one, I use one and I wouldn't recommend one. Get a winch, and a bottle jack.

Oh, look a TJ over and find all the places that you can hook into and lift from without tearing something up. There's not many, and not really in useful locations.

 

[Stinger]

Winch and bottle jack! Just saw a 9,000 pounder on Harbor Freight for $299

 

[Neskie Crawler]

Gee, looking more and more like I should get a mounting plate and winch !!

 

[Ahoragi]

I bring my hi-lift with me when wheeling all the time. It has helped me quite a few times in the past. Back in the late 2000's my buddy and I went wheeling every weekend in the summer. Our intentions were to explore and get stuck....and boy did we. We had instances where our winches were not an option (the motor on my Milemarker died twice that summer) and the hi-jack got us out of a jam. I remember one spot where I got stuck hanging off a ledge to a big mud hole and had to use the hi jack to winch myself sideways a little bit to keep the jeep from sliding off into another friend's stuck jeep while I winched forward.

It is a heavy tool that rarely comes into play but can be that last option that gets you out of a jam so I bring it. As for changing tires, NO.

You can pick up a farm jack at Tractor Supply. I just got one this past spring for I think $60 or so. It's well built and made removing the metal fence around my yard a piece of cake.

 

[JimT]

I was considering a high lift jack and mount as I work on my project. It seems that saving that cash for a better winch makes more sense. More research on winches is in order.

 

[StG58]

I was considering a high lift jack and mount as I work on my project. It seems that saving that cash for a better winch makes more sense. More research on winches is in order.

Also consider that the Hi-lift requires a lot of heavy rigging to go with it to be useful. Three shots of chain, numerous shackles, and assorted miscellaneous other stuff add up quickly. That stuff also takes up a fair amount of space in an already confined area. Good choice on looking into winches.

 

[atrizzy]

I've used my high lift to get me over some rocks I've gotten myself stuck on... not gonna lie. A bottle jack wouldn't have gotten that job done.

...but a winch would have been much better!

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I've used my high lift to get me over some rocks I've gotten myself stuck on... not gonna lie. A bottle jack wouldn't have gotten that job done.

My TJ is a rock crawler and wheels nearly exclusively on big rocks. It's been stuck while high-centered, low-centered, control arms & driveshafts perched on top of rocks, etc. My TJ has wheeled on monster-difficulty rock crawling trails with lots of Jeeps with mega-experienced wheelers and there wasn't a Hi-Lift anywhere in the group. Never had a stuck situation where a Hi-Lift was needed to get unstuck.

By the time wheelers get to the level of doing trails like the below, most learned to leave their Hi-Lifts at home.

Both of the below TJs are mine. My impression is that a lot of wheelers think they needed a Hi-Lift at the time they used it but...

 

[Neskie Crawler]

Those are some awesome pics Jerry, and you do some serious wheeling. My compliments, and I have a new appreciation of your mastery. My tj (current) will never see anything close to those trails. My original post was more geared to an emergency self-pull out of a mud hole if a tree or such was nearby, using the jack. Certainly not an every day tool. I have learned what I wanted, it will work, but I will side with a winch for wheeling like you guys do, thats a real no-brainer. Now to mount my winch with plate on my tubular bumper I'll have to grind the welded mounts for the foglights off the bumper, but I like where they're at now....always turns out a bigger project...

 

[Stinger]

My TJ is a rock crawler and wheels nearly exclusively on big rocks. It's been stuck while high-centered, low-centered, control arms & driveshafts perched on top of rocks, etc. My TJ has wheeled on monster-difficulty rock crawling trails with lots of Jeeps with mega-experienced wheelers and there wasn't a Hi-Lift anywhere in the group. Never had a stuck situation where a Hi-Lift was needed to get unstuck.

By the time wheelers get to the level of doing trails like the below, most learned to leave their Hi-Lifts at home.

Both of the below TJs are mine. My impression is that a lot of wheelers think they needed a Hi-Lift at the time they used it but...

View attachment 6309
View attachment 6310
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Quit carrying that bone breaker a long time ago!

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Keep in mind that hopeful thoughts/wishful thinking of using a Hi-Lift as a winch are usually terminated the first time it is actually tried in a real situation. 4WD & Sport Utility magazine did a real-world test on using a Hi-Lift as a winch probably 14-15 years ago & they summarized their test results as 'never again'.

The problems with trying to use a Hi-Lift as a winch are two-fold... 1) You must use a full-length chain since tow straps and ropes stretch too much for the Hi-Lift's short pulling ability... as in the Hi-Lift doesn't have enough pulling capacity to overcome the strap's or rope's inherent stretch. 2) A 48" Hi-Lift's max pull ability is about 36" which isn't normally enough to pull anyone completely up out of a mud hole or over the top of an obstacle. When the Hi-Lift has been jacked in all the way, releasing it to reset it to pull more usually just lets the Jeep roll back to where it was.

Can a Hi-Lift be used as a winch? Absolutely, in ideal conditions. The problem with that is obvious.

 

[EJD]

So what are the Bottle Jack options out there for those of us with new TJ's that did not come with a stock jack? And where are they stored within the Jeep typically? I am currently looking for a jack option too, as I have a full sized spare but no way to change it if I needed to.

Funny thing too that i've noticed is that I do not need a jack to do an oil change, never had that happen before. Kind of refreshing.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I'd look for an OE bottle (screw) jack on sites like eBay. Bottle jacks like are sold at Harbor Freight Tools work fine but the OE jack perfectly fits the jack holder located under the passenger seat but aftermarket bottle jacks you'll find won't.

Like this complete jack set at http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=222255685566

I have a bottle jack in my trailer but for the Jeep, I'd rather have the factory jack which works very well for tire sizes even up to 37".

 

[Serbonze]

I bought this to replace the OEM jack and keep it behind the seats. Harbor Freight sells them too.

Torin T90403 Hydraulic Bottle Jack - 4 Ton https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CO9YPG/?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[EJD]

I'd look for an OE bottle (screw) jack on sites like eBay. Bottle jacks like are sold at Harbor Freight Tools work fine but the OE jack perfectly fits the jack holder located under the passenger seat but aftermarket bottle jacks you'll find won't.

Like this complete jack set at http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=222255685566

I have a bottle jack in my trailer but for the Jeep, I'd rather have the factory jack which works very well for tire sizes even up to 37".

Thanks, I actually think my TJ came with the tools just not the jack...lol. It would be great to find a jack that fits perfectly out of the way and is compact like that.

I was looking into a 36" Hi-Lift...smaller and more compact, with different mounting options. Found a pretty good deal on one.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Thanks, I actually think my TJ came with the tools just not the jack...lol. It would be great to find a jack that fits perfectly out of the way and is compact like that.

I was looking into a 36" Hi-Lift...smaller and more compact, with different mounting options. Found a pretty good deal on one.

You just need to look... the jack by itself without the tools took about five seconds to find on eBay.... http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=282193927035

I can't recommend a Hi-Lift as I talked about above, I stopped carrying mine 13 years ago... it now lives permanently in my shed as a home for the shed's resident black widow spider. But if you insist on a Hi-Lift, go for the 48" model which fits perfectly well across the two rear rollbar bases where big u-bolts with wingnuts can hold it in. A 36" is just as awkward to carry without the ease of storing as the 48" provides. Just don't use it for changing tires or for anything else where any other tool can be made to work. Hi-Lifts should be considered strictly as a tool of last resort... they're just plain dangerous and unstable.