Made up excuses to use a Hi-Lift

LONGJP2 said:
Again; that's not how it's used.

Let me guess. You don't own one, and never have.
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You're really bad at guessing. It's right where it should be. In the corner of the garage.

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It's not how what is used? If you can't get a bottle jack under an axle I am assuming you're on a log, rock or large curb maybe. Why would a highlift be any better?
 
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gasiorv said:
... The op asked for a list of uses ...
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No, I asked for times on the trail where it was the right tool for the job. Not "it's what I had and made it work."

Hilifts are shit for taking a tire off. Can't lift the bumper high enough on my TJ with my 4' jack. Maybe a 5' one would work but I have no interest in testing that.

Freeing a high-centered jeep could be a legit use. In most cases a tug would be preferred, but I'll give you that one.

With the wheel hooks (lift-mate?) it's about the easiest way to lift a wheel out of a hole when you can't drive or get a pull. I've never needed this but can totally see the benefit.

I do use mine all the time to lift my boat trailer tongue onto a stand so it drains well (tongue jack won't go high enough). But that isn't a trail use 🤪

So far I count 3 good actual trail uses listed: put a coil spring back in, repair a leaf spring shackle, and help free a stuck jeep.
 
I'll ask again: when your Jeep is stuck up to the axles in mud, HOW would a bottle jack help? A high lift jack can be used on the bumper to lift the Jeep up high enough to something under the tires to get unstuck.
For rock climbing and other "dry" 'wheeling, a bottle jack would work. Mud, not so much. And just to be clear, I don't have one, but in my misspent youth, there were a couple times I would have given my left nut to have had one.
 
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C.J. Roberts said:
I'll ask again: when your Jeep is stuck up to the axles in mud, HOW would a bottle jack help? A high lift jack can be used on the bumper to lift the Jeep up high enough to something under the tires to get unstuck.
For rock climbing and other "dry" 'wheeling, a bottle jack would work. Mud, not so much. And just to be clear, I don't have one, but in my misspent youth, there were a couple times I would have given my left nut to have had one.
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Lockers and a winch. Better yet, stay out of the mud.

I can't imagine a scenario where mine would be stuck in the mud deep enough where jack can't be set under the axle, but just lifting a tire to get something under it with a HiLift would be how I got myself out of there. That is a non-existent scenario.
 
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srimes said:
We all know these jacks are wicked and will try to kill you every chance they get, and they're generally a useless waste of space. I haven't carried one in over a decade as their best use is pulling fence posts.

But I did make good use of one on a trail once, and only once. My XJ had good droop, and everything looked good on a flex ramp, but a good bump on the trail caused it to flex more and drop a spring. Made a nice bong!-ringggg, dink-dink-dink as it bounced down the rocks :ROFLMAO:. Used a hilift on the bumper to droop the axle and jam the spring back in without turning a wrench 🤣

When have you used these stupid jacks on the trail where it was actually the right tool for the job?
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A deck. Best tool made to adjust the floor elevation.

The Why did I found out was the hard way- My lead carpenter Harold, who is also considered the sexiest trim carpenter alive, It’s going to adjust the squareness of a deck and he knocked it completely off of its supports-

It was a floor system married to another floor system and it collapsed into a V and was really a pretty bad deal-

Hi Lift was perfect. I actually keep two of them at my shop and I can’t think of a better application for them in construction.


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Thread.
 
Had a buddy last summer try to send his K1500 truck over a hill to get out of a camping spot. Scraped over a stump he didn't see on a steering skid or something and got the stump lodged up between his exhaust and the skid. We ended up having to use a very dull saw to cut the stump low enough for him to back his bent skid over the top of it. If he'd had any spot at all for us to place my hi-lift we would have used that instead.

Is having a rock or stump lodged up between two sensitive bits on your undercarriage a situation where a hi-lift is the best tool for the job? I'm thinking if he'd had proper bumpers or rock sliders we could have lifted him with the hi-lift and he could have backed up and fallen off of it. Of course that would have run the risk of smashing the stump into something else further forward... Only alternative I can think of is stacking a couple of large rocks behind the front tires to climb up and over, but because of the slope of the hill I don't know that this could have been done safely.
 
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Longwhitejeep said:
You're really bad at guessing. It's right where it should be. In the corner of the garage.

View attachment 308220


It's not how what is used? If you can't get a bottle jack under an axle I am assuming you're on a log, rock or large curb maybe. Why would a highlift be any better?
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Is that just one hi lift (next to your brass picker upper)? I’ve got two in the corner right now. When I tire of the one in my TJ hood, there will be three and one is a “patriot” edition. Get those numbers up!!
 
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AndyG said:
A deck. Best tool made to adjust the floor elevation.

The Why did I found out was the hard way- My lead carpenter Harold, who is also considered the sexiest trim carpenter alive, It’s going to adjust the squareness of a deck and he knocked it completely off of its supports-

It was a floor system married to another floor system and it collapsed into a V and was really a pretty bad deal-

Hi Lift was perfect. I actually keep two of them at my shop and I can’t think of a better application for them in construction.


Cool
Thread.
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Screw jack
 
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WSS said:
Is that just one hi lift (next to your brass picker upper)? I’ve got two in the corner right now. When I tire of the one in my TJ hood, there will be three and one is a “patriot” edition. Get those numbers up!!
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I have thrown 2 away already. That one in the corner next to the (technically) gumball picker upper is a tractor supply special I have had for 15 years. The handle doesn't even come off so it's even less useful.

When I bought my jeep it had this rusted worthless hunk of steel on the front bumper. It even had a small lock on it in case someone wanted to steal it. It was the only rusty thing on the jeep. I have a few high lift mounts lying around too.

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Such a stupid and useless tool, nothing but trouble from it... yet entire argument against it based on how some IQ 200 genius got his ass kicked by a stupid tool, because he obviously had a more useful tool to use instead

This topic never fail
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AndyG said:
I can see that working -the hi lift was really nice for the elevation I was at- And I could stand up and read my level.
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We moved a 40’ long wooden corn crib a few miles to a different farm. We lifted the entire structure with screw jacks in order to back a modular house moving trailer underneath it.

Screw jacks have a much better adjustment resolution than a high lift.
 
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Apparition said:
We moved a 40’ long wooden corn crib a few miles to a different farm. We lifted the entire structure with screw jacks in order to back a modular house moving trailer underneath it.

Screw jacks have a much better adjustment resolution than a high lift.
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Can you show me an image- I think I’m thinking about something different when you say screw jack-
 
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