Where should I mount my hi-lift jack?
- Thread starter Roel Salazar
- Start date
I was there that day....LOL.
yea, that's exactly what I said
Looking at that pic I can see a far better placement for that jack where it wouldn't be wobbling on a basketball sized rock perched on top of much larger boulders but definitely the jacks fault
Nothing like a keyboard cowboy, from Texas no less, to tell people who drive exclusively in the rocks, how to drive in the rocks....
Now I remember, Jeff it has been a while! What were you driving that day? Any pics from that day?
I had my chili pepper red TJ back then. Unless that was the one and only day I drug my XJ all over the rocks...
If I recall didn't you break and axle then turn before you knew it was broken and blow the knuckle off when things bound up? That repair took some time if that was what I'm thinking happened.
I'm not sure if I have any from that exact day, but I did fine some pictures on an old site that Sergey maintains.
Nope I stopped as soon as I heard the 'tink' of the break, not to mention I probably had 5-6 bystanders/spotters who also heard it screaming at me as soon as it happened lol. I'd love to see Sergey's old photos, he always had smile on his face! This is him from that fateful day way back in 2003 lol.
You know the first thing I think about when the conversation comes up about these jacks is how you have to absurdly lift the vehicle in order to clear the suspension droop- It makes a dangerous job much more dangerous.
But going beyond that I am old enough to remember when cars came with bumper jacks. They killed people. Cars don’t come with them anymore for that reason.
A lot of jeep owners are in love with an appearance of readiness. They think it signals to people masculinity and capability.
I can’t get over the extensive article about all that uses for them that a major jeep magazine published-It seemed like they were good for a number of things, like a side pull. But I don’t even think they recommended lifting the vehicle in the article with one due to liability.
It is sort of asking for it to use one.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
Maybe also because cars don't have bumpers anymore.
Trucks do.
Even some plastic “bumpered“ cars had a notch.
There was a point in time we’re pretty much everybody knew somebody that had been killed or seriously injured trying to change a tire.
It was the scariest thing you ever did. The hi- lift is just a big version of the same thing.
Don’t get me wrong they are unbeatable for some tasks in life.
98.5% of the HiLifts i see on Jeeps have nowhere you could use them. And owners that couldn't use them properly even if they had bumpers and sliders you could catch with one.
If you have never been in a situation where it's the only tool for the job, it is hard to appreciate it.
And they are like a gun. Show it proper respect and it won't kill you
If you have never been in a situation where it's the only tool for the job, it is hard to appreciate it.
And they are like a gun. Show it proper respect and it won't kill you
Bumper jacks were definitely scary, and damn, I forgot all about them. I do remember that you really needed to pay attention while you were jacking up to keep it straight. I now carry a scissor jack from a lesson learned while wheeling a trail in my Gladiator I owned. On the particular trail I was on, it was the only jack that got under my axle and got it high enough for me to get my tire changed.
My late dad's '54 Mercury fell sideways off its bumper jack while he was changing a tire 68 years ago. It was memorable for me because it scared the shit out me, I thought his leg was caught underneath it.
The only thing I used my hi-lift for in the 10 years it sat on my side yard was to mount tires on my beadlock wheels. They are not a tool for the trail. As Jerry found out - we all carried bottle jacks and a couple of small pieces of 2x6 and 4x4 wood. Lift the axle - not the tub. LOL
This subject has brought up another faint memory for me from the early 90's. My first jeep was a 82 Scrambler and I carried a hi-lift jack like I thought we were supposed to do. I believe it was my first trip over the Rubicon trail that I had to change a tire and using the hi-lift jack was pretty scary from what I remember.