Air Jack

trailheader

New member
Does anybody intend on using an air jack instead of a hi lift or is it in addition to a hi-lift? If you had to buy just one jack, which one would it be? It seems like the hi-lift has so many other uses, ie as a come-along, etc. I appreciate the advice.
 

Ron B

Explorer
mine's finally on the way to me -- looking forward to testing it out (maybe) this weekend.

rb
 

adventureduo

Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Ron B said:
mine's finally on the way to me -- looking forward to testing it out (maybe) this weekend.

rb

Ron please post up your findings. I'd be interested in hearing from you after you try it out.
 

FlyNdrive

Adventurer
I got it as an addition to my recovery gear and Hi-Lift.

I tried to use it, but with all the bashing by exhaust pipe has been bent up and I can't get a tight enough seal to get the bag inflated. I will pull out the pliers this weekend straighten the exhaust pipe out and try again.

-Ben
 

HenryJ

Expedition Leader
Made in China , sold in Canada. I bought an ebay air jack.
It differs from the ARB in that it does not have the control valve in the middle of the line and does not have an extra protective mat.
It does include an adapter to use an air compressor, gloves, a repair kit, carry bag, hose with rubber funnel, and the air jack.

IMGP0153.JPG


Rather difficult to stuff in the carry bag. Once in, there is room to add a protective mat, which I already had.

IMGP0152.JPG


The rubber funnel fit my tail pipe just right. I have a 4" stainless steel resonator tip.
I was surprised with the amount of strength it takes to hold the funnel to the tail pipe and acquire enough pressure to lift the truck. It is going to take a very well sealed system to use this and a firm grip as well as some upper body strength to hold it to the tailpipe. No way my wife or son will be doing this. I do think they could fill the bag and use the compressor to do the lifting. Not sure how long that would take to actually lift the truck though.

This is lighter than a Highlift. Easier to stow. It has obvious advantages in the sand or mud.

There are cheaper places to purchase what appears to be the same unit. Harbor Freight, and a couple other outlets offer the Titan air jack. I dropped the hammer a little too quick and probably paid $20 more than I could have elsewhere. Shipping from Canada was slow. It took over three weeks for it to arrive. Overall, I am pleased. But remember there has been little testing done and the rose colored glasses of a new toy are still on. More later. Much later.
 

Ron B

Explorer
finally had a few minutes to play with my new titan air-jack. Put the air-jack under my hummer's rear diff ucp to see if it would lift the back end of the truck. As expected the exhaust filling tube was useless with my truck's pipe.

Plan B. Using the optional air chuck attatchment, I plugged in my tank and in about 8 seconds both rear wheels were off the ground and the truck tipped and slid sideways about 2 ft! I nearly wet myself I was laughing so hard -- I didn't expect the damn thing to work at all so I didn't have any safety on the truck to prevent this! It happened too fast for any snapshots so I'll try again next weekend and post a picture.

to recap: an on board 5 lb airtank filled to 200 psi lifted the rear of my 7500 lb h1 in less than 10 seconds. Pretty sweet.

rb
 

Dave Bennett

Adventurist
cruiseroutfit said:
I've got a Titan and a Bushranger here, I'll try and put them side by side for some pics. I did test them both side by side, but the story belongs to a local 4x4 magazine (U4WDA Compass) and my lips are sealed for the time being :D

I'm very interested in this review... I'm looking to jettison the Hi-Lift in favor of something lighter and more user friendly.
 

Ron B

Explorer
If this thing was filled to 2000 psi, the explosion would probably be heard in Africa.

I had another chance to play with the air-jack this weekend. I centered the jack between the front and rear tires under the rocker panel. It took about 7 seconds to raise the rear tire 4 inches off the ground (5 gal tank at 200 psi). After a few minutes to re-fill the tank a bit, I gave it another blast of air which raised the rear tire another inch or so and almost got the front tire off the ground. I'm impressed.

here are a few pictures:
 

michaelgroves

Explorer
Ron B said:
If this thing was filled to 2000 psi, the explosion would probably be heard in Africa.

I had another chance to play with the air-jack this weekend. I centered the jack between the front and rear tires under the rocker panel. It took about 7 seconds to raise the rear tire 4 inches off the ground (5 gal tank at 200 psi). After a few minutes to re-fill the tank a bit, I gave it another blast of air which raised the rear tire another inch or so and almost got the front tire off the ground. I'm impressed.

Ah, when you originally said a 5lb tank, I assumed you meant it was a CO2 type tank, which is quite a bit less than a gallon in volume, but more like 2000psi...

A 5lb (2.5 litre) tank at 200psi (14kg/sq.cm) can provide only 32 litres of air at atmospheric pressure, so it couldn't even inflate the bag (must be well over 100 litres) to atmospheric in the first place, let alone pressurise it enough to lift half your vehicle (2000kg?)!

With CO2 at 2000psi, it could do so easily, since at that pressure, a 2.5L tank can provide around 1200 litres of C02. And of course, so could your 5gal (20 litre) tank at 200psi as it can provide around 260 litres of air.

The speed with which it inflates the bag it is presumably just a function of the pipes and fittings you are using - are they standard? And when did you start measuring the time? (i.e. bag completely empty? Or inflated, but not under any load? Or weight already taken?)

I've used air jacks quite a bit, but always using the exaust, which can be tricky if the exhaust is inaccessible or leaking. It is also a dirty job when the vehicle is a diesel! So I am interested in trying it with compressed air instead - seems to me one can control the whole operation better with an air hose, than when one is trying to hold the end of the pipe over the exhaust.
 
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Spikepretorius

Explorer
I've got an airjack that I've had for yonks but have never used. It's only got a fitting for an exhaust. Do you think it's feasible to convert it for use with a compressor?
 

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