Hi lift - How to?

[Christophe Noel]

I'm pretty green with this off roading stuff - at least with 4 wheels. I noticed a Land Rover Freelander a few weeks ago that had very few mods, but it did have a Hi Lift jack on the roof. This is a silly question but, how the heck do you use a Hi Lift jack on a rig completely encased in plastic on all sides? My one and only Hi Lift Jack experience was when I had a Jeep CJ-7 and then a Wrangler with steel bumpers.

My Discover has a plastic rear bumper and I still have the factory front bumper which I'm pretty sure is made of low grade cheese. I've never even thought of using a Hi Lift jack because I have no clue where to interface it to the rig.

Educate me. I'm hungry for the know how.:chowtime:

 

[DaveInDenver]

Good question and your intuition is basically right. But it's possible to use the Hi-Lift as a come-along with chains and tow (I mean the non-dynamic nylon ones) straps to recovery or tow points, maybe even the shipping tie-downs if they are substantial enough. It's also possible to use a tire cradle or some sort of adapter or strap on the recovery points to lift the truck. I don't know that this fella had all the right stuff, so his may be for appearance. But it is possible to find uses for a Hi-Lift beyond just putting the jacking saddle under a bumper. It's also got other non-jacking uses, like as a 4 or 6 foot long super stout bar, perfect to use as a skid, like in the photo #4.

 

[Ursidae69]

I see this a lot too. People with stock vehicles without sliders or any other way to secure a hi-lift would use the lift-mate or bumper-lift accessories from Hi-Lift.

http://www.hi-lift.com/products/accessories.htm

 

[ntsqd]

If you carry a Shackle adapter for a socket trailer hitch, the nose of the Hi-Lift fits perfectly in the loop of the shackle.

 

[BogusBlake]

If you carry a Shackle adapter for a socket trailer hitch, the nose of the Hi-Lift fits perfectly in the loop of the shackle.

The nose of the Hi-lift will also fit in an empty hitch receiver. Speaking of hitch receivers, if you have one on a truck with plastic bumpers, most of the time you can find somewhere along it to apply the hi-lift.

If you're careful, you can usually place the nose of the hi-lift under one of the frame horns in the front even with a plastic bumper.

You can use a doubled over tree strap and shackle threaded through the spokes on your wheels instead of that fancy wheel adapter they sell. Depending on the offset of your wheels, you sometimes don't even need one of those- you can just stick the jack in the rim and lift. Be careful doing this though, because if you don't have beadlock or rock rings, the jack can slip around. I've used this method combined with the "drive off the jack" maneuver to get unstuck a few times.

There are many stories of people using the handle tube of the hi-lift to sleeve a broken tie rod.

You can rotate the top piece 90 deg to the bar and use the jack as a clamp to move broken leaf springs back into position.

If you have something to lift the vehicle by, you can use the jack to break the bead of a cut tire to take it off the rim if you need to.

I have the come-along kit and it works, but it's a major PITA to actually use.

The uses are endless...

 

[ntsqd]

The nose of the Hi-lift will also fit in an empty hitch receiver.

What I've found is that while this does work, the shackle is more secure lifting on a shackle since it can get behind the hook on the lifting nose, where when just in the socket it is actually lifting on that lip.
Which method to use really depends on the particular situation.

 

[stevenmd]

use the Hi-Lift as a come-along

My favorite use for it when a winch is not available. Saved my behind many a time.

 

[Christophe Noel]

See....I knew you smarties would have the answers.

My Discovery appears to be a no fly zone for a HI Lift. The front bumper in particular is heavily shrouded in plastic. The rear has possibilities but is still a mess of plastic. Perhaps sliders are in my future?

 

[stevenmd]

See....I knew you smarties would have the answers.

My Discovery appears to be a no fly zone for a HI Lift. The front bumper in particular is heavily shrouded in plastic. The rear has possibilities but is still a mess of plastic. Perhaps sliders are in my future?

Rovertym... break it down now...


...get it? Hammertime... Rovertym... nevermind, I'll just have another beer and ignore myself.

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Mine's been used mostly for pulling broken 4x4 cedar fenceposts out of the ground.

It always confuses the bejeebers out of the neighbors. Makes a dandy fence stretcher too.

I've never really had the occation to use one while off-roading, but in younger days we managed to need one at least monthly to change a tractor / implement / hay rack tire.

 

[DaveInDenver]

My favorite use for it when a winch is not available. Saved my behind many a time.

I've had to do the 4-foot-at-a-time recovery a couple of times sliding off a snow packed road. Slow, but beats leaving your truck until spring.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Mine's been used mostly for pulling broken 4x4 cedar fenceposts out of the ground.

It always confuses the bejeebers out of the neighbors. Makes a dandy fence stretcher too.

I've never really had the occation to use one while off-roading, but in younger days we managed to need one at least monthly to change a tractor / implement / hay rack tire.

They didn't get the name "farm jack" for nothing!

The farm jack (also known as the handyman jack or high lift jack) is a versatile mechanical tool that can be put to a wide range of uses. Originally invented some time around 1905 and sold as the Automatic Combination Tool, the basic design has remained largely unchanged to this day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_jack

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Yup, I never knew there was a name other than "handyman jack" until I owned the Land Rover

I'm a "town kid" now!

 

[rusty_tlc]

See....I knew you smarties would have the answers.

My Discovery appears to be a no fly zone for a HI Lift. The front bumper in particular is heavily shrouded in plastic. The rear has possibilities but is still a mess of plastic. Perhaps sliders are in my future?

Same situation with my UZJ100, oh well, I guess we have to get sliders

 

[spressomon]

Same situation with my UZJ100, oh well, I guess we have to get sliders

Dan: Thanks for reminding me...that is another design plus for the tube type slider base...Hi-Jack friendly. Although with a strap and a little Nevada ingenuity we could make a nice sling for the rectangular slider stock that would be reliable too...