Where did you mount your Hi Lift jack?

[Cabrito]

Where to mount?

I have been playing around with this for some time.

For a while I had it down here - see below - but it seems a little low and could cause some clearance problems

Last weekend I put it on the top of the ARB bumper. So far so good. Takes some getting used to it being in the line of sight over the hood.

I think I will be drilling some holes in the wingnuts to safety them or use nuts.

 

[michaelgroves]

It's a bit unlucky that you can't mount it just a few inches higher than your original position. It's nice to have the weight down low. However, it doesn't matter where you put a damn highlift jack, it's always in the way!

 

[craig]

I originally had mine on the roofrack, but it snagged a tree. Now it's on the front brushguard, and I sold the roofrack.

 

[muskyman]

gone

 

[michaelgroves]

Wow nice stuck...looks like a heavy rig...what does it weigh?

what kind of work do you do with it that you have a vice on the front bumper?

Yes, it was one of those occasions when you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, to match the sinking feeling under the wheels... I tried to gently turn back as soon as I felt the ground getting softer, but it was way too late.

The vehicle weighs anything from 3 to 5 tons depending on what's packed and fitted. (Nearly half a ton of diesel capacity - 460 litres- , for example). And I had a little too much pressure in the tyres. Although, having said that, I'm glad she sank in sooner rather than later!

The vice is just a useful item to have. The Land Rover was a self-contained home for my wife and me, for over two years of travelling, and we didn't have a workbench (or a garage)!

Here's the first metre or two of progress in getting unstuck!

 

[michaelgroves]

Another shot of the highlift jack, unfortunately the rope is a bit in the way of the detail.

As you can see, the swivel-type vice is mounted to a nice heavy piece of channel, as my workbench. The "bench" is in turn mounted onto the winch's A-bar (which is angled forward). The "bench" can be removed, complete with the vice, by removing the two wingnuts.

 

[tinker trek]

I can't believe that hi-lift is mounted on the front bumper like that!
That's just asking for trouble! All kinds of bad things can happen!!

eepwall:


I need to go now......:coffeedrink:

 

[michaelgroves]

I can't believe that hi-lift is mounted on the front bumper like that!
That's just asking for trouble! All kinds of bad things can happen!!

Just look at the pics. Bad things DID happen!

 

[muskyman]

gone

 

[muskyman]

gone

 

[tinker trek]

How do you like the Mile marker?
Is yours elec. I like there prices?

 

[michaelgroves]

Michael

you need a pul-pal and a hydraulic winch

very cool rig

Thom

Thanks - it was a lot of fun building it up, too!

Yup, the winch is hydraulic, and I experimented quite a bit with a Pullpal (and other ground anchor systems) before deciding not to carry one. With that weight of vehicle, even the biggest Pull-Pal was pretty useless if she bogged down properly. Winch line-pull was never an issue; I carried enough snatch blocks and rigging to move an ore-train - all day if necessary.

<RANT> I wish the ground-anchor manufacturers would publish useful specifications, instead of simply saying what size vehicle the anchor is designed for! For example, they could say that in typical clay-like mud, the anchor will hold against a 2000kg line-pull, and in soft dry beach sand, a 750kg pull. Instead, they say "suitable for a vehicle of 10,000lbs or under", which tells us almost nothing! </RANT>

 

[michaelgroves]

How do you like the Mile marker?
Is yours elec. I like there prices?

I'm not a great fan of electric winches, although they have their place, I suppose. The hydraulic MM is surprisingly good, in the sense that I've had a look at the internals, and it's more solidly built than I'd imagine it would be. Not that there's much to go wrong - it's just a very simple hydraulic gear motor.

I don't value speed when winching, so the slow line speeds under load don't bother me, but I do very much like the fact that it has a high speed gear for respooling. It makes re-rigging much easier, so one's less likely to be lazy.

It's light too, especially with synthetic rope. And it can work all day without getting hot or making a noise or killing your battery. All in all, it gets very high marks from me

 

[michaelgroves]

Actually that picture is a perfect example of why *some* roller fairlead designs are bad for synthetic winch ropes.

Yes, a roller fairlead wouldn't be my first choice. Having said that, it never caused me any problems. Most of the actual problems I've seen on roller fairleads have been where the winch was used with steel cable first, and the rollers were burred. That really can snag a UHMWPE rope. Mine had a few scratches from the previous steel cable, which I cleaned off very carefully, and never had any snagging problems, even on pretty oblique pulls.

What you don't want is the pull to be up (or down) in the corners, so the rope can go over or under the vertical roller - in fact, as it is in the photo. The rollers on my fairlead are such that this couldn't really happen while actually winching.

 

[muskyman]

gone