Changing a flat on lifted trucks: tall bottle jack or hi-lift?

[Yudda]

What do you all think of this ?

combined 3 Ton Jack & Jack Stand



http://www.tractorsupply.com/vehicl...erbuilt-reg-3-ton-jack-amp-jack-stand-1160455

Can anyone figure out if it would work on a Defender...............It would probably cost me triple to ship it here to Israel.


rob

 

[chasespeed]

Well, I cant either.

BUT, a larger 12x12x2 square, can keep the bottle jack from sinking... OR a a 6x6 can add some height... I would be leary of jackin on stacked items as well... and certainly on an off camber situation anyway.

Chase

 

[Desolation]

I gave up on a Hi-Lift. Carried one for years & used it once. Was very rickety too. I find this to be far more useful:

^X2
But i still carry the Hi-lift.

 

[ntsqd]

A friend had the opportunity to grab parts off of a totaled LR. As in nearly flattened. No idea how. He asked if there was anything worth grabbing off of it. I told him that jack. When he finally got it out he agreed.

 

[stioc]

Thanks for all the great ideas and suggestions guys. To answer your question my truck is a Honda Ridgeline so no solid axles. The lift points are under the rocker panel. I need something like 23" to get the tires (245/65/17) off the ground. So far I like the bottle jack idea with the stackable RV blocks (since I already own a set). Off-camber is a slight concern since most shoulders are graded.

 

[KG6BWS]

I gave up on a Hi-Lift. Carried one for years & used it once. Was very rickety too. I find this to be far more useful:

Thats a pretty slick skid plate you've got on that. I'm gonna have to do something like that myself.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't think of a situation off camber with multiple items stacked up being anything resembling stable.

Thats true, but show me a road anywhere that is perfectly flat and level. If your vehicle is offcamber, at all, which would be safer?? My suggestion is to carry both plus a set of chocks. I usually prefer to use my hilift, even on the side of the road. My solution to "iffy" situations is to chock the wheels, strap the axle and lift with the hilift. I use my bottle jack as a stand if needed. My bumpers though are built in a way that gives me good lifting points to the sides.

All depends on the particular situation, I just prefer carrying enough to give me some options.

 

[chasespeed]

All depends on the particular situation, I just prefer carrying enough to give me some options.

While that is great and all... what about those of us with HEAVY rigs....

Mine has to weigh about 8k, though, I have never been on the scales... I know what the truck weighs, add cap, tools, gear, my heavy bumpers, hydraulic winch, etc.... and..... I would NOT try to lift a corner of my truck with a HiLIft.... if there was something similar, but, stronger....maybe something based off a Porta Power, or something, that would open a LOT of options...

There are enough of us here, with diesel full sizes.... with plenty of gear...

Chase

 

[Mr. Leary]

While that is great and all... what about those of us with HEAVY rigs....

Mine has to weigh about 8k, though, I have never been on the scales... I know what the truck weighs, add cap, tools, gear, my heavy bumpers, hydraulic winch, etc.... and..... I would NOT try to lift a corner of my truck with a HiLIft.... if there was something similar, but, stronger....maybe something based off a Porta Power, or something, that would open a LOT of options...

There are enough of us here, with diesel full sizes.... with plenty of gear...

Chase

Hmmm....

Seriously, if I had a really heavy rig, I would use something like what ntsqd has, but a 4 ton or so, with some big jack stands. I would agree that is a whole lot of weight to be left to teeter on top of a hi-lift. Definitely a much more complicated process then with a mini truck!

EDIT: ...or two X Jacks! Multiply as needed. You could use 4Crawler's 4air system to fill up 4 if you had to...

 

[93BLAZER]

Forgive me if I am missing the point here, but Isn't the fact if you have a lift or not irrelevant? If you have a lift, couldn't you (if you have solid axles) use your STOCK jack? Just put it under the pumpkin and lift that way? I have an 87 K5 Blazer, and plan on using the stock jack under the hood if I have a flat. Simply put it under the front or rear pumpkin.

 

[Sangster]

Forgive me if I am missing the point here, but Isn't the fact if you have a lift or not irrelevant? If you have a lift, couldn't you (if you have solid axles) use your STOCK jack? Just put it under the pumpkin and lift that way? I have an 87 K5 Blazer, and plan on using the stock jack under the hood if I have a flat. Simply put it under the front or rear pumpkin.

you did miss something and you are forgiven. The original poster posted above that he has a honda ridgeline and no solid axles.

 

[Metcalf]

I advocate using a bottle jack for tire changing and a hi-lift for any recovery work.

By all means drive to somewhere as flat as possible to change the tire. I see a lot of people that insist on changing the tire in the exact spot where the tire failed. If the tire has a gapping hole in the sidewall its not going to hurt it any more to drive it a couple yards to get somewhere better. If its super rocky and your worried about your wheel you can use a log laid inline with the path of the vehicle so you don't damage your wheel.

'Big Red' makes a nice two stage jack that is very similar to the landrover or ford truck jacks. Its very inexpensive too. I would highly suggest making a saddle for the top to grab the axle tube, or perhaps just a 'V' like the picture above so that you could grab a control arm with it.

An excellent tip is to cut plywood pieces that are round that fit inside the rim of your spare tire. On a jeep you can add new studs to make up the extra length. 3/4" plywood seems to work well. These work great for jack bases. Drill a hole in the plywood and have a way to bolt it to the foot of your jack.

For recovery use a hi-lift. You can push, pull, lift, etc. You can also jack the vehicle up and push it off the jack on purpose to move the vehicle over. I had to rotate a ford truck 180 degrees on a tight road once because it lost reverse! If at all possible get the 60" hi-lift jack. The 48" runs out of stroke too often.

Hi-lift jack tip #293. If your in rocky ground just take the foot off the jack and jam the end right in the rock. It won't slide around nearly as much.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Bottle jack + blocks of wood gets my vote

 

[UHAULER]

you did miss something and you are forgiven. The original poster posted above that he has a honda ridgeline and no solid axles.

You can place the jack under the A-arms or the crossmember between the suspension.

 

[KG6BWS]

While that is great and all... what about those of us with HEAVY rigs....

Mine has to weigh about 8k, though, I have never been on the scales... I know what the truck weighs, add cap, tools, gear, my heavy bumpers, hydraulic winch, etc.... and..... I would NOT try to lift a corner of my truck with a HiLIft.... if there was something similar, but, stronger....maybe something based off a Porta Power, or something, that would open a LOT of options...

There are enough of us here, with diesel full sizes.... with plenty of gear...

Chase

Good point, I was looking at it from a Tacoma sized point of view. Even if I went REALLY nuts, I doubt I could get my truck to break 7000lbs. The truck would fall apart before I could get it that heavy.

 

[stioc]

You can place the jack under the A-arms or the crossmember between the suspension.

Jacking up from the suspension components is usually a big no-no. You want to lift from a solid immovable spot so that the jack doesn't slip. The crossmember is a good idea and that's typically where I lift it in my garage but the factory jack points under the rocker panels are very convenient since I don't have to crawl under the truck to get at the crossmembers and two I don't need a big heavy floor jack since I'm only lifting 1/4th the weight as opposed to 1/2 the weight of the truck (4600lbs).