Jacking Options?

[grahamfitter]

Okay, so now I have a shopping list:

1) Hi-Lift Xtreme Jack, 60"
2) Hi-Lift Jack mate (to raise the wheel)
3) Wider Base for the high lift
4) Hi-Lift Off-Road kit (To use Hi-Lift as a manual winch)
5) 2 FourTreks mounts (@$89 a piece )
6) Bill Burke CD

Take stock bottle jack for simple changes. Scrap Bushranger - Hi-Lift will do what it does.

And, of course, practice, practice to use the Hi-Lift. Am I missing anything?

I've just been through the same thing - I want the absolute minimum recovery stuff - and I started off knowing absolutely nothing. I read every single recovery thread I could find here, and also Bill Burke's page Using the Hi-Lift Jack.

I ended up with this minimal shopping list, which is basically what Bill Burke suggests on his page:

• 48 inch hi-lift jack. This is a very heavy cumbersome beast but just fits on the floor behind the front seats in my Jeep Wrangler where its lashed to the bottom of the roll cage. I imagine the 60 inch jack would be a real handful.
  
• 20 feet of grade 70 3/8" transport chain with choker hooks on each end.
  
• 3 shackles with 3/4" pin.
  
• Two 10 feet by 3" tree saver straps.
  
• Portable air compressor. It seems that lowering air pressure can increase traction and avoid the need for recovery in the first place but you have to put the air back later.

Here's what I didn't get and why:

• Hi lift offroad kit. This makes it easier to use the jack as a winch but you don't need it. You still have to buy the choker chain anyway.
  
• Hi lift base. This would be nice but a plywood board with a bolt in it works just as well.
  
• Hi lift jack mate. This would be nice too, but the bottle jack will be easier for flats and for everything else you should be able to jack up the bumper.
  
• Tow strap. I might still get one. But its only useful if there's another vehicle to pull you.
  

The only thing I'm still missing is a rear recovery point on the frame which will be a couple of minimal tow hooks.

And heavy duty springs. This stuff is heavy.

Like I said I'm a beginner so my knowledge is minimal and this is just my two cents. I'm willing to bow to everyone with more experience than me.

Cheers,
Graham

 

[Lynn]

Most of you have far more off-road experience than I, but maybe not as much experience using a hi-lift jack (HINT: there's a reason they are often referred to as a 'farmer jack!')

I wouldn't leave home without one.

For instance, I was once foolish enough to think my light 4X4 would be just fine on a trail that had been packed by snowmobiles...

A couple hundred yards up the trail I got off the packed part a little and immediately sunk the driver side in about 3' of snow. The truck was then high-centered on the packed snow, with none of the wheels grabbing. I couldn't winch out because there weren't any anchor points around.

We got out the old farmer jack and lifted the driver's side rear corner of the truck, then pushed the truck off of the jack in the direction of the trail. Then we did the same with the front driver's side.

Repeat, repeat, repeat,...

Soon the truck was back up on the packed snow, and I carefully backed out the way I came in.

Not that I'm recommending the above action. Pushing a vehicle off of a jack is really dangerous to both personnel and equipment. It's a real good way to get hurt bad and accomplish major body mods. You should never do it. Ever. Don't do as I do, do as I say...

The hi-lift is also the second best fence post puller you'll ever find (#1 being the 3-point hitch on the back of a tractor, but I don't recommend carrying one of those). Why would you ever need a fence post puller, you ask? Well, back in the part of SW CO I grew up in it was common for cattle barons using the 'free range' National Forest to put fences across access roads. It's a real pisser to get a couple of miles in on a legal access road and find out some jerk has driven a bunch of metal fence posts across the road.

Put about three wraps of chain around the bottom of the fence post, and a loop to hook the hi-lift in, and presto chango the gates now open...

 

[Quixote]

So I placed an order with www.expeditionexchange.com for the following:

Hi-Lift Jack Off-Road Kit (ORK)
Hi-Lift Jack Off-Road Base (ORB)
Hi-Lift Jack Fix-It Kit (FK-1)
Hi-Lift 60" X-Treme Jack (XT-605)
Curt Manufacturing 3/8" x 20' Grade 70 Chain With Clevis Grab Hooks (J311)
Hi-Lift Jack Lift-Mate (LM-100)
ARB 3/4" Bow Shackle (ARB207D)
Staun Tire Deflators (SCV5)
Bill Burke video

I re-read the Bill Burke article and he states specifically to use a chain and not a recovery strap for manual winching. I was hoping to use my recovery strap for this purpose but looks like the guru says nein.

In addition to the above I already have:

Recovery strap
D-Shackle
Tow Hitch Shackle

All these items, in toto, now comprise my recovery kit. Thanks all for helping me with this!!

 

[Desertdude]

OK, now I am traveling with you - and leaving all my junk home

The Stauns will take a bit to set up but once they are set and tight they work well.

Enjoy using your gear

 

[paulj]

I re-read the Bill Burke article and he states specifically to use a chain and not a recovery strap for manual winching. I was hoping to use my recovery strap for this purpose but looks like the guru says nein.

The problem with chain is its great weight, especially if you need 50' or more to reach the anchor. On the other hand, nylon straps have a lot of stretch, especially if intended for dynamic recovery or snatch. I've tried to keep an eye out for low stretch synthetic straps.

Supposedly one advantage with using the HiLift recovery kit, is that you can maintain the tension on the extension strap, cable, or chain, while you reset the the jack.

The other advantage to chain is that you can hook on to it at any point.

Its more expensive than a HiLift jack, but a Tirfor (Blackrat) type of cable hand winch is probably better.

paulj

 

[gemini97424]

I use a hi lift with a wide base and use my sliders as the jack point. My sliders are welded to the frame and placing the jack near the front, near the back or in the center will raise either the just the front, just the back or both front and back tires enough to clear a high center or fix two flats at one time.

 

[kodiak1232003]

#1 & #2.

Leave #3 at home and save the weight and storage space.

Get a copy of Bill Burke's "Getting Unstuck" DVD and learn to use the Hi lift. You don't need sliders to use them, get a Hi lift Mate.

For fifteen months on the road I wouldn't leave without a Hi lift, too many uses. I would carry the ARB Bushranger as a back up jack. Seems lightweight and easy to use -

umm....it might be obvious, but i don't get how you'd change the tire in the picture above...????....your jacking point IS your tire.

would you just put something under the truck like a jackstand?

 

[Quixote]

umm....it might be obvious, but i don't get how you'd change the tire in the picture above...????....your jacking point IS your tire.

would you just put something under the truck like a jackstand?

The object is to lift the wheel so you can pile under it for recovery. After some thinking I also decided to get some Demello off-road sliders. The HL jack will be much more effective and I can easily rotate my tires.