Wolf's Ongoing Discovery Build Thread

[Intentional Wanderer]

Okay, so I am confused. Not the first time.. certainly not the last.

I have driven thousands of miles over all forms of terrain that I could find - desert, mountain, rocks, woodlands - and gotten stuck and/or had flats in all of them.

Why this reluctance to use the Hi-Lift to change a tire? The reason I bought a Hi-Lift finally was becuse of this particular incident on the road to Cascabel:

I had put 31's on the Jeep and driven it for a few thousand miles... but alas, I found the place the most in the middle of nowhere in SE AZ to have a flat. The stock bottle jack got me ALMOST high enough to get the tire off. I had to resort to digging the road out from under the tire to get enough clearance to get the tire off... I bought a Hi-Left the next day.

A few months later, I used it to change another flat - and what had taken 45 minutes and loads of digging - took about 10 minutes and I was pleasantly on my way...

Yes, I used the Hi-Lift on the back bumper of the Jeep.. it was plenty stable... and the arm actually was almost a perfect fit for the stock rear bumper...

Sooooo... why the reluctance? What am I missing here? A bottle jack on a piece of plywood would seem to be infinately more dangerous to man and machine. Digging out under the wheel is not always an option...

 

[Scott Brady]

Power Team triple extension jacks - sweetness

 

[SeaRubi]

the jeep weighs a lot less, and is much easier to use a hi-lift on. my LJ was a piece of cake. i got high centered at least once on every trip out, so it saw a lot of use. a big range rover or disco is another story. they are really heavy, and getting the sill or bumper to jack high enough to lift a wheel off the ground can be a lot of work.

As others have already mentioned, I think the best thing to recommend at all for a heavy rig these days is the exhaust jack. A hi-lift can still do the trick, but the reduced effort, increased stability, and huge increase in surface area and options for jack placement make it a standout in terms of safety compared to the hi-lift.

my .02 -

cheers
-ike

Okay, so I am confused. Not the first time.. certainly not the last.

I have driven thousands of miles over all forms of terrain that I could find - desert, mountain, rocks, woodlands - and gotten stuck and/or had flats in all of them.

Why this reluctance to use the Hi-Lift to change a tire? The reason I bought a Hi-Lift finally was becuse of this particular incident on the road to Cascabel:

I had put 31's on the Jeep and driven it for a few thousand miles... but alas, I found the place the most in the middle of nowhere in SE AZ to have a flat. The stock bottle jack got me ALMOST high enough to get the tire off. I had to resort to digging the road out from under the tire to get enough clearance to get the tire off... I bought a Hi-Left the next day.

A few months later, I used it to change another flat - and what had taken 45 minutes and loads of digging - took about 10 minutes and I was pleasantly on my way...

Yes, I used the Hi-Lift on the back bumper of the Jeep.. it was plenty stable... and the arm actually was almost a perfect fit for the stock rear bumper...

Sooooo... why the reluctance? What am I missing here? A bottle jack on a piece of plywood would seem to be infinately more dangerous to man and machine. Digging out under the wheel is not always an option...

 

[SeaRubi]

Power Team triple extension jacks - sweetness

those look sweet ... its too bad the lift surface isn't the nice U shaped bar like on the LR jack. I wonder if it can be unscrewed and have a different top placed on.

 

[lwg]

You could also carry a piece of wood or something else to put under the jack to give it more lift.

For those of us who can't use the stock bottlejack location for one reason or another, Harbor Freight has some killer high lifting bottlejacks for cheap. I used to carry one of those in my RRC when I had 37's on it. Yipper a bottle jack would easily change the tire on that beast that had 15+ inches of clearance under the axle housings.

 

[Street Wolf]

Well, despite all the bull and debating going on in here lately. This is still a build thread. Soooo....


Yeah, upgraded the CDL cable to something a 'little' better than what we were previously working with. Easy as can be now. :sombrero:

Old Cable After Being Removed-

Old Cable Being Compared To The New Cable-

Had To Make The Hole a Little Larger On the Lever-

And Larger Here As Well-

...and... just for fun. Washed it up and it was looking good in the sunlight so I took a picture. :sombrero:

 

[JEFFSGTP]

The Cable was a standard 10ft HD PTO cable for a Semi and the connector bolt to match (sold seperately). We cut the cable down to approximately 7ft. and made sure to run some 90wt gear oil down through the cable prior to installing the center push/pull cable in it. All in all I would say with the shop fee (charges a stall fee/hr for use) I would say it was less Than $50 Total...the Cable was approximately $25 and the bolts and tax put it at $36. The mounting bracket for the knob was already there (as mentioned) but it was a standard "L" bracket from Lowes IIRC. Anyway its a VAST improvement over the other cable....should give Chris years of trouble free service.

 

[Z O O R O P A]

just curious, but why? just because you can? good enough!

I'm unaware that the cable snaps easily?

I've used mine a ton and never had an issue aside from the engine temp gauge

 

[muskyman]

Looks like a nice simple solution...good job.

 

[lwg]

I've actually broken the hood latch cable on my DII. Apparently it's pretty common.

 

[Street Wolf]

just curious, but why? just because you can? good enough!

I'm unaware that the cable snaps easily?

I've used mine a ton and never had an issue aside from the engine temp gauge

Really the only reason why is because the old cable was a pain to use, making it very difficult to engage and disengage the CDL. With this new cable it's almost effortless due to it's larger size.

 

[Scott Brady]

I like the mechanical approach. The solenoid units seem to be very failure prone.

No doubt the 2004 shifter is the best option, but would be $500+!

 

[Roverhound]

I like the mechanical approach. The solenoid units seem to be very failure prone.

No doubt the 2004 shifter is the best option, but would be $500+!

I've had my solenoid set up for 5 years. Any personal experiance with a failing solenoid?
Just wandering because I've heard this but never met anyone that even has a solenoid let alone one that has failed.
I do know you have to have it adjusted correctly or you can burn out the coil, solenoids don't like to be energized with no actuator in them.

 

[Scott Brady]

I do not believe it was a solenoid failure. Brian McVickers has one and it was problematic at times. There was also a member of the AZLRO that had heat issues (i.e., really hot day, low speeds, it would fail to operate). That last issue I experience on the trail with him, and just decided to stay with the mechanical set-up (simple t-handle with rod) on my 2001.

 

[110user]

Nice work on the cable. Looks good.

I always prefer a mechanical option for everything when possible. it is simply easier to fix if there is a problem in the field.