Hi lift - best use and best place to buy

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Hi-lifts can't be beat for serious wheeling. They do demand respect though! If you have never used one to recover, or "save" a vehicle then you really don't understand their capability. Don't try to fool yourself or anyone else by "showing" them your infinite knowledge on the trail..... you'll only end up hurting yourself! Read up, practice with it, and listen to the people that have actually used them. Plus, they are "stupid easy" to maintain and rebuild..... just keep them greased.... and your not a "beeper"... don't paint it all pretty! Use it!
 
Marine7 said:
Hi-lifts can't be beat for serious wheeling. They do demand respect though! If you have never used one to recover, or "save" a vehicle then you really don't understand their capability. Don't try to fool yourself or anyone else by "showing" them your infinite knowledge on the trail..... you'll only end up hurting yourself! Read up, practice with it, and listen to the people that have actually used them. Plus, they are "stupid easy" to maintain and rebuild..... just keep them greased.... and your not a "beeper"... don't paint it all pretty! Use it!
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This X 2, if you buy one, set it up, and practice with it at home first, BEFORE YOU NEED IT on the trail, because the trail is nowhere to learn how to operate a Hi Lift jack. A mistake with one of these can KILL YOU or someone else!
 
if you're thinking of using it as a winch, I'd suggest a 10' or 15' length of 5/16 high tensile load chain with clevis grab hooks on it.
If you had to use it as a winch, adding a chain to your kit gives you far more options to re-set without completely re-rigging.

I bought a hi-lift thinking I could use it as a last ditch attempt at recovery without a winch. I messed about with it in the bush, and in reality, its very difficult to use with any degree of efficiency. by the time you rig it, winch the slack out of your rigging, you get stuff all actual pull out of it before having to release tension and re-rig

I bought a cheap winch not long after buying a hilift
 
The Hi-lift is super versatile and hard to beat as an all around trail tool. Winching with it works but it's slow and cumbersome. I've done three winch operations with mine to date. Sucked but got the job done. If set up properly not much more dangerous than anything else.

Another option is a hand winch. I also have one of these. I'm yet to use it on an actual truck recovery but have used it for some logging work collecting firewood. It winches much better than a Hi-lift.

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DirtScaresMe said:
Not sure if I really agree with this. For something like getting high centered in snow on a lifted truck, it really helps to lift up by the front/rear bumpers and put snow/traction plates under the tires.

If you don't have sliders and aftermarket bumpers then they become a bit less relevant.
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I personally mainly like the ability to life the
Marine7 said:
Hi-lifts can't be beat for serious wheeling. They do demand respect though! If you have never used one to recover, or "save" a vehicle then you really don't understand their capability. Don't try to fool yourself or anyone else by "showing" them your infinite knowledge on the trail..... you'll only end up hurting yourself! Read up, practice with it, and listen to the people that have actually used them. Plus, they are "stupid easy" to maintain and rebuild..... just keep them greased.... and your not a "beeper"... don't paint it all pretty! Use it!
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i saw a guy take over high lifting my dad s truck the. Out his head right between the handle and main shaft------thanks for the help but no thanks u are about to kill yourself-----super dangerous for sure
 
Dork said:
To be completely honest, nothing right now, not even the factory bottle hack. Embarrassingly enough i don't even carry a spare tire with me (working on a solution though) so my opinion is rather worthless.

I used a hi lift a grand total of once with my old truck while offroad alone to lift each corner of the truck to put stuff under the wheels. Scratched the hell out of my paint, destroyed factory bumpers and took hours on end to do a job that could have been done in 10 minutes. After that trip i said screw this and got a winch.

Was lucky enough so far to just never have wrecked a tire on the trail and have a floor jack to use in the garage. In fact, my last truck went 8 years without ever using the spare once.
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That's why I need the tire attachment so the axel doesn't drop when u lift up the Fran of the vehicle
 
so...maybe I'm missing something here. the PO has an 80, 100, and 200 and we are quibbling over the couple hundred bucks between a hi lift and a cheap winch?
 
I use a slider attachment on my Hi-Lift. It holds well on my tube bumpers and rock sliders. I also have the sand/snow base, as well as a custom foot for the jack.



I have had good luck with safely using the jack. I do give it the respect it deserves, and know how badly it can hurt me.
 
cavboy78 said:
so...maybe I'm missing something here. the PO has an 80, 100, and 200 and we are quibbling over the couple hundred bucks between a hi lift and a cheap winch?
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lol.... I agree! "Big money" needs to ante up, and just buy a winch! If you can afford 3 Cruisers....a few hundred bucks won't phase you.
 
Marine7 said:
lol.... I agree! "Big money" needs to ante up, and just buy a winch! If you can afford 3 Cruisers....a few hundred bucks won't phase you.
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Owning 3 cruisers is why he can't afford a winch.
 
IMHO, I have a Hi Lift Extreme that other than look cool inside my truck, the only use I have for it is to pull fence posts and lift a 20 ft rolling gate to get it fixed. Tried to used for pulling my truck only once; too much of a hassle. I saved some $$$ and got me a winch. For jack I use the OEM Toyota Land Cruiser Jack. For stability on the bottle jack a two pieces of 3/4 inch plywood work fine.
 
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DirtScaresMe said:
Winches and recovery gear are all dangerous; people get hurt and killed by them. But it doesn't mean no one takes them. I think a lot of the avoidance is just that people don't use them a lot, so you don't get used to them, so you don't get good at them.

For something like a lifted truck with big wheels it would be super ridiculous to try to bottle jack it up in the field, if (like being high centered in the snow) you could even get a bottle jack under it in the first place.
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Almost killed myself last week doing that or almost remained stuck in Utah
 
Only thing I have ever used hi lift for is to lift a stuck wheel or when the drivetrain is high centered. If you have ever used a bottle jack on a fully loaded cruiser on 35"s where u need to rest the jack on a wobbly rock and if it falls over your bottle jack will be stuck under the truck forever.....as time goes on I become more and more convinced that many people on here don't actually "wheel" their truck in the middle of nowhere. Many times I have been steered wrong on the forum and now I know why
 
Here's something I designed and built(filed a patent on too) years ago and I just finished a bumper last week with this built into it. Makes lifting your vehicle with a hi-lift safer and essentially turns the jack into a jack stand.



Winch

Winch

  • Media owner Saito
  • Date added

It's finally coming around after being neglected for years.
 
Saito said:
Here's something I designed and built(filed a patent on too) years ago and I just finished a bumper last week with this built into it. Makes lifting your vehicle with a hi-lift safer and essentially turns the jack into a jack stand.



Winch

Winch

  • Media owner Saito
  • Date added

It's finally coming around after being neglected for years.
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This is clearly a man who wheels hard-great invention!!!!
 
I would suggest you NOT attempt suicide via hi lift. Try an Extreme inflatable bladder deal. Don't ever skimp on safety or wheel with 100 series whos arms don't fill out their polo. FYI

Zona
 
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