High lift jack alternatives.

[prharper]

I blew a bead on a trail last fall, front driver. It was a really awkward situation on a slope, driver side leaning downhill. Had to winch front end to a tree to avoid sliding downhill into more trees. Grabbed the ARB jack and placed on driver side Bud Built slider. As I jacked, it was bending/flexing the BB slider towards the frame. My truck is very heavy on the scale and this side was taking all the weight at an incline downhill (pics don't really tell).

If I was on even ground the options would have been easy. (hint - to avoid banging the jack on your door, open the door)

We ended up adding 2 OEM bottle jacks to assist with the help of the ARB jack base. I own a Safe Jack (bottle jack) but did not bring on this trip and in hindsight really wish I had it - going forward, it's going with me. The ARB jack is nice but not always ideal in terms of placement. I would assume the same with Hi Lift. If you have a winch and snatch blocks and/or recovery rings, I would lean towards a good bottle jack + the OEM with base. I also like this jack stand base >> Jack Base Plate - https://emsoffroad.com/jack-base-plate/

FWIW - My ARB jack is out of warranty, a part (skewer) broke on this trip. Months later, finally got around to contacting ARB last week and they had a new one delivered within a few days.

 

[TeCKis300]

If I'm being honest most hydraulic style bottle jacks aren't particularly useful as they don't have enough stroke. The Powerbuilt has 7" of stroke travel. Safe Jack only has 5.25". That's a challenge when the 200-series stock has 10" of suspension travel. It won't get a tire off the ground when lifting from the frame.

Learned these lessons the hard way when a buddy had a Safe Jack with his Raptor...did nothing for it with the Raptors similarly huge suspension travel.

They do work when lifting from the solid axle like the rear for example, but it won't do the job for an IFS front. More useful for solid axle Jeeps so the friend with a Jeep got the Safe Jack from the Raptor buddy.

This is where the OEM bottle jack saved the day. Modest Toyota jack beats all expectations with 11" of stroke travel.

Agree having a base for any jack so it doesn't sink, to maximize all stroke travel, is another great tool to have on hand.

 

[kcjaz]

These look interesting. I’d like to see one in person to see how “packable” they really are.

Stash A Stand® Collapsible Jack Stand | Klinzmann Fabrication

 

[gasman4u]

Timely marketing email from online vendor ok4wd…

Mods, feel free to break link if against the rules. It’s a “PMP jack”. I don’t know anything about it, but sounds versatile if it works as advertised.

PMP Red Multifunction Hydraulic Jack

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[Boston Mangler]

These look interesting. I’d like to see one in person to see how “packable” they really are.

Stash A Stand® Collapsible Jack Stand | Klinzmann Fabrication

I won a set of these in a raffle and they were very impressively made and stout as all hell.

I always carried them with me in the Tundra on my long crazy trips. Never ACTUALLY USED them for a situation, and gave them to guy that bought my tundra.

Great concept and well executed. Pricey, but worth it for the amount of valuable storage space they save

 

[TheIcemanCometh]

A side question for gaining additional height. Obviously a jack base will add a couple of inches but has anyone thought about using interlocking RV leveling blocks. Seems like they could be rather multiple functional, jack stand, leveling the LC for camping, under the camp table etc.

 

[Boston Mangler]

A side question for gaining additional height. Obviously a jack base will add a couple of inches but has anyone thought about using interlocking RV leveling blocks. Seems like they could be rather multiple functional, jack stand, leveling the LC for camping, under the camp table etc.

Depends on which ones. I tried some Wally World cheapos, and they basically crushed

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Depends on which ones. I tried some Wally World cheapos, and they basically crushed

This. The set we use under our sub 4000lb travel trailer (so figure 1000lbs a corner max... and really they are for stabilizing so far less) are already getting pretty beat. I can't imaging what a much larger load would do to them.

 

[Jetboy]

If I'm being honest most hydraulic style bottle jacks aren't particularly useful as they don't have enough stroke. The Powerbuilt has 7" of stroke travel. Safe Jack only has 5.25". That's a challenge when the 200-series stock has 10" of suspension travel. It won't get a tire off the ground when lifting from the frame.

Learned these lessons the hard way when a buddy had a Safe Jack with his Raptor...did nothing for it with the Raptors similarly huge suspension travel.

They do work when lifting from the solid axle like the rear for example, but it won't do the job for an IFS front. More useful for solid axle Jeeps so the friend with a Jeep got the Safe Jack from the Raptor buddy.

This is where the OEM bottle jack saved the day. Modest Toyota jack beats all expectations with 11" of stroke travel.

Agree having a base for any jack so it doesn't sink, to maximize all stroke travel, is another great tool to have on hand.

I have a few hydraulic bottle jacks, but I've never really considered using them for a trail jack. They're heavy, slow, leak oil if you put them in the wrong orientation, etc. They work good for very heavy lifting or bending stuff in a proper setting. Just not the right tool here. I thought a 36" jack stroke was basically pointless for a typical trail use jack because it you're in soft terrain or on a taller rock or whatever, it wouldn't lift enough. I saw one of the shorty high lifts on a jeep bumper recently and thought - I'm 99% sure that wouldn't even get the tire off the ground on the jeep it was mounted to. The high lift is impossible to beat as far as the range of lift height. It's also a widow maker if you don't use it safely. Every rose has it's thorn I suppose.

What I don't really understand about the hydraulic high lift jack alternatives is that it's adding a bunch of complication and failure points to something that isn't all that different in function. The danger from a high lift is the tall column without lateral support. Making it hydraulic doesn't change that. High lifts aren't dangerous because they buckle. They're dangerous because they lift really high, but that's kind of also the point of having one. Of all of the choices to design a mechanical advantage system for a simple trail jack, hydraulic fluid would be low on my list. I think the ball screw design in a tongue jack is a better system regardless of cost. It's just better for this - simple, light, reliable, naturally self braking.

I do grab the OEM bottle jack whenever possible. I think I have about 6 of them around that I've scavenged from junk yards over the years. They're pretty impressive as far as range of motion and function.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...What I don't really understand about the hydraulic high lift jack alternatives is that it's adding a bunch of complication and failure points to something that isn't all that different in function. The danger from a high lift is the tall column without lateral support. Making it hydraulic doesn't change that. High lifts aren't dangerous because they buckle. They're dangerous because they lift really high, but that's kind of also the point of having one. Of all of the choices to design a mechanical advantage system for a simple trail jack, hydraulic fluid would be low on my list. I think the ball screw design in a tongue jack is a better system regardless of cost. It's just better for this - simple, light, reliable, naturally self braking...

Personally I think the general distaste for Hi-Lifts by maaaaany is the effort and body placement needed to operate the handle and the danger zone that creates, particularly with a dusty/dirty Hi-Lift with sticky/worn climbing pins. If the goal is to lift a tire off the ground when jacking from a bumper or slider (regardless of jack type), carry a small strap capable of limiting suspension down travel. Zero reason to unload all of the suspension to lift the tire 1" off the ground. Use a limiting strap (HD tie-down strap) and lift the vehicle 2", 1" to take the slack out of the strap and 1" off the ground. As mentioned earlier, the benefit of the hydraulic is ease of use, not any different functionality, they have far less functionality than the Hi-Lift overall. The Hi-Lift can take 150-175lbs of force to lift/move a heavy load, the screw-jack is also going to start getting pretty tough to turn at those higher loads albeit easier than a Hi-Lift. The hydraulic jacks can be operated with one hand and a small fraction of the force. Add their smaller form factor and you can see why there are so many hydraulic upright jacks hitting the market these days. I've seen them in the desert racing community for decades, companies like King, Radflo, AGM etc had them on the racing market many years before ARB and the many copy/paste models that followed them. ARB did a great job of changing things up and increasing the range and load capacity. For example the Radflo is 2200lbs vs the ARB's 4400lb.

PS, the farmer style jacks can/do buckle under heavy loads. I've got one (not Hi-Lift brand) that's bent into a nice U-shape in our front office next to some antique Hi-Lifts. It's a great reminder to use the jack to lift, not support

 

[Boston Mangler]

Zero reason to unload all of the suspension to lift the tire 1" off the ground. Use a limiting strap (HD tie-down strap) and lift the vehicle 2",

THIS!

 

[kcjaz]

THIS!

I was just in my garage playing with my new ARB jack and thinking about lift points. While I was at it, I crawled under to scout ways to strap the axle to the frame before you lift it. Certainly possible but there are brake lines and ABS wires that need paying attention to. I may play with doing this in my garage on each corner so I have an idea on how best to route the straps.

On a side note, I messaged Dissent on making a lift points on the side wings of their rear bumper and they do not recommend it as it is aluminum and not designed for loads like that. They recommend lifting at the recovery points. You can’t directly just do that but you can lift a rear corner using a bow shackle on the recovery points.

A “sling saver” style shackle might be better as it would have a flatter spot to engage the jack jaw in. A “billet” block with a pin to go through the recovery points hole would be cool.

 

[Jetboy]

Personally I think the general distaste for Hi-Lifts by maaaaany is the effort and body placement needed to operate the handle and the danger zone that creates, particularly with a dusty/dirty Hi-Lift with sticky/worn climbing pins. If the goal is to lift a tire off the ground when jacking from a bumper or slider (regardless of jack type), carry a small strap capable of limiting suspension down travel. Zero reason to unload all of the suspension to lift the tire 1" off the ground. Use a limiting strap (HD tie-down strap) and lift the vehicle 2", 1" to take the slack out of the strap and 1" off the ground. As mentioned earlier, the benefit of the hydraulic is ease of use, not any different functionality, they have far less functionality than the Hi-Lift overall. The Hi-Lift can take 150-175lbs of force to lift/move a heavy load, the screw-jack is also going to start getting pretty tough to turn at those higher loads albeit easier than a Hi-Lift. The hydraulic jacks can be operated with one hand and a small fraction of the force. Add their smaller form factor and you can see why there are so many hydraulic upright jacks hitting the market these days. I've seen them in the desert racing community for decades, companies like King, Radflo, AGM etc had them on the racing market many years before ARB and the many copy/paste models that followed them. ARB did a great job of changing things up and increasing the range and load capacity. For example the Radflo is 2200lbs vs the ARB's 4400lb.

View attachment 3965429View attachment 3965430View attachment 3965434

PS, the farmer style jacks can/do buckle under heavy loads. I've got one (not Hi-Lift brand) that's bent into a nice U-shape in our front office next to some antique Hi-Lifts. It's a great reminder to use the jack to lift, not support

A standard highlift jack is ~ 40:1 mechanical advantage. So lifting the same 4400lb limit of an ARB would take about 110 lbs of force on the bar. I have no idea what makes a 6k lb high lift different from a 7k lb version. I don't think they change the mechanical advantage. Might be too much in some cases for sure. The leverage ratio could be changed with some minor engineering changes to make each step less height, but it seems like it's been a pretty universal design forever. I have no idea what amount of force it takes on the arb to lift 4400lbs. I'd guess the mechanical advantage would target closer to 100:1 or 200:1 (?) but I have idea what it is. I think the ARB one looks like a neat tool. I'd guess the rapid growth in the market is more of a function of high margins and creating a trendy product in somewhat fashion based industry.

The trailer jack designs have a bunch of different gear ratios, so that's pretty variable. Could be anything. I know the one on my travel trailer takes about a billion cranks to move a few inches. Doing it manually isn't very fun. With the electric drive it's just slow.

The limit strap is a good idea - but I don't think I've ever seen one used in real life out in the wild for this purpose. Even on vehicles that already have regular limit straps.

 

[Boston Mangler]

The limit strap is a good idea - but I don't think I've ever seen one used in real life out in the wild for this purpose. Even on vehicles that already have regular limit straps.

Ratchet strap around axle housing to frame, cinch it tight before lift. Heavier the ratchet strap the better

IFS can be a bit trickier, but can usually wrap strap around lower arm and above top coil over mount

I had a SOA 60 series with gobs of travel and ratchet strap was basically a necessity if not using bottle jack under axle

 

[cruiseroutfit]

A standard highlift jack is ~ 40:1 mechanical advantage. So lifting the same 4400lb limit of an ARB would take about 110 lbs of force on the bar. I have no idea what makes a 6k lb high lift different from a 7k lb version. I don't think they change the mechanical advantage. Might be too much in some cases for sure. The leverage ratio could be changed with some minor engineering changes to make each step less height, but it seems like it's been a pretty universal design forever. I have no idea what amount of force it takes on the arb to lift 4400lbs. I'd guess the mechanical advantage would target closer to 100:1 or 200:1 (?) but I have idea what it is. I think the ARB one looks like a neat tool. I'd guess the rapid growth in the market is more of a function of high margins and creating a trendy product in somewhat fashion based industry.

The trailer jack designs have a bunch of different gear ratios, so that's pretty variable. Could be anything. I know the one on my travel trailer takes about a billion cranks to move a few inches. Doing it manually isn't very fun. With the electric drive it's just slow.

The limit strap is a good idea - but I don't think I've ever seen one used in real life out in the wild for this purpose. Even on vehicles that already have regular limit straps.

Hi-Lift states ~175-lbs of force to lift the rated 4660lb, so more like ~165-lbs at 4400lbs (note the top 12" of the 60" are only rated at 2660lbs per Hi-Lift). I think their rating is assuming a pull from the very end of the handle, gaining the most mechanical advantage, which is not always practical or safe. Worth noting the ARB only goes to 48" so the reduced 2660 load of the Hi-Lift at 48-60" is still a win. That said, I've never believed there is a 2000 lb capacity loss from 48" to 49" on the 60" Hi-Lift, simply can't math. They are all 'Rated' at a lift of 4660lbs 'and tested' to 7000lbs, so think of it more like a WLL/SWL and MBS/MTS relationship. Note that the shear bolt (they call safety bolt) is designed to fail at 7000lbs which is still before the climbing pins or other parts fail, which could/would drop the load. I.e. it shears and stays put. I don't have a handle force number on the ARB but I'm going to guess 50-60 lbs @ 4400lb. Easy enough to test if I get a minute.

With the Hi-Lift, the human operating the jack is the only thing keeping that 170 lbs of force from clubbing anything in it's way as it is in between engagement of the climbing pins, hence why they can be very dangerous when used incorrectly. Ever seen a Hi-Lift auto ratchet the entire load to the ground with the handle flopping back and forth faster than your eyes can track. It's a fun class demo The hydraulic high range options, the Tauler, etc all wouldn't have handle feedback if you slip or let go... or simply can't physically push down harder.

I use straps to limit suspension movement regulary. On my SOA FJ40, I only carry a 48" High Lift. I can quickly strap F/R axles on one side betwen the frame and the axle housing and lift from the slider to bring both tires off the ground.

 

[Boston Mangler]

On my SOA FJ40, I only carry a 48" High Lift. I can quickly strap F/R axles on one side betwen the frame and the axle housing and lift from the slider to bring both tires off the ground.

Yes. This is the way!

On my SOA 60 and 48” hilift, I couldn’t even get a tire off the ground so I got the 60” which made it exponentially more sketchy

Then someone showed me the ratchet strap trick before lifting and the rest is history…

 

[bloc]

It’s a bit like when I’d give Construction drawings that were stamped “not for construction”. It should just say, “not liable for Stupid.”

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[gaijin]

Yes. This is the way!

On my SOA 60 and 48” hilift, I couldn’t even get a tire off the ground so I got the 60” which made it exponentially more sketchy

Then someone showed me the ratchet strap trick before lifting and the rest is history…

Or... you could just throw the X-Jack air bag under the axle, air it up, and... Voila!

OK, OK, I'll shut up about the X-Jack. My comments are probably born out of frustration because there is absolutely no way I can use a Hi=Lift jack (or any of the sexier alternatives) on my LC200 which has stock bumpers and no sliders

HTH

 

[kcjaz]

Or... you could just throw the X-Jack air bag under the axle, air it up, and... Voila!

OK, OK, I'll shut up about the X-Jack. My comments are probably born out of frustration because there is absolutely no way I can use a Hi=Lift jack (or any of the sexier alternatives) on my LC200 which has stock bumpers and no sliders

HTH

I keep looking at these on line. $400 - $450 seems to be to general price but there are a few places that see them around $300. Makes me wonder if there are fakes out there or maybe there are older versions that some retailers are trying to dump. These are the low price ones. I don’t know anything about these companies.

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ARB Bushranger Xjack - 72X10A

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ARB X-Jack Exhaust Jack

The easy to store X-Jack is an invaluable recovery tool when you find yourself stuck in sand, mud or snow. It inflates via a hose that connects to your vehicle’s exhaust or a portable air compressor to offer up to 75cm of vehicle lift and a lifting capacity of 4,400 lbs. The X-Jack has been...

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There are really cheap knock offs but I’d be really leery of those. Ruggedness of the bag would seem critical.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Or... you could just throw the X-Jack air bag under the axle, air it up, and... Voila!

OK, OK, I'll shut up about the X-Jack. My comments are probably born out of frustration because there is absolutely no way I can use a Hi=Lift jack (or any of the sexier alternatives) on my LC200 which has stock bumpers and no sliders

HTH

Hi-Lift + lift mate or Hi-Lift + and a short static strap or endless loop makes a fantastic lifting device for many needs. Not ideal by any stretch for tire removal for obvious reasons BUT in a scenerio where you need a lifting tool AND winching abilities it's working.


Here is one of each in use:

ARB easily works the same way: