Offroad jack?

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DirtScaresMe said:
I'm curious how many people have winches who hate/fear/question the hilift. Maybe another question:

If you had a stock truck and $300 to drop on recovery gear, what would you go with? With sliders and aftermarket front/rear bumpers and a 12k winch up front the hilift may not see as much action but that's ~$4K worth of hardware.
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Again I have a 12K winch and a 60 in h lift, when I didnt have a winch Ie used the Hi Lift as a come along and using it is daunting to a new guy, Im fairly new to the LC community but Ie been a jeep owner for years, the hi lift is great when used with extreme caution. respect the handle and they now have anti tip devices that make it a hell of a lot more stable.
 
DirtScaresMe said:
I'm curious how many people have winches who hate/fear/question the hilift. Maybe another question:

If you had a stock truck and $300 to drop on recovery gear, what would you go with? With sliders and aftermarket front/rear bumpers and a 12k winch up front the hilift may not see as much action but that's ~$4K worth of hardware.
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I have literally years of experience rigging everything from crane work to rope rescue (think Search & Rescue in the refineries), so to me the winch is something I'm really comfortable with - but sometimes you still need to jack a corner, or pivot the ass of a rig & a hi-lift fits that order.

But yeah, I'll winch something & reset as many times as needed if it means I can leave the hi-lift in the bumper mount.

Edit: And I have a synth rope winch on near everything - literally today my Warn Provantage for the boat was delivered. Yes, a winch on my river sled. No joke.
 
I appreciate all the responses. Before this post I was already holding off on getting a hi-lift and now I deffinitly need to learn a bit about if I choose to get one. I honestly will not be doing any major off roading, my LC will mainly be used to get up in the hills with the kids and a bit of camping. For now if I need to change a tire offroad, I'll just stick with the oem bottle lift with a piece of wood like a 2x6 if needed.
 
cuaround said:
I appreciate all the responses. Before this post I was already holding off on getting a hi-lift and now I deffinitly need to learn a bit about if I choose to get one. I honestly will not be doing any major off roading, my LC will mainly be used to get up in the hills with the kids and a bit of camping. For now if I need to change a tire offroad, I'll just stick with the oem bottle lift with a piece of wood like a 2x6 if needed.
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If you're near Denver come check out rising sun and meet a lot of new friends to go wheeling with!
 
You need to look at the Hi Lift jack as just one of many different tools you can use while off road. The key point is, as many other members have pointed out, LEARN HOW to use it before you need it. I have a winch on the front of my truck, along with a snatch block that 99 times out of 100, would be my go to tool to get me unstuck. But that 1 time out of 100 Ill be dam glad I've got the option of using my Hi Lift jack to bring me home. One more point, and this is the most important one, even though you carry all this cool recovery gear, it's a much better idea to travel with a group. That way when a problem pops up on the trail you'll have extra hands to help get you home, and the way i look at it, that's worth more then all the cool gear put together.
 
Dragos80 said:
Been thinking about one of those hi lifts.
In the middle of the desert here we can't really depend on a winch.
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If nothing else, bury the HiLift as deep as you can, pointing away from the stuck truck. Then use the HiLift as an anchor point to winch from. That's about the best use I can think of for it.

Unless you have sliders and heavy front or rear bumpers, the HiLift is not much help because there's nothing to hook on that i won't damage, unless you buy all the attachments and straps/hooks/base that you can get with it. Then, by the time you get done spending all that cash, you can have a 12K Badlands winch installed on the front. It's not the greatest winch, but you can read all the other threads about that argument.
 
Whew...I misread the title. I was thinking along the lines of a combat jack.
 
reconranger said:
Whew...I misread the title. I was thinking along the lines of a combat jack.
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That's funny......

As I am non-military,...........I had to Google that......I had a good laugh......

Maybe it still applies!
 
cuaround said:
I appreciate all the responses. Before this post I was already holding off on getting a hi-lift and now I deffinitly need to learn a bit about if I choose to get one. I honestly will not be doing any major off roading, my LC will mainly be used to get up in the hills with the kids and a bit of camping. For now if I need to change a tire offroad, I'll just stick with the oem bottle lift with a piece of wood like a 2x6 if needed.
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I highly recommend one of @LandCruiserPhil's jack adapters: Jack Adapters - Land Cruiser Products - LCP. They make the oem bottle jack into a much safer device. You can read more about them on this thread: My new "must carry" Safety item
 
John McVicker said:
@Safejacks.com is a really great option.

Bottle jack safe, but can really get the vehicle up high while still being stable. A bit spendy tho. I do not have one but would like to one of these days. I've seen it demonstrated at Overland Expo, very impressive.

This same company also sells an attachment for the Hi-Lift that makes it rock solid, but also spendy.
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Unless safe jack has changed in the last year it will not fit under a land cruiser axle when the tire is flat making it worthless.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
Unless safe jack has changed in the last year it will not fit under a land cruiser axle when the tire is flat making it worthless.
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Phil, love your product and may buy it someday...but gotta disagree with this. Certainly no more useless than a Hi-Lift for the task of changing a tire.

Like I said, I do not have a Safejack, but from what I've seen, it can be used to change any flat...just as I can with my 8 ton hydraulic Jack that I use on my 40 & 60. Agree you may have to position it a bit, but can be done easily. And it's MUCH safer than my 8 ton jack when working under the truck for things beside flats.
 
Limiting strap and a Hi-Lift is a great combo for changing a tire. IMO a must. You only need to jack up the vehicle very little because you don't have to max out the suapension droop to lift the tire. Whenever possible I would use the factory jack, but sometimes a Hi-Lift on the trail just works.
 
John McVicker said:
Phil, love your product and may buy it someday...but gotta disagree with this. Certainly no more useless than a Hi-Lift for the task of changing a tire.

Like I said, I do not have a Safejack, but from what I've seen, it can be used to change any flat...just as I can with my 8 ton hydraulic Jack that I use on my 40 & 60. Agree you may have to position it a bit, but can be done easily. And it's MUCH safer than my 8 ton jack when working under the truck for things beside flats.
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I encourage you or anyone thinking about purchasing a safe jack to test first as I have.
 
John McVicker said:
Phil, love your product and may buy it someday...but gotta disagree with this. Certainly no more useless than a Hi-Lift for the task of changing a tire.

Like I said, I do not have a Safejack, but from what I've seen, it can be used to change any flat...just as I can with my 8 ton hydraulic Jack that I use on my 40 & 60. Agree you may have to position it a bit, but can be done easily. And it's MUCH safer than my 8 ton jack when working under the truck for things beside flats.
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I sheared the wheel studs off my 45 last year. The tow truck driver that came to drag my truck to the shop [I didn't feel like changing wheel studs on a busy street even though I had them] couldn't even get a low profile shop floor jack under the axle, never mind a bottle jack [being wheel-less is lower than having a flat]. I said "Let me lift the truck with the hi-lift until you can get your jack under it" He had never seen one used before. I gave him a demonstration on pre-lubing the pins with WD40, checking the pins for full range of motion, setting the lever, etc.

Of course he was half my age! Still it was amusing, since they 'rescue' people every day.
 
LINUS said:
Maybe a 60" of those newer "xtreme" / grey ones will end up on Betty, I just hate the crap out of buying tools I know may bite me someday.
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I have an extreme and still haven't figured out where to put it. Thinking on the factory roof rack since I don't put anything other than a shovel and occasional firewood up there.. but afraid of it turning into a missile in an accident. One idea was sandwiching the factory sheet metal between some plate steel with an anchor and cable.. but things are getting complicated at that point.

Rifleman said:
One more point, and this is the most important one, even though you carry all this cool recovery gear, it's a much better idea to travel with a group. That way when a problem pops up on the trail you'll have extra hands to help get you home, and the way i look at it, that's worth more then all the cool gear put together.
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And extra brains. Super valuable.
 
izzyandsue said:
If you know how to use them, they are very reliable.

Hi-Lift Jacks and Accessories
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^^^^ Same could be said of a Cobra (they'll bite you every chance they get). ;)

Hi-Lift Jacks have their place and can even be pressed into service doing things they really weren't designed to do. Lord knows in the 45 years I've used them....they have proven their worth, but you DO need to be careful with them and make certain they are in top operating condition.
 
flintknapper said:
^^^^ Same could be said of a Cobra (they'll bite you every chance they get). ;)

Hi-Lift Jacks have their place and can even be pressed into service doing things they really weren't designed to do. Lord knows in the 45 years I've used them....they have proven their worth, but you DO need to be careful with them and make certain they are in top operating condition.
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Including repurposing. I have splinted a steering rod with a handle, braced an axle housing with the stalk. And once on the Dusy-Ershim a guy walked into our camp with a busted Jeep Wagoneer driveshaft. Sure enough, the tube was an exact match for the handle. We had him grind off the welds and we rebuilt his shaft with the handle.
 
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