Highlift Jack Points?

Anybody out there have any suggestions on fabricating and installing highlift jack points?


Looking for a way to add jack points behind the front tires and in front of the rear tires along the running boards.

Anyone??????

Why not just pick up some of the rock sliders/running boards that some of the companies here are fabbing up and just have them add on jack points when they build them for you? I think that'd be the easiest way. Wicked Performance just came out with a set that they said they have actually jacked the truck up by and had not issues. Here's the link to that thread:

http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f86/wicked-performance-rock-sliders-2430/

Thanks for the tip. Will consider that option if no one else comes up with a better one. Problem is, I'm in Dubai and it takes mucho money and time to get things shipped over here. I just had an entire baja front bumper fab'd and installed here (complete with Rigid 40" and two sets of Dually D2s) and also had a air compressor tray fab'd and mounted behind the grill for my Warn spi compressor. It took just over a week to do it all (including powdercoat), the work is quality and it cost me alot less than buying an ADD, Wicked , or SDHQ from home. So what I'm looking for is a functional, but inexpensive and time saving option. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears......

Oh wow, completely overlooked the fact that you were in Dubai. Shipping would definitely be hell. Are they selling Raptors locally over there or what? I'm through there a good bit, but never stay long.

They do sell Raptors here, but the wait is much longer than it is in the states. I put my down payment for my 2010 6.2L on 2 Feb, 2010 and didn't take delivery till Oct 23rd! It was like waiting for another freakin' child to be born.

In 2010 there were 38 Raptors sent to the Middle East Ford dealerships. Most of those went to the royal families of Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi and three of them to the UAE Royals. I think me and one other guy are the only normal dudes who bought a Raptor that year. A lot of locals who couldn't wait just bought 5.4's from the states and shipped them over here out of pocket, only to try and flog them later after they saw the 6.2s.

Not sure how many 2011s were shipped, but I know that the waiting list for those and the 2012s is long as hell.

My 6.2 was well worth the wait and I feel extremely fortunate to have one of the few 2010s in the Middle East. It just takes time getting all the gizmos and gadgets for the truck over here. There are distributors for a few parts (Rigid Industry Lights, K&N, Warn, etc.), but for the big or specific stuff, I have to get a little creative.


Some things are just not available over here and it costs to ship.
I'll be in the states in December and am planning on picking up a 5-star SCT tuner to bring back with me so I can unlock that stupid rev limiter and stop all those fagotty little Toyota FJs from walking away from me after 160 KPH.

If you ever need a hand over here on one of your journeys, don't hesitate to ask. Been living here for over 6 years now and pretty much got the system down.

If I ever have more than a night's stay in Dubai I'll be sure to look you up man. Best of luck to you finding something to work with your hi lift

Any reason why you don't wan't to lift off of the tow hooks on the rear? and I would think the replacement bumper should be able to support it.

About 2 or 3 months ago a guy posted a nifty gadget that hooked on the highlift jack and it went up through the tow hooks on front and rear. maybe your guys could fab something like that ? Or get a small floor jack and weld a "sand pad" instead of the wheels. In my opinion high lift jacks are a little scary for changing a tire, since you got to go so high.

That gizmo Rat mentions is a must have if you plan to use the tow points on the Raptor. Trust me. I know.

As a test, I tried it. On flat ground. On pavement. Basically, your ideal best case scenario. Here was the result.

Before


After




Now to be fair, the real mistake I made was not chocking the front wheels. Total idiot bonehead rookie move on my part.

But even so, look how high things need to get before the tire gets high enough to work with. Too high, in my opinion. I still had to take the lift up about 2" more after this pic was taken, before the tire started to come up.


Also what you can't see in the pic is that those locations are too inboard to allow picking up only one tire. They're close to the center of the truck, so when you jack up one side, you're actually jacking up a significant part of the opposite side. Again you can't tell in the pics, but the truck had slipped forward (my bad for not chocking well up front) but also the winch had slipped to the driverside; the opposite side of where I was lifting. So even if I had chocked correctly from the get go, there's no doubt in my mind the truck still would have shifted left, resulting in a very similar situation to what you see anyway.

Bottom line for me? If I plan to use those locations with my hi lift again, I'm going to do something to secure the lift to the tow point first, and not just trust the teeth/friction interface between the two.

PS: The only reason I didn't end up with that hilift tip tearing out and thru my tailgate was because the truck stopped rolling/the lift stopped slipping in time and I had chosen a spot that allowed me to use my come along to pull the entire truck back, pivoting on the hilift. Scaaaarrry. But it worked. I do gotta say that this experience sold me on the come along idea instead of a fixed winch in the front.

By the way, nothing against Wicked as they are clearly the experts and I'm not (especially after showing the example in that last post. Doh!)

But I removed my stock steps some time ago. I know how they mount to the sheet metal. If those Wicked bars reuse that location and the stock hardware, there is zero chance I would use them as a lift point on my truck. I know they said they've done it successfully, but for me there's just no way I'd try it. YMMV.