Hi-Lift Jacks

[frogslinger]

That is an ideal pic of how NOT to use one of these jacks.... that handle is begging to be tapped and to start swinging wildly. He is also using a 4 foot at most jack when he should be using a much taller model.

If you have a really good RTI the best way to rack is from the lower control arm or axle, which this product definitely cannot do on most vehicles... Chaining a wheel is also an option... be careful of your brake lines and ABS/VSS wiring harnesses.

That said even on a hi RTI vehicle this jack can save you if you are high centered. On a stock vehicle like the raptor it will work fine for just about all purposes. I think I even worked out a technique to use a short tree saver as a jack point... I need a vehiclw with towhooks to test it though... the tahoe is 2wd and the pontiac is a car so...

 

[frogslinger]

Sure you could use the Hi-Lift Jack on the receiver but you'll be lifting the entire rear end of the truck. Not something I want to contemplate let alone do.

check what I wrote... if you position the jack at the end of the receiver where the tow hook is you will only lift one corner. I promise. As noted never lift two wheels simultaneously with one of these...

The front bumper definitely is not going to be able to be used as a lifting point.

agreed... as I said, workarounds to come.

Yes, the Hi-Lift Jack can be used to do a number of things but lifting the Raptor to remove any one of the four tires is probably not going to be what it will do best for us. Sure it can be used with accessories but until they are developed and proven to work I suggest other alternatives including the stock jack and aftermarket bottle jacks as well as the airbag lift.

There is a perfectly safe technique for changing the tires with the hi lift and the wheel lift accessory... it is really long winded and i am not going to use it personally but the parts are already out there. An airbag is a good solution but cost about 5 times what a hi-lift does... it is easier to use and may be safer, though you can kill yourself with a spoon if you try hard enough.

I know Hi-Lift Jacks are very popular and versatile tools but the risk of the vehicle moving and falling while lifted high as well as other risks (fingers have been removed by the jack and the jack handle has caused its share of injuries as well) make using these things risky and not always the best solution.

The risk of the vehicle falling is not any higher than on any other jack... an airjack for instance can be punctured and fail catastrophically, I have seen hydraulic bottle jacks blow a seal dropping the vehicle to the ground, and scissor jacks are... well ridiculous. If I am changing a tire off road this would be my first choice, obviously with a failsafe such as a rock or jack-stand as backup. if ai am doing it onroad... the stock jack will probably be fine... if i am doing it at my leisure I am using a vehicle lift. I am agreed it is not always the best solution... but it sometimes is.

I'm not anti Hi-Lift Jacks. I just like the idea of using the best tool for the job and, IMO, so far the Hi-Lift Jack is not it for the Raptor. So far.

Fair enough... as always it is just MHO and YMMV... I am used to having to adapt to the situation I find myself in and using the tools I have on hand. In an offroad environment I can think of few tools that will work in more scenarios and be more versatile... it is the adjustable wrench of wheeling. As we have both stated they are dangerous, but so are guns and electronic winches and Toyotas, and I have used all of those too.

Be safe, know your limits, practice your technique and maintain your equipment.

 

[FSM06]

If one were equipped with a Warn 9500 lb. Power Plant, the air bag woud be the ticket. High COOL factor!

 

[frogslinger]

well I would want two winches... one on the back too... but yeah, the warn powerplant and an Air jack would be the heat

 

[BigJ]

Thanks for the discussion guys. I'm learning a lot.

frog, would my now-vertically-mounted front tow hooks (thru the hook) work as a lift point for the front?

 

[frogslinger]

Maybe... though if it were me that would not be my choice of technique... a better bet would be to use a very short tree protector looped through the tow hook hook then attached to the lifting nose of the jack... the lifting nose would then start out level with the botom of your grill and move up from there...

I would also put a pin through a hole in the jack so it will not drop down and hit your bumper whilst you are lowering...

Kinda a crappy description... i can diagram it out for you with sort of pics tomorrow if you like...

 

[BigJ]

Roger that. I get'cha.

Well as someone who's new to all this, I gotta admit I'm not sure what, if anything, to get. It seems like a hi-lift is great tool to carry, IF your vehicle is equipped to handle it. It doesn't seem to me that a Raptor is equipped correctly, and therefore a hi-lift's main usage, to lift, is fairly limited.

Am I understanding that correctly? Or am I over thinking this; meaning are the issues we're talking about now likely to be a minority of issues faced? Or are these issues what we'll face out there a majority of the time?

 

[BigJ]

And another quick question... it looks like the winching capacity of the hi-lift extreme is only 5k pounds? Is that enough to be effective for our Raptors?

 

[frogslinger]

The main problem with the high lift with this truck is finding the hard lift points... a little ingenuity can make one work. As a jack there are other tools that are easier to use, but they all have their own shortcomings.

As to the winch rating... translating winch ratings into real world applications is a little dicey... the ratings you seen of 9500 on warns are if you have spooled the winch all the way out... it drops to 2000 as the last layer spools on.

To look at it another way the rating on most receiver hitches (class III) is the same 5000 pounds as the jack ... in other words if you try to winch your buddy with a class II reveiver out using his receiver, you are just as likely to rip his receiver out of his frame as you are to break the jack.

Remember though that this is supposed to be a lifting tool primarily. I would recomend that if you get stuck, unless you are in deep mud your best bet is to lift one tire at a time, place dunnage under them and drive out.

 

[MarkT]

A high lift is really just a farm jack. They can be handy in some situations but I've seen a lot of people do body damage with Hi-lift jacks. I would not rely on one to lift without a dedicated set of jacks points built in to the vehicle. Or the wheel sling works OK to lift a wheel when hi centered or stuck... but you still need to be very careful that the hi lift doesn't slip

(The feature I like the best is the ability to provide pulling force.)