Is the trailer hitch an OK jacking point?

This is a question that deserves more time than I can spare at the moment, but suffice to say, a load in motion does not equal a load not in motion. And tongue weight has far more to do with safe drivability of the truck than it does the physical limitations of the hitch itself.

 

Stroke that jack eh?

 

Now that is a reasoned answer. Just because something can be done, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

 

Don't you have wait for the suspension to stop extending to get the tires off the ground when jacking by the hitch ??? Jack under the differential for me thanks...

 

Whoa. This thread just turned a corner it didn't need to. Especially with that pic.

 

Provided you recognize the risk, I don’t see how jacking by the hitch receiver is unsafe. Hopefully, no one is under the truck during any jacking procedure and jack-stands or the equivalent are used after the truck is jacked up. I wouldn’t want to be under a truck teetering on a hi-lift jack attached anywhere to the truck.

The biggest disadvantages I see are that the hitch receiver is high above the ground, it is nearly flush with the tail gate making a hi-lift inconvenient, and it isn’t under the suspension.

 

^THIS^ And by lifting from the hitch, you must be using a high lift or other similar jack? I would not use those to change the tire, they are really designed only to help get your vehicle out of a ditch, as a winch, and some other things like that.

Putting a scissors or bottle jack under the axle is the best way to change a tire. Also, be sure to use the spare and then the flat wheel as an emergency block by putting it under the frame if you don’t have anything else like a jack stand.

there are some tricks on how to tie up an axle to the frame so it doesn’t unspring as you lift the vehicle by the hitch or the body, but you do that at your own risk, and I’m not gonna explain how.

 

Note to self: Don’t piss off tow or recovery truck drivers!

 

it's really the best way to change leaf spring shackles.

 

Get a bigger jack so you don't have to crawl under the truck if you can.

 

It’s fine

 

More info on this thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jack-stand-jacking-points.604333/

 

Hell no…..

 

Still no real weight. A ton maybe? Those bolted connections could hold a lot more.

 

wait… Z71 package on a….. Ranger?? Hmmm. Edit… n/m I see it’s an Alfa.

move the jack in a few more feet and lift the rear dif.

 

Funny enough, just tonight I helped a frontier change a flat. They were jacking from the hitch and couldn’t get it up high enough to even get the flat off.

 

i was replacing a rotted out rear spring mount. needed the springs to droop, otherwise, cutting out the perch would've sent the eyelet through the bed!