Real world Hi-lift situations

Has anyone actually used their Hi-Lift jack in a real world situation?

I’m asking bc I was watching a video that confirmed my suspicions that a Hi-Lift would have a very difficult time lifting a vehicle without body armor. They simply don’t have the reach to get under the frame. The one area that was noted as a possibility was the receiver.

Hi-Lifts can also be used to winch a stuck vehicle, but it would take hours - and that’s assuming you have an anchor point. I would love to read about anyone using their Hi-lift as a winch and how it worked as well.

 

I think if most of us are truthful, we bought them completely for looks, with the intent of having them for emergencies, only to use better and safer recovery equipment in those emergencies. That being said, I've never used mine on my truck, outside of testing it on my sliders. I have used it to pull up some fence posts, and to help a stranger (without a jack) lift their utility trailer full of firewood back onto their trailer hitch that had somehow come off driving down the road. Outside of that, its just really not as trusted as a simple bottle jack and chunk of lumber for added height.

 

As a teenager many moons ago when that's all me and my buddies had to get us out of a jam we used them many times. Dangerous as hell but no one ever got seriously hurt.

 

I’ve used it on trucks without armor. You are limited to lifting from the hitch receiver or using the wheel lift attachment. The wheel lift is quite effective as it lets you stack rocks, logs, traction boards, etc underneath it.

 

I've used mine on my land cruiser a few times in the last 25 years for lifting and pulling myself out of mud backwards using chains. The wheel straps are useful and safe...just hold on to the handle.

Most recently I used it to lift my empty hot tub so I could level it. Easiest use so far.

If you keep them lubed and covered, they work great. I keel mine attached to brackets on the inside roof of my canopy. If they are left exposed and rarely used, they won't even make a good boat anchor.

 

I have never had to use my hi lift in an recovery/trail situation but I have used it for multiple body lift installs. I put a 2x6 on edge into the wheel well and lifted from that. It worked pretty well and didn't damage any sheet metal. I don't think I'd try to lift the entire side of the vehicle that way though.

I have also pulled a bunch of fence posts with it, it works really well for that.

 

You can use a lift-mate to lift by the wheel, but then you need a jack stand if you're hoping to remove that wheel.

I've used mine a couple times to swap out flat tires on the trail but I probably wouldn't carry one if I didn't have sliders, even though it has other uses beyond lifting a tire off the ground. I've also used it to pull about 2 dozen fence posts...they don't call them farm jacks for no reason after all.

 

Yeah completely useless as a jack if you don’t have armor and/or right attachments. Even then a lot of times it’s very close to the body.

still good to have if you know how to use it.

 

they look really cool when you park at the mall

 

I have a high clearance rear bumper and sliders and I stopped carrying mine awhile ago. As mentioned it just looked cool more than anything, a solid bottle back is the way to go. I'm also running beadlocks so I carry a plug kit plus have onboard air, I'll plug a tire before swapping.

 

I’ve used mine a few times but it’s still rare.

1) I got wedged between two large boulders and was stuck. Tried winching but I was afraid of how much tension was on the line. I used the hilift to raise one side of the Jeep out of the wedged situation. Then winched while the hilift just fell forward.

2) took weight off my front left tire to re-seat a bead

3) took a friends tire off his Tacoma and used my hilift between my rock rail and his tire to pop his bead. He had a small twig stir between his wheel and tire which caused a bit of an air leak.

They’re useful when you need them, and take up little space if packed right. For me I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

 

I've used mine a few times on two different trucks. Both trucks have body armor though. Also used it as a winch years ago to load a truck onto a trailer. And like most others, used it to remove fence posts.

 

I've used mine on the trail to change a tire that had a bad sidewall cut. I have full armor and a slider adapter and it was still super sketchy. Remember to leave the door open, it would have 100% smashed the window.

 

This is the video that I watched that actually prompted the post.

 

If your vehicle has armor and you find yourself in technical situations then a hi lift can be invaluable. There are two specific situations I've been in where it would have been difficult without one. One, I had to lift the side of my truck off of the rock and slowly drive forward, driving off of the jack as I went. It worked great. The other was on uneven terrain and there wasn't an easy way to get another jack under the truck so we had to lift off of the front bumper.

I now also carry a pro eagle jack and it's my primary choice of jack but I'll never leave the hi lift at home, it's too valuable a recovery tool.

 

which pro eagle do you have?

 

The 2 ton one. While I have a 3 ton floor jack for garage use, the 2 ton is plenty for trail use. It’s even strong enough to lift my loaded trailer, which is a combined 8,000 lbs.

 

With the Lift Mate attachment you don't need body armor and it's actually quite handy. The vast majority of the time it's been more than enough to simply lift a wheel or two and fill in the hole that the wheels were stuck in. For a trailside flat fix, I used the Lift Mate to lift the wheel on a buddy's Sportsmobile and he slid a jack stand under the axle before I set it back down.

As for winching, it's a lot of work. I've used it to move a dead car up a slope and into a storage unit and it was a process. I wasn't in a position where I could use the winch on my truck as I was trying to park the car alongside the truck. It didn't take hours though, maybe 45 minutes total to go four car lengths including rigging and re-rigging time. If I were planning on winching with it I'd definitely go with the 60" and not the 48". I also didn't have the winching kit with it, I was using 9mm static climbing rope. I now have a winching kit for it and I'd say that the biggest downside isn't the time, it's the weight. All that crap is heavy.

It's not better than a vehicle mounted winch in situations where you can use a vehicle mounted winch. Where it shines is in situations where you need a little extra help. For example, a buddy was driving last in a group of three on a narrow shelf road. First two rigs made it through but the shelf collapsed on his rear downhill side wheel. They immediately ran out the front winch to an anchor uphill and then used the Hi-Lift as a winch to hook the rear bumper to keep the rear end of the truck from sliding should the ground have collapsed more. It took a bit of time to get one of the two vehicles in front of him turned around so that they could bring their winch into play, much longer than just setting up the Hi-Lift as a winch.

The other issue I see isn't necessarily limited to the Hi-Lift, it's people buy a tool and then just toss it in the truck, figuring that they'll figure it out when they need it with no thoughts on keeping the fiddly bits clean and working properly. My advice is to try it out at home. For something like the rigging kit, see if there's someone around you that has one and who'd be willing to spend a little bit of time actually trying it. Like any tool, it's better at some things than others. With the right know how it can be very useful. With the wrong know how it's a pain at best and deadly at worst. It's a tool that you never want to be 100% comfortable using as comfort leads to complacency and, like most recovery stuff, you want to have that uneasy feeling that makes you double check everything and think about what you're doing and what the consequences are if things go pearshaped.

And, to be perfectly honest, mine rides in the bed of my truck but sees most of its use in my backyard pulling things out of the ground.

 

There are a few more on YouTube. The "driving off the jack" useage scenario can put a dent on the body depending on how it falls. Nate puts a boot over the top of the jack for this reason:



The jack seems useful as a log splitter with a homemade attachment.



Commercially available attachments on eBay are expensive though, in the $100 range.