hi lift jack tips and tricks?

[Mace Canute]

One thing that has stuck in my mind regarding jack-alls is seeing a man changing a tire on his half ton with one. He had a flat rear tire and had pulled off the highway onto an approach and had the jack under the rear bumper towards one end of it and he had it jacked up very high. He had the tire off and was about to put the spare on when the back of the truck started to go sideways because he had so little weight on the other tire, it just slide along the ground. Of course that meant the jack started to lean sideways also and he jumped up and tried to stop it but before he got hold of it, the angle became too great and the jack slide off the end of the bumper at extremely high speed and the top of it hit the man in the thigh. I was surprised it didn't break his thighbone but it definitely hurt him something terrible. I was a passenger in a tandem digger truck pulling a trailer full of power poles and it happened right there before our eyes; we were just feet from him when it happened. We would have stopped but we saw in the mirrors that a car had pulled over to help him so we kept on driving down the highway. Bottom line is they can be very dangerous jacks to use when lifting a load that can move around on you.

 

[oosik]

Interesting happening there Mace. I usually had my Hi Lift strapped behind the winch on my Jeep. This was the time we lived in Alaska. Many, many times when stuck and no anchor point around we would use the Hi Lift. Jack up the rear of the Jeep - a couple of guys would push it sideways and out of the ruts. Same with the front. It would lean over and fall off the jack but it would also be out of the ruts.

You are SO correct though. If you got in the way of the jack or handle as the Jeep was being pushed sideways and off the jack - very likely some body part was going to get broken.

We never had anybody get hurt - the Hi Lift would smack down so very hard on the ground. More than obvious what was in store for anybody who would get in the way.

 

[jaxs]

You would think lawyers would stand in line waiting to sue manufactures of those things. I've seen new ones that were as cantankerous as an old one.

 

[Jstpssng]

A lot of the guys that I work with won't use them because they're so unstable. I find that I don't need the jack or my come-along as much as I used to, ever since I started driving trucks with that marvelous new option... Reverse!
One of those things I learned the hard way, walking can save a lot of time when the other choice is to drag the truck through the mud.

 

[davedj1]

We use them all the time out on the trails for our Jeeps, yes they can be dangerous but then again, a little common sense goes a long way!
Keep them well lubed and they work much better and don't, NEVER, let go of the handle when letting it down, good way to get a broken jaw!

 

[goeduck]

A little unusual use of a red bumper jack but I have been overhauling the floating portion of my dock. One of the floats (stack of tires filled with closed cell foam) had broken loose. On low tide today I used my red jack to lift one end of the dock so I could get the float back into position. You cannot see it but I have a 2x6 under the jack that compressed into the sand. I had to put my full weight onto the handle to get a ratchet up, but it did it. I have another red jack at a remote property that I was kicking myself to not have grabbed to double up the jacks. I have no idea what weight I had lifted but my I weigh in at around 200 lbs so whatever that computes to I was lifting.


Oh, and yes, I rinsed the saltwater off of the base so it does not start to rust. :thumbsup:

 

[Imold]

Call them there jacks widow makers, that jack handle slips out of your hand at the wrong time it will do some brain damage but other then that we have used them to jack up small buildings and a lot of other stuff besides changing tires or getting unstuck, have one in both pickups.


Jim.

 

[goeduck]

Call them there jacks widow makers, that jack handle slips out of your hand at the wrong time it will do some brain damage but other then that we have used them to jack up small buildings and a lot of other stuff besides changing tires or getting unstuck, have one in both pickups.


Jim.

Yes, but knowing that I make sure my brain is not in line with the handle . Red Bumper jacks are invaluable but dangerous. Kinda like a gun, gotta be aware at all times is all. :thumbsup:

 

[Imold]

Yepper!

 

[California]

Rainy day so here's some pix of a HiLift ('farm jack') project.

Some darn fool )) ran the corner of the loader into the spike harrow where it was hiding in tall weeds.

These photos show straightening it.

Yes these are dangerous. I'm cautious, I've had it fall when lowering something but I was a safe distance away. As I finished this project it got me, I reached underneath to switch the lever from Lift to Drop and that lever moved with such force it bruised my finger between the lever and the jack frame. I should have poked that lever with a long screwdriver.





And a bonus pic, another project underway. Some snowplow edges were in in a friends surplus-auction win. He gave them to me, I bolted up the iron parts to make a simple land plane. It works great. I'll improve the design a little then weld it solid. I pull it from the drawbar under the differential, plus have loose chains that go over the ends of the loader forks to lift it for turns. Anybody need the rubber edges that were bolted to these pieces? (They're visible under the workbench).