We know you're good at jacking...

... But are you safe?

 

In your home garage, you likely have all the necessary tools to safely jack your vehicle to allow you to confidently work underneath it to perform needed repairs, maintenance or your never ending list of mods.


But do you have the tools and basic knowledge to jack safely on the trail or in the woods? In possibly uneven, soft, rocky and/or sandy terrain?

 

Over the years, I've seen and/or heard of various tools and techniques of jacking a vehicle in the field. Some are great ideas and useful tools. Others, I cringe when I see it.

I believe I've acquired a collection of decent tools and techniques that are safe and reliable for many of the various scenarios that may rear its ugly head out on the trail or in the parking lot. These tools/techniques were acquired for MY use. I do not consider myself an expert, but I present this to you as options that you might want to consider.


The complete collection: I'll try to break down some of the stuff.
60" Hi-Lift Extreme Jack is siamese'd with a shovel and attached to the BruteForceFab (BFF) HC rear bumper. Top Clamp and Foot have been removed to fit onto bumper. Hi-Lift accessories are generally on the right side of pic, SafeJack accessories are on the left.

 

We'll start with Hi-Lift jacking:

SafeJack Universal Combination Stabilizer deployed with my 60" Hi-Lift and the JeepsNeeds SAM attached to a welded-on shackle mount. Both products were recommended by @HolyHandGrenade


Similar setup, but using the purpose designed Hi-Lift cut-out in the BFF bumper.


Similar setup, using a Hi-Lift Bumper Lift. I wouldn't use this on my bumper, because I have many other options. But I carry it, because there may be someone that doesn't have lift points other than a stock bumper. I can imagine this lifting accessory possibly damaging a relatively thin-walled bumper, so it's the vehicle owners choice of using this or not.


@Shmellmopwho 's Hi Lift slider adapter does a great job of securing the jack tongue to the slider. Note the open truck door, in case the jack tries to buck and bash in the door.



If you need to lift your wheel/tire just enough to clear the ground, then jacking from the rear bumper would possibly require reaching an unsafe height to overcome a droopy rear as seen in the pic below. But this is on a flat, level hard surface driveway. Very different on the trail. This can be mitigated by strapping the axle to the frame. Make sure you have a beefy ratchet strap. I carry a 3" wide strap rated at 30K lbs. Never have done it, but I've eyeballed some possible locations to attach the strap in case I need to.



Or you can use the Hi Lift Lift-Mate . It allows you to lift the entire wheel/tire off the ground. I'm not sure I like it, because, in the field, the wheel spokes may not present perfect horizontal alignment and you end up with something like this:


And it looked like it would pop the bead. But I carry it anyway, because I like to have options.


The Rescue 42 JackMate came highly recommended by @DoorDing. I haven't had to use it yet, but I truly believe it's a well designed piece that would definitely bite into uneven ground/rocks/logs, etc. It has multiple other recovery uses and a bonus can opener hook.

 

Moving on to my SafeJack bottle jack system.

This idea shamelessly copied from @DVexile here. I modified the base to suit my needs.

I bought the system without the hydraulic jack. I acquired two 2nd gen 4Runner mechanical bottle jacks (P/N 09111-35150.) The I.D. of the SafeJack lift pads and extensions fit perfectly over/around the O.D. of the 4Runner's jack ram.
I drilled out the four little dimples that holds the cap to the ram.



The flat pad in use:


The round/square tube pad in use, securely attached to the SafeJack Universal Combination Stabilizer and a 3" ram extension (right) or bolted to my homemade multi-layer plywood base and a 6 inch ram extension (left.) The great thing about this setup? The mechanical jack doubles as a jack stand. With the bases providing stability AND flotation, I feel much safer working under the truck.



With the bottle jack almost fully extended, a 3" ram extension and the tube pad holding up the square tube front leg of the @Mobtown Offroad slider. Bottle jack is bolted onto the top two plywood layers into 4 captured heavy duty Tee-nuts. Plywood layers can be added or removed to achieve desired additional height.



14mm socket makes quick work of zipping the jack up or down. Note two bottom plywood layers have been removed.

 

Snake was eating dinner five feet away while I was setting up these pics. Took him over 12 hours to swallow the toad that was easily 3 or 4X bigger than his head.

I tried to be as quiet as I could. Didn't want him to regurg his meal and take off. That would be a waste.


Almost 3 feet long. @Blackout14 and @Taco man17 and I believe it's a Garter snake. @Wheelspinner is particularly fond of what these can do.

 

This was a recent field recovery at Rausch Creek Off Road Park.

My truck blew a bead DS front tire on rocky terrain on an incline. We had to winch the vehicle about ten feet forward to get it off a large rock and onto a relatively "smoother" surface, but still at a nasty incline. Winch angle was corrected to a decent straight line pull with a snatch block and a handy tree. Winch line was kept taught to keep the truck from sliding backwards, together with chocked rear wheels, parking brake and 4-LO engaged. Truck wasn't going anywhere. Line damper was affixed to winch line a few feet from the snatch block for additional safety, since we were working directly in line with the synthetic winch line.
Recovery team: @stairgod , @Manual man74 , @El Dahs , @Dogg23 , @Subway4X4



Jacking tools and accessories are described above. Bead was reseated using a 30K lb. rated ratchet strap (@stairgod 's idea,) valve core was removed and a blast of air from on board ARB Twin compressor (I learned this from @Sub-Zero .) We were pleasantly surprised at how easy the re-seat fix was, compared to the work of bringing the truck to a relatively safe location, jacking and holding it in position.
All recovery gear was pulled from my truck.



Added 12/2/2017:

Here's another field recovery using the HiLift Mate to raise rear tire to stack rocks underneath the tire to clear the rear diff up which was hung up on the large rock. I believe the HiLiftMate was provided by @HolyHandGrenade at the time. Photo compliments of @Fifthwind



Added 12/10/2017:

Field CV Axle repair.

Needed to jack up and stand up the front frame of a 1st Gen on a flat part of a snowy trail. Plywood and SafeJack Base/Bottle/Safejack Tube Pad was used.

Another bottle jack with plywood base was used to lift the spindle/hub/rotor assembly to remove the lower spindle bolt.

 

Part of field recovery is the ability to deploy quickly, without having to re-familiarize yourself to the gear and the instructions.

That's why you see various color coded markings on my gear. I used my younger daughter's nail polish (the colors that she's regretted buying.)



Green is for Hi-Lift deployment. It orients the Hi-Lift foot to the base plate. And the base plate to the large stabilizer base.


Green also helps me locate the exact Clevis pin placement of the stabilizer cables.



Pink is for the bottle jack deployment. Which has the opposite base plate location vs. the Hi-Lift foot.


Because I had to grind off some of the stabilizer base to provide clearance the jack hook to rotate.


Even the Hi-Lift mounting bolts and bar holes were marked so I can return to its bumper mount quickly after deployment.
HiLift mount is painted green.


Shovel mount is painted pink

 

Great thread!

Happy (,safe) jacking, guys!









(also gals)

 

The wheel lift mate works extremely well when recovering people who weren't prepared to be off-road and have no points to lift from otherwise. I've used it a number of times to get wheels up out of the mud and traction boards placed underneath. I haven't had a tire pushed off the bead yet but there's been times I was worried.

 

How about the xjack? http://store.arbusa.com/Bushranger-X-Jack-Complete-Kit-72X10-P3589.aspx

 

Looks like a great tool. But may not work for me because my exhaust is chopped and it may require some yoga like flexibility to attach the hose.


And my rear end seems to get stuck a lot.

In the mud.

 

I agree. I've actually seen it used a couple of times, by experienced peeps. Mainly to stack rocks or set up a tire traction device underneath. It's a good tool to have when you or someone else needs it.

 

You can use a compressor too.

 

Awesome reference thread. Please put this in a sticky mods. @jberry813

 

Great write up.

 

Excellent resource, thanks for taking the time to put together a bunch of great ideas to copy!

 

Thanks!
tcBob stickied it 2 minutes after I posted it.

 

Great thread, thank you for taking the time to put this together. As a noob to off-road what jacking tools would you recommend I start with? I dont want to exceed my comfort level by adding too many options at one time (plus my budget won't allow it). For reference I do have steel sliders, front skids, and front/rear bumper to utilize as jacking points.

 

The Hi-Lift Jack (AKA Farm Jack) has been around a long, long time. In fact, I still own a ~30 year old 48" cast Hi-Lift that has served me well. But these jacks are pretty dangerous when used improperly... and there are many documented examples of Hi_lift fails. The SafeJack stabilizer helps add a bit more safety margin.

IMO, if I were starting out, I'd go for the SafeJack Bottle Jack system. They sell a starter kit that's pretty reasonable in cost. And I bought the mechanical 4Runner bottle jack on eBay. Together with an inexpensive DIY base, you have a good foundation for jacking your truck in many situations.