building the Bullet XV

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Oooh, titillation through advanced technology. Works for me. :)

Seriously, that's very nice. I need to go get something 3D printed to get used to the idea. There must be fifty things I could use.
 

sarconcepts

Adventurer
Yeah.. it really opens up all sorts of possibilities,
& mike, you're right, once this box is opened, it can't be closed !
& if I know you, you'll spend the rest of your days printing small things for around the house & shop. I'd just give in now & buy your own 3D printer, they're actually pretty cheap & you know you'll save money in the long run, plus, now everyone on the portal will have you to send their drawing to for you to print up!
isn't free 3D printing one of the Expedition Portal's member perks?
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Isn't free 3D printing one of the Expedition Portal's member perks?
Umm, yeah, now that you mention it, I think that was in the sign up agreement. But I'm pretty sure it was Jack that provided the free fabrication. You wouldn't want my free fabrication. :sombrero:
 

sarconcepts

Adventurer
Well.. .. it's about time for my once a year check-in/upgrade.
Ever since finishing the Bullet back in 2011, one thing that I've always been less sure about was the simple bottle jack that I carried in case of a tire change. I'm not a real big fan of bottle jacks as they're pretty unstable. & even worse on a dirt or mud situation, fortunately I've never had a flat.
every year I've done searches for the best off-road jack only to end up looking at articles about high lift jacks. Don't get me wrong, I use to own a high lift back when I owned a '69' Grand Prix, but today I don't see that design being the best for me for several reasons:
The base plate is to small to spread out the weight of the Bullet (i know they make large base plate options)
Today's vehicles really aren't made to be lifted by the bumpers like they were in '69'
The arm that lifts up the frame is only like 5" long, hence the straight vertical column has to be too close to the body to reach any part of the frame below, & with the exception of jeeps, the bodies on today's vehicles are too curvaceous to allow the jack to get close enough to reach the frame.
I really cannot lift the back end by the body with a pivot frame
I also looked into Matjack air jacks
http://www.matjack.com/matjack-medium-pressure-lifting-cushions.html
They seemed big enough to spread the weight out, even on dirt, but at about $3500. that wasn't going to happen
Then this year I stumbled over to the recovery equipment & tools threads to find the link to the safejack site
https://safejacks.com/
I liked the idea but more importantly that site led me to the Gator Jacks page
https://safejacks.com/products/safe-jack-gator-jacks
The price was still a bit spendy, & the jack seemed a bit too unstable but after some searching around I found the maker of the Gator Jacks - Bogert International, also made an even bigger more stable jack for use on Humvees, the HMMWV jack with a large, stable removable base plate & a lifting capacity of 8500 lbs
unfortunately this is only for military use & was not sold to the public, but oddly, a quick search of ebay & $299. later, this arrived
Bullet Jack 001.jpg
Although it was never used, it was several years old, so I had the fluid & seals checked here at a local hydraulic shop, only to find everything in perfect condition
as you can see, the lifting end was designed to fit over a nut under the humvees not found on the Bullet
Bullet Jack 002.jpg
this jack allows you to not be under the vehicle while lifting with the use of a quick release hydraulic fitting & 6' hydraulic hose
Bullet Jack 003.jpg
plus the jack also has a large base plate to spread out the weight to under 29 lbs per S.I.
Bullet Jack 014.jpg
all i had to do was weld a new pivoting arm to grab the Bullet's axle points, I made a full size model to check all dimensions under all four lifting points, & made it pivot to compensate for the angle change of the lifting arms as it rises
Bullet Jack 004.jpgBullet Jack 011.jpg
& assembled, the jack now lifts the Bullet axles with the ease, safety & stability I'd been waiting for all this time
Bullet Jack 015.jpg
It is a heavy contraption, weighing in about 75 lbs total, but worth it given what I have to lift.
 
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sarconcepts

Adventurer
hey ward
i'm running on memory now as the unit is stored in the Bullet, & that is parked elsewhere, but i believe it was a 6500 psi unit
weirdly, making a visit to my local home parts recycle place this last weekend, i saw like 10 units that looked exactly the same (just the enerpac, not the jack)
Steve
 

sarconcepts

Adventurer
Jack & Ward
looking on EBAY i realized two things:
1- I REALLY lucked out to just happen to find the jack right when i first looked, it may take you some time to find one as they're not common, but they are out there
2- don't get this jack confused with the simple mechanical scissor jack with the same name, that was the old Humvee jack design before Bogert International modernized the design to make a better, faster, stronger design
 

rossvtaylor

Adventurer
Like everyone else here, I did a search on the Bay after reading your post. There's no complete jack, but there is a NOS power unit (pump and hose) listed for $237. Seems like you got a great deal on the package!

BTW, the labeling on that Bogert pump does indeed show it to be a 6500 psi pump.

Now you have us looking at hydraulic rams and pumps on surpluscenter.com :)
 

sarconcepts

Adventurer
Seems like you got a great deal on the package!
yeah, i saw that one on ebay too
i should add that shipping cost me $150. more
like i said, this is a heavy unit, every piece on it is solid steel
plus.. a picture of it in the lifted position.. .. (not mine)
bogert2_003.JPG
you can see how it grabbed a nut under the Humvee's suspension, but i don't think most of us have that configuration
 

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