Thinking about dropping the hi-lift

WVI

Adventurer
Your search showed many more than mine ST Nick. Thanks
Can almost get a hummer jack for the price.
 

outback97

Adventurer
This thread is timely for me, as I recently bought a vehicle that included a Hi Lift jack and some accessories but I've never used a farm jack for anything but pulling fence posts and stumps. Not sure if I'll carry the Hi Lift or not.

Anybody have the lifting capacity and range for the Toyota jacks? I can find them for sale online, but no specs anywhere.

They look nice, but I’m skeptical one could handle my truck given the vehicles they originally came with.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been searching for this info as well, it's surprisingly hard to come by. I don't know about the lifting range but here's what I have so far on weight capacities. I cannot guarantee this is accurate nor complete:

09111-60081 - 1800kg - 3970lb - For 100 Series LC?
09111-60075 - 1600kg - 3530lb - 4Runner?
09111-35150 - 1500kg - 3310lb - Earlier 4Runner?
09111-0C010 - 1340kg - 2954lb - 1st Gen Tundra?

Sources: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/99-lc-oem-bottle-jack-question.1035543/
 
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Superduty

Adventurer
I use a stock jack from 99 F350. For lack of a better term, I will use the term someone used earlier..."mechanical bottle jack". There are no hydraulics in it. I suppose there are some gears inside.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Can almost get a hummer jack for the price.

I have seen H1 scissors jacks for as low as $30 online. Gets low, goes high, pretty robust, needs a minor mod to its jacking pad to be useful on all vehicles. Only real downsides are that it is heavy and takes a fair amount of space. I carry one in my Power wagon along with the 60" HiLift. Re the X-Jack mentioned earlier in this thread, the first time I tried to use mine for a serious recovery, the jack burst and dropped the truck very suddenly. ARB replaced it under warranty, but I'm now leery of using it if there are other options. Could be that the PW is just too heavy for that bag.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Past few weeks I've been putting my Rover on a diet, and next on the chopping block is the hi-lift. I do primarily single vehicle travel, hybrid overland/off-roading. Nothing too crazy. I've done the trails in the Dinkey wilderness area, such as Brewer lake, red lake. The hardest I want to go is the Rubicon and the Dusy Ershin.

When I got the lift-mate, I thought it would be a game-changer for quickly getting out of sticky situations. In reality, it's awkward and dangerous to use, and I found a well placed bottle jack with a plate was always a better solution.
Lifting any part of the frame is kind of useless unless you ratchet strap the axle to the frame... which again, why not just use a bottle jack?

I also have the off-road kit, to use it as a winch... but again, never used it.

It's currently mounted on the roof rack, which I don't like... not thrilled about 30 pounds up high. Plus the accessories, this kit weighs in at 50+ pounds.

I already have a winch and maxtrax, center locker (and hopefully axle lockers in the future).

My thinking is that I can get rid of this thing and probably never miss it, until there's that one situation where I really wished I had it...
There Is no way would I ditch it when going Bush or Off Road But saying That I never carry it around until I go bush, Not Once have I ever carried it during every day driving, But one thing for sure the moment you Go Bush without it you are going to need it, That's just Murphy's Law, What can go Wrong will go Wrong,

Hi-Lifts are very Cool for one reason and that's when all else fails these over grown door stops come in to their own, I had to do some work once on a horse box and replace the brake rods on both Axles and set the brakes up right so they worked just at the point of the over run and I could not get a jack under this PITA But the Hi-Lift got it up in the Air so I could get the Axle stands under there, and it has saved my Bacon on many other times too,

Personally I would remove it from the truck and only carry it when going bush.
 

rnArmy

Adventurer
my Hi-Lift is mounted on the side of my trailer. I've used it a couple times over the last few decades, and seen them used a bit more. There are times when only a Hi-Lift will do what you need done. I wouldn't feel comfortable being "way out there" without one.

I can take it off the trailer and put it inside the Jeep, but it is a pain. Instead, I'm thinking of one of these:

505701

I can always add to it, and it would be so much easier to toss in the back of the Jeep than the Hi-Lift. And I do still have the factory jack under the seat.

I also carry a hub socket in my Jeep's tool bag for my Jeep's front Dana 30. I've never had to use it, but I'm ready if I do!
 

craig333

Expedition Leader
The safe jack is great, however. Guy in front of me got high centered on a rock, in the middle of a river crossing. Unless you bring your snorkel the bottle jack might not work so well. The hi lift well in this case.

I've also used my hilift in the snow. Would have taken a lot of shoveling to get the bottle jack in place.
 

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
The safe jack is great, however. Guy in front of me got high centered on a rock, in the middle of a river crossing. Unless you bring your snorkel the bottle jack might not work so well. The hi lift well in this case.

I've also used my hilift in the snow. Would have taken a lot of shoveling to get the bottle jack in place.

The upside to a good bottle jack is that one can crib the jack up for use on a bumper, frame or rocker bar similar to a hi-lift. A hi-lift can't really fit under the axle of the vehicle when you need it to. Personally, I like the more universal solution. The biggest issue with the hi-lift is that since you have to lift from frame, if the suspension has any decent amount of droop, the vehicle can become very unstable at the top of the range of the jack.....and may not even lift a tire or axle off the ground.
 
There Is no way would I ditch it when going Bush or Off Road But saying That I never carry it around until I go bush, Not Once have I ever carried it during every day driving, But one thing for sure the moment you Go Bush without it you are going to need it, That's just Murphy's Law, What can go Wrong will go Wrong,

Hi-Lifts are very Cool for one reason and that's when all else fails these over grown door stops come in to their own, I had to do some work once on a horse box and replace the brake rods on both Axles and set the brakes up right so they worked just at the point of the over run and I could not get a jack under this PITA But the Hi-Lift got it up in the Air so I could get the Axle stands under there, and it has saved my Bacon on many other times too,

Personally I would remove it from the truck and only carry it when going bush.

I second this. There is a reason these jacks have been in use and continue to be produced for as long as they have been. They are useful tools. Yes, there are a significant number of folks mounting them to their trucks with no intent or understanding of their use, but that does not diminish its usefulness in a bind. I originally bought mine, becuase I read that they could be used for winching and I couldn't afford an electric winch. I wheel alone, so I have to be prepared for a self-recovery. I've used it to get unstuck a couple of times and while it wears me out to use it, it's better than being stranded. I will say that I avoid using it to lift vehicles. It works, but I'm just not comfortable with it.

Edit: Forgot to respond to OP. With OP's setup, I wouldn't bother with the Hi Lift. The tools you've listed cover the likely uses of the Hi Lift, and why carry the extra weight? There is a good argument for it's reliability, but if you're that worried about your electric winch, you probably should have picked a quality one.
 
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