Hi-Lift Jacks

[MagicMtnDan]

GLAD to hear you're OK. Hope the white Raptor's OK too

I look forward to reading about your experiences. By the way, we'll soon have an opportunity to talk Hi-Lift Jacks in the field

 

[BigJ]

Here's the story:

I set out today to start learning how to use the Hi Lift, presuming I'll be carrying it at some point. It makes no sense to not try this stuff, work with it and learn it BEFORE you need it.

So I set myself up at my office. Tools and extra vehicles close by. Flat smooth pavement. Anchor points close by (more on that later). Friends and coworkers around the corner. Phone at the ready. Yup, I'd rather be over prepared than under.

My plan was to lift the rear passenger tire up 1-2", just as might be needed on the trail. I put the truck in park, engaged the parking brake and wiggled the steering wheel, trying to lock it into place.

Wait... what? It doesn't lock? What's to stop the front wheels from turning when lifting and if under load out on the trail?

I moved on, with the understanding that I was pretty safe from this worry today, given my setup. But still, making note as this is definitely something to answer before finding out the hard way.

Off I went:






Up we go. I went step by step, stopping each time to walk around and take a look. Remember this was the first time I've ever tried something like this, so I was being ultra safe... or so I thought.

Anyone see something wrong (missing) in this pic? :doh:




Step by step, up she went. Everything seems to be going well, and eventually I can see I'm one or two clicks from lifting the rear tire.

One more pump... and... forward she went. She rolled maybe 6-7", and took the Hi Lift with it. It was only luck that she stopped before pushing the top of the lift right into the tailgate, because as she started to go, I let go and got the hell out of there.




Where was the parking brake? I understand there's slack in the trans, but in the parking brake? Isn't that sort of a no-no?

And here's where it donned on me... I forgot to chock the front driverside tire. Total idiot brainfart that might have prevented the whole situation. But even so, shouldn't the parking brake been sufficient? Obviously not.

After freaking out for a minute, I considered all sorts of options; get in and drive it backwards just a bit, manually push it from the front backward, pull on the lift and pivot everything back, hoping the nose doesnt slip off the hook... all unsafe and all almost guaranteed to drive that jack into my tailgate ripping it wide open.

I ended up grabbing my Power Puller. The thing saved the day, literally:






What you can't see from the pics is that the jack had actually shifted forward AND to the right (passenger side). I grabbed a chock and jammed it under the front driverside tire (better late that never :doh. I anchored the Puller at an equal and opposite angle (toward the driver side), figuring this would bring the jack back away from the tailgate, and toward the middle giving the nose a much better chance of not slipping off the hook and reeking all sorts of havoc. I also put the Puller on the anchor side, away from the truck. If things went bad, I did NOT want to be in the way of that jack as it let go.

I went slow, getting up and walking around the truck every few clicks of the puller, readjusting the chock, checking jack and lowering it step by step as the spacing allowed. And down she went. 20 minutes later, she was back on the ground and all was well with the world.

Sidenote: That Power Puller paid for itself today. Without it, there's at least as much damage done to my tailgate as the cost of the PP. More likely 2x or 3x the cost. And a front mounted winch would have been totally useless.

So, experts, what the hell went wrong? Is it all about the missing chock? What about when a chock can't be used? What's the deal with the parking brake?

And generally speaking, is the lack-of-locking steering wheel a concern? How about that hook to nose interface? Would a strap connected via D clevis' been a better idea?

As of right now, I have no confidence my ability to use this tool. I can see that, in the right hands, its incredibly powerful. But in mine, not so much. I thought I had done my research, I thought I was being careful and covering my bases... and I still forgot a key detail, that would appear to have been the difference between a successful lift and an epic failure.

Go easy on me guys. I'm trying to learn, and I'm putting myself out there hoping others learn from my mistakes as well. Educate me (us) and lets learn from this.

Or just point and laugh. Either way

 

[MarkT]

I'm not going to point and laugh. That's exactly how the dent/hole was put in the FJ but the FJ shifted sideways in some rocks... no rolling involved.

I'm glad nobody got hurt and that was some quick thinking on using the Power Puller!

The parking brake only acts on the rear wheels of the Raptor... so once you unloaded the weight, the rear tires were free to slide pretty easily.

Also, try this: Put the Raptor on a slight hill like a driveway with your foot on the brakes so it doesn't roll.. Put trans in "N". Engage the parking brake. Take your foot off the regular brakes. If you're like me, you'll find the parking brake pedal needs to be pressed HARD on the Raptor to keep it from rolling on even a slight hill.

A good wheel chock on the front would have prevented forward movement. (But wheel chocks do slip and 35" tires require a pretty good sized chock). The rear of the truck could still have shifted sideways as the tires came off the ground.

Maybe frog can give some better insight on proper use... but my experience with using the hi lift to actually lift something high is that you have to be VERY careful. Tipping and shifting like you experienced seems to be very common.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

I'm really glad you're OK (and your Raptor's OK too)!

I won't tell you I told you so (I hate when people do that). I won't poke fun - hell, you did the right things:

1. You tried it out before you needed it
2. You did the best you could to be safe
3. You didn't hurt yourself
4. You didn't damage your truck
5. You posted it here so others could learn

Thanks for sharing this with the forum.

As Mark said, the E brake works on the back wheels (don't know what vehicles, if any, where it functions on the front wheels) and we need BIG chocks for 35" tires.

I don't like the Hi-Lift Jack for most jacking applications. I'd rather use a bottle jack (if it's doable) any day. And tall tired vehicles involve a lot more risk due to the amount of lift involved.

I didn't major in physics but I've never really understood how the Hi-Lift jack can be used safely with its tall lifting length (working length) with such a tiny base (did you damage the baseplate?). Real tall lift and small (very small) baseplate just doesn't seem practical to me.

I put this in the category of "yet another reason I don't like the Hi-Lift Jack for jacking tall tired vehicles".

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Good move with your come-a-long.

I'm wondering if you could have used big blocks of wood in front and behind the rear wheels and lowered the jack/truck? The tires would've come down on the wood and probably not rolled forward or backwards. Just wondering...

 

[BigJ]

Thanks guys. And now that you say that about the EBrake, I'm going "uh duh you idiot, you knew that." I did know that, but I freely admit I forgot about it when it mattered. I kept seeing all the how-to vids in my head saying "set the ebrake" followed by them lifting the rear. That's a good reminder (to myself) to think for myself and not so blindly trust. Lesson learned.

But now that I'm thinking about it, I guess that's pretty good evidence at just how much of the truck the jack was lifting. More than enough weight was coming off the rear driver's side to render the brake ineffective. And that's with using a pretty far-to-the-passenger-side lift point.

During the "recovery" I ended up using a 3/8" piece of angle iron as a chock. I think I'll see about driving over it tomorrow and try to feel how effective it is as a chock. Maybe that's a pretty good solution. Maybe not.

Looking forward to more of your thoughts, especially frog's...

 

[Madcowranch]

Wow, too close for comfort BigJ. I use a high lift jack all the time around the farm and always plan on it falling because it does about 1/3 of the time. I have a love/hate relationship with that jack because alot of times it's the only tool that'll work for the job.

 

[Falcon]

Close Call Jason... thanks for being a man and posting. That is EXACTLY how my buddy punched/ripped a hole (BIG TEAR) in his Blazer rear door. But we didn't have a Power Puller. I think Power Puller, X-jack and the rubber treads are must have items for me. I'm glad I left my Hi-lift on the farm.

And I agree with Magic Man... your did EVERYthing right. Well, except for that brake/chock thing. ( <---- see, no "Grin" like you would usually see!) Way to think it thru and foresee problems. It most certainly saved your tailgate.

Falcon

 

[frogslinger]

Looks like you got real close with that one... if you had bought a longer jack it would have bitten your tailgate....

My conclusion is the same as was given earlier.... the E brake acts on your rear wheels not your fronts... a chock would have prevented this.

There was a question about how the jack is able to support the vehicle stably with such a small base. The reason is that the jack is supposed to only provide a force straight up. All lateral forces are supposed to be handled by the other contact points... in that respect it is no different from any other mechanical jack... if you can roll off a scissor jack or a bottle jack it will do exactly the same thing.

I have a question in regards to the raptor's 4x4 system... if you put the vehicle in 4 hi before you shut it off does it remain in 4 hi as it would with an old mechanical system (I am relatively certain that the hubs default to locked)? If so then that would be an additional source of stability and would help prevent rolling...

I am glad to see that you escaped unscathed, as did your raptor...

 

[frogslinger]

I looked at your images again and it might be a trick of the photographs but it looks like your mast is at about a 10 degree angle from vertical before the slip... I would not think that would have caused it if the vehicle had not moved but it may have contributed. Other than the not chocking, that is the only thing that I can point out as not being set perfectly.