Thread: What jack to carry?

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Super awesome and also super expensive !

Yeah, looked at the jack and thought ‘that’s awesome, I’d love one’ then I looked at the price as said ‘**** that, beyond what I’d ever spend or could afford to spend on a jack’

Pity though, but I’ll wait for the cheap Chinese knock off.

Originally Posted by grey_ghost

No - I wasn’t exactly sure of the maths. Do you need a jack that can safely (in theory) lift the entire weight of the vehicle or does it only need enough capacity to lift one axle?

One axle - a 2 tonne jack (if it has the reach) would do fine. I think that screw shaft jack is only rated at 2 tonnes.

But I’m with you - haven’t found anything I really like or think it usable - will probably be a bottle jack of some description.

The Hi lift is like the jack of all trades , awkward & dangerous at times but if you only carry one , you can't beat it .
In a workshop or on the road , a trolley jack is good .
For a 4Wd a good Hi lift is pretty hard to beat .

I Carried a high lift for years and never used it.
Then did need it and it did not work as was full of dust etc.
I removed it for our Simpson trip as at 3.66T needed to loose some wait.
I now use a Kingcrome 6T Hydraulic bottle Jack.
It was the same size as the smaller ones but has a bit more lift.
So far I'm well chuffed with it.
I use a laminated ply block for a base if needed to spread the load.

Cheers
Phil

I use a 12,000kg hydraulic bottle jack with a 'U' shaped bit I made to fit over the top of the shaft and locates around the axle housing. I also carry a 300mm x 300mm x 6mm piece of checkerplate to use as a base plate when necessary - or as a hotplate when hungry!

AutoOne have hydraulic bottle jacks from 2000kg ($50) to 20,000kgs ($149) with lifts of around 200mm which should be suitable. https://www.autoone.com.au/search?ProductSearch=hydraulic%20bottle%20jacks

Bottle jacks are great , especially for changing wheels , but if you are down to the axels they are rather inconvenient .
Add freshly churned mud & it is no fun anymore .
A spray of CRC etc brings most Hilifts back to life .
One day when I am feeling wealthy I will invest in one of the later model lighter weight ones , but for now the old [ probably 25 yrs ] one still gets me out of the **** more often than not .

The problem with a hi-lift for me is that - with a 130 - the rear tub overhang makes jacking off the rear cross member impossible.

Safely jacking off the side of vehicle is also problematic so that only leaves the ARB bar at front, assuming an appropriate adapter.

I do have a trolley jack (can't recall brand off-hand) but
- it is REALLY REALLY heavy.
- it has steel wheels making it very hard to manoeuvre.
- the jack component (essentially just a bottle jack as with most such units) has failed.

Maybe just needs a rebuild but because of its weight and general unhandiness, I might just be better cutting my losses and putting $ toward a bottle jack.

The biggest issue is of course ensuring that it will fit under the axle/diff when down - give a decent lift to get tyre clear of ground for changing wheels.


@Xtreme is the bottle jack you have from Auto-one? Quality?
I presume "Impact" is their house brand.

Their 10,000kg (I'm sure this capacity would suffice! ) unit
height lowered: 229mm, height raised 459mm, so lift= 230mm
Also seems very (suspiciously? ) affordable at $99.95
90785938 - Impact IG4010 10,000KG Bottle Jack - Auto One




Tangentially related

All-terrain jacks comparison test: 4x4 product test (whichcar.com.au)
(mostly high lift but a bottle jack kit or two also mentioned, namely the
Safe Jack line of jacks (safejacks.com) (Several kits available, Made in USA)


and a few other ideas in this thread
4WD roadside tyre changing - best bottle jack? (exploroz.com)