Thread: New Jack option.

Originally Posted by SBD4

You can Ron, most seem reluctant to do this. For me it is far easier, faster and safer to do it this way. To get the rear wheel off the ground using the standard way takes forever and is really unsafe as the height & angles involved put put dangerous (sideways) pressures on the jack. Even using the crappy LR jack under the control arm is safer as it does not have to be extended very far to lift the tyre off the ground. The LR jack is at its weakest when it is fully extended.

Makes sense, could you please describe this with drawings or photos. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by SBD4

You can Ron, most seem reluctant to do this. For me it is far easier, faster and safer to do it this way. To get the rear wheel off the ground using the standard way takes forever and is really unsafe as the height & angles involved put put dangerous (sideways) pressures on the jack.

My thoughts exactly!

I rarely, if ever, used the bumper lift jack on my Hillman Hunter. I used a screw jack under the springs or suspension arms. A side lift with a scissor jack would be even worse especially with the suspension droop on a Land Rover!

Originally Posted by letherm

I think this may have popped up before but I think there is a difference between jack specs between Australian and overseas sites on some of the omega range with the same lift weight. I haven't got around to it but will buy a 2 tonne omega jack because it does raise the LR high enough.

I have the Omega BST2000 from Blackwoods and the LandyAndy adapter.
https://www.blackwoods.com.au/part/0...escopic-hyd-2t
It is a very close thing to actually being able to lift the wheel off the ground but it needs to be at its absolute maximum.
So I've decided it's better to use some wooden spacers as you see here, where it's just on the point of lifting off the ground:

Note that the LandyAndy adapter works very well, providing excellent engagement to the chassis.
Other jacks with less extension may need more wood.

For comparison, below is what it looks like with just the steel jacking plate in place and this was not quite off the ground yet.
You can make out the lean described earlier by Sean.
I think there was a small amount of lift still available to push it to its limit but it didn't look safe.



Here is the same jack being used on the suspension arm.
The reduction in extension is obvious, with the wheel already off the ground in this photo.


The jack head without the adapter is a pretty good fit into the cavity on the suspension arm, which provides a reasonably stable jacking platform.
The adapter comes off easily by undoing the grub screw.

In my view the suspension arm option is the better approach, so will be doing in that way whenever possible.
But it's good to have the adapter as well and therefore the option to use the chassis should the suspension arm be not viable for some reason.

And finally I read on Disco3 that if you place the jack to the suspension arm (as per photo above) at offroad height and then lower it to access height, the wheel will be lifted off the ground for you.
However, I found that the car sensed this as a grounding and raised to extended height, coming off the jack completely.
Perhaps I needed to quickly turn the car off or something but regardless I prefer the jacking-with-car-turned-off approach anyway.

Regards,
Scott

Thanks Scott, you saved me the trouble of posting a pic and explaining. There is a nice vid on youtube somewhere, I'll see if I can find it.

The only thing I would say about using the dimple on the control arm as the jacking point is, when the tyre is flat there is not much clearance between the ground and the arm. So, either you need a very squat jack (LR scissor jack) to fit in there or, you need to raise the car a bit using the chassis jacking point to allow a taller jack to fit under the control arm. I had to do the latter and it was a bit of a pain in the bum.

Originally Posted by SBD4

.... when the tyre is flat there is not much clearance between the ground and the arm. So, either you need a very squat jack (LR scissor jack) to fit in there or, you need to raise the car a bit using the chassis jacking point to allow a taller jack to fit under the control arm....

What about lifting to Offroad height to fit the jack? Not enough?

Originally Posted by LRD414

What about lifting to Offroad height to fit the jack? Not enough?

Or just drive the flat on to a block of wood to give a couple more inches elevation.

I recently returned from an off road trip with a number of tyre problems on other D4s and was staggered to find out that the std car jack does lift the wheel off the ground. A prerequisite I would have thought! I'm now in the market for a suitable jack (and adaptor) and it seems by consensus that the Omega and adaptor is the way to go. I'm sure the Omega jack can be purchased but what about the adaptor? Andy are they still available?

Originally Posted by rocket rod

I recently returned from an off road trip with a number of tyre problems on other D4s and was staggered to find out that the std car jack does lift the wheel off the ground. A prerequisite I would have thought! I'm now in the market for a suitable jack (and adaptor) and it seems by consensus that the Omega and adaptor is the way to go. I'm sure the Omega jack can be purchased but what about the adaptor? Andy are they still available?

I bought my jack from Blackwoods who have branches in WA too.

Here's a link to the page of the one I bought which I bought after reading previous threads here.

https://www.blackwoods.com.au/part/0...escopic-hyd-2t

Andy's adapter will not quite fit this jack so you will need to adjust the adapter or the top of the jack to suit. Both have been done successfully by forum members. I've been slack and haven't done it yet but intend to grind a bit off the jack top as I don't have access to the equipment needed to expand the internal diameter of the adapter.

Martin