Thread: Alternative to hand winch - hi-lift jack

Many years ago I made up a kit to turn a Hi Lift into a winch. It worked (sort of ) but was a a pain to set up and operate. I practised using it at home but never used it in earnest in the bush.
The main problem is you only get to winch the length of the jack and then you have to block the vehicle and re set everything.

I now have MaxTrax and a Tirfor. The Hi Lift stays in the shed these days.

I was reading up too that with a hi-lift and a hand winch you most likely dont need an electric winch to get you out of trouble... you only need time and patience!

Maxtrax are another good addition too... although by the time one finishes adding all this recovery gear you got a lot more weight on the vehicle

Mate never doubt the good old hand winch!!!

I have a magnum hand winch and they are bloody good and the thing is that its not that much of hard work needed, if anything its alot more fun getting your rig out. Also got one X-Tracks from bushranger there pretty good as well.

cheers simon

Originally Posted by stooge

I was reading up too that with a hi-lift and a hand winch you most likely dont need an electric winch to get you out of trouble... you only need time and patience!

Maxtrax are another good addition too... although by the time one finishes adding all this recovery gear you got a lot more weight on the vehicle

MaxTrax don't weigh much. Maybe 10 kg.

A Tirfor and wire rope weighs no more than a fixed electric winch. Very versatile piece of kit.

Originally Posted by waynep

Many years ago I made up a kit to turn a Hi Lift into a winch. It worked (sort of ) but was a a pain to set up and operate. I practised using it at home but never used it in earnest in the bush.
The main problem is you only get to winch the length of the jack and then you have to block the vehicle and re set everything.

I now have MaxTrax and a Tirfor. The Hi Lift stays in the shed these days.

Use a 60 inch hi lift a lot. Use it to get the truck wheels aligned with ruts if I get crossed up, use it to lift out of 'pea' gravel in river beds and drive off the jack. I have even spread the chassis apart to get the gearbox out

Use it as a winch with a home made kit. You actually need two lengths of chain off the hilift. One attached to the vehicle or load being pulled, and he other short length hanging off the end of the hilift with a snig-chain hook on it. You get to the end of the jack on the pull, and then you use the snig-hook to fix the pulled load to the end of the jack, let the jack 'down' slide to maximum travel again, take up the load and start pulling again. Kind of hard to describe and I am looking in my picture folder to see if I have anything of value there. If not, I'll set it up on the concrete floor and take a shot.

Only problem I have with the winch thus, is time. If I am stuck in a situation that is time-critical, i.e. in a river, then the time taken to set up and pull can be the difference between rescue and salvage... I usually have the hilift all set as a winch to go if I am doing river work. That way if I get stuck in the water, it is a 'quiker process to get hooked up and moving. I have 8 20mm x 500mm mild steel rods with eyes on the end to drive/hammer into the river bed somewhere ahead if no readily available anchor is around. In all it takes 5-15 minutes from stop to first crank of the handle if I am all sorted before getting stuck.

In this situation you can't beat the speed and ease o an electric but I stuffed my last electric winch up in the river...

Tirfors are great but can only pull. With the hilift I have a tool that'll do that and lift, and push and...

Thanks for your replies. I think I much prefer to spend the $$ on a hi-lift and a hand winch before an electric. I too have an electric with a stuffed motor due to water/mud... now I think if I was in the middle of nowhere and it failed, what then?? At least a manually operated winch can get you out, and slow is better than not at all.

If you can get some pics of the hi-lift set up windsock, that would be very helpfull.

Cheers,

I tried using a hi lift jack as a winch once - hooked up all ok but due to the short length of the winch all I did was take up the slack in the rope I was doing before it was time to disconnect and reset - even when I tried using some chain - all the hi lift jack did was take the slack up.

Now if you used a block and tackle to take up the tension of the winch cable and then connect to the hi lift then it might work better.

Might be Ok if your anchor was only a few feet away but overall I thought it impractical as a winch - I would look at other alternatives.

Garry

OK, finally got back online (faulty server) with photos.

First up, realigning track in the ruts. Slippery stuff and many ruts while cornering can lead to getting crossed up on some of the local tracks...





No problems with 60 inches of lift and the right angles...

Now the winch part. Always use non-stretch chains or straps otherwise that will be all you do is use up precious calories stretching a rope. I carry two lengths of chain, and can hook up the configuration below in whatever place I find stable between load and anchor point.

First have the right configuration of chain.


This shows the fitting onto the lift part. Also in that picture you can see my permanent home made 'holding' chain. More on that further down.


Pulling chain must be longer than holding chain for reason obvious down further.


Start of the pull... you can see my holding chain rattling around in the gravity.


End of A pull, not the last pull most likely several more pulls to go if I have anything to do with it... Fix the holding chain in place and release the load onto it. As below.


Hook the holding chain to the pulled load chain, and undo the pulling chain by letting 'down' the jack one or two clicks.


Slide the lift down to take another bite of the pulling chain, take the weight of the load, and disconnect the holding chain... and away you go again... reliable as a good back and a strong arm.

If the back is crook and the arm is weak then even driving off road should be a problem also. I actually have a crook back and can still carefully do the above exercise without busting it further.

Before you know it you are warm, unstuck, and ready for a cold one, much shoulder slapping all round... Of if you are on your own like I am most of the time, a lot of 'blue' muttering about mud etc...

As far as the anchor. If there is nothing 'natural' I use rods of steel as mentioned above. Driven into the ground in either straight line or a 'V' confiiguration and then chained together I can anchor myself in even the most awkward of river bed situations most of the time.



Hope these shots help with a picture of how to sucessfully and easily use a hi-lift as a winch - armstrong style.