davie Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Ahh its becoming a monster..........first you buy winch,,,,buy bumper at nice price at show in peterbourgh 8/9 sep..........curse the fact once you go to fit bumper its built badly and not square - get it modified to fit then fit new shocks and springs all round to make it sit nicely again dawned on me tonight the standard jack with 90 may not cope with the 2 inch lift............. motivated my ass and went out and tried it, guess what!! it winds up as far as it can possibly go and all i have done is show off the lovely amount of travel in new suspension - wheel still happy on the ground So - looking for ideas on best jack to buy, got nice trolley jack for at home so no worries there but going to feel kinda silly if i have to call out AA cause i need a bigger jack at roadside What would people recommend? P.S can the mods move this to correct place please - havent figured that part out yet! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheeppimp Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 for general use I'd go for a discovery/range rover bottle jack - pop it under the axle and the lift's irrelevant Nice curved saddle for the axle to sit in too. I've also got a 3T bottle jack from Halfords, does the job but doesn't have the nice secure curvy bit hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 P.S can the mods move this to correct place please - havent figured that part out yet! Thanks Done, you can't move a post once it's been posted, it's a Mods/Admin job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I carry a tiny Halfords 1 ton bottle jack which cost £9.99 - and is plenty good enough for the job. Need to sit it on a waffle for a bit of height sometimes. It's so good, I stopped bothering to carry a hilift at all. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiWhite Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 As above - bottle jacks are the future! High lifts are WAY heavy and unstable - they do have a place, like when you need to lift the truck off road or off an obstacle. I don't even like trolley jacks - I find they move too far fore and aft and can move the truck off axle stands etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I carry a tiny Halfords 1 ton bottle jack which cost £9.99 - and is plenty good enough for the job. Need to sit it on a waffle for a bit of height sometimes. It's so good, I stopped bothering to carry a hilift at all.Si I'm with Si (obviously not literaly) I have a Hi Lift for off road and a cheapie bottle jack for lifting a corner to change a wheel etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I only carry a Jackall in the vehicle, with a proper adaptor - trolley and bottle jacks are fine on tarmac but try using them on a loose gravel road and they can be a bit wobbly to say the least However for normal wheel changing in the garage or if I get called out to change one, I have a cheapo Draper 2 ton trolley jack which cost about £20 and has done me for about 8 years with no problems. Trolley jacks are also much better than bottle jacks if you have to change a puncture wearing decent clothes, especially if the wheel/road are dirty ... crawling underneath to site a bottle jack means you get filthy and isn't practical if you are wearing a suit or something. If stored in a vehicle, a trolley jack which comes in one of the hard carry cases is much better/easier to store. Also beware of the little single stage bottle jacks with a screw section that you screw up to meet the axle before you start lifting - they can appear to work fine if you jack the axle up to try it, until you get a puncture and then you find that the single stage ram does not have a big enough lift range to get a completely flat tyre far enough clear of the ground to be removed and then get an inflated tyre on afterwards. If in doubt, let the tyre down completely and then try changing it for an inflated one. This is why Land Rover bottle jacks are 2 stage rams. No prizes for guessing how I found that out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Another vote for the standard rangie/disco bottle jack. I am not really a fan of highlift jacks, so don't have one. The other thing I carry is a jack waffle. I picked up a sheet of waffle material a while ago, which is only 1" thick. Whist it's a bit thin for vehicle waffles, a 12" square of it makes a really good base for the bottle jack. hth Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Bottle jack for me too, I made a base that spreads the load and also lifts the jack 3" or so, it means i 've got plenty of lift. I don't see the point of carrying a hi-lift day-to-day, they're large and cumbersome and you've got to lift the vehicle off the springs first before you can change a tyre etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I don't see the point of carrying a hi-lift day-to-day, they're large and cumbersome and you've got to lift the vehicle off the springs first before you can change a tyre etc. Yeah but I bet it is quicker to jack a vehicle up the extra foot with a Jackall than buggering around with a bottle jack underneath. Probably not much in it in terms of speed, between a jackall and a trolley jack. It certainly doesn't take me long to change a puncture with mine, particularly if I am in a temper, have a headache, and am late for something important Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggylad Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Bottle jack (3 tonne model from Halfords) for me as well. Support it on a 2' offcut from a scaffolding plank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 Sounds like a pretty good idea for the bottle jack then - time to look at local breakers and see if they have a range rover or disco being broken with jack still in it - much cheapness hopefully Cheers all for ideas davie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 They're not expensive new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 I carry a standard RR bottle jack and a 12 inch square "jack waffle" along with several lumps of wood to raise/level out the ground before lifting. Never had a problem with the amount of lift... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Now the happy owner of a 2nd hand landrover bottle jack - couple mins to give it a clean and all is good! Nice happy swop at breakers, my unwanted pair of chequer plate sill covers for his bottle jack - happy days Cheers to all for the ideas here Davie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Humphries Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 After loosing a large chunk off the end of my finger when a hilift (Jackall) decided it didn't want to lower properly there is no way I can recommend them. For my SIII (still in bits as being rechassised) I have a proper Series screw bottle jack. Paul Humphries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 After loosing a large chunk off the end of my finger when a hilift (Jackall) decided it didn't want to lower properly there is no way I can recommend them. With all due respect to your dearly departed finger, a fair proportion of that is operator error i.e. don't put your finger in the way! I always say you should treat them a bit like a gun - i.e. if it is loaded and you are going to pull the trigger don't stand at the wrong end or stick anything important in the way when you do it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Ahh its becoming a monster..........first you buy winch,,,,buy bumper at nice price at show in peterbourgh 8/9 sep..........curse the fact once you go to fit motivated my ass and went out and tried it, guess what!! it winds up as far as it can possibly go and all i have done is show off the lovely amount of travel in new suspension - wheel still happy on the ground Or just carry a breeze block around with you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruit_uk Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I have a disco bottle that has stopped working I assume it needs an oil top up any suggestions as to whether this can be done? Also atching the dakar historical stuff there seemed to be some very light high lift jacks in the tv shots, not farm jacks but looked hydraulic but light any ideas what they were? On more thing, I am considering fixing two cyclinder jacks to the chassis for lifting wheels out of deep sand driven by air or hydraulic, anyone done this other than desert warriors and bowlers that have a purpose build tubular frame to fit it all to. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 On more thing, I am considering fixing two cyclinder jacks to the chassis for lifting wheels out of deep sand driven by air or hydraulic, anyone done this other than desert warriors and bowlers that have a purpose build tubular frame to fit it all to.Cheers How about a pair of truck landing legs? I had a pair of long, upside down bottle jacks that were like a trailer prop stands. The body was at the top of an 18" tube and the jack leg pumped out of the bottom of that. It could be fitted to a trailer leg clamp and jacked downwards. They were rated at a ton each. I must dig them out one day. I also used to have an MG YB saloon from 1952 and it had a built in jacking system. A tank and lever pump under the bonnet fed a rotary valve that allowed any single corner, either side, front or back or all four of the jacks to be extended. The jacks were placed just in front of the front axle and just behind the rear axle. It was a great system. Ebay has a lot of hydraulic cylinders that could be used with a manual pump or a pto one I guess. There was also a company selling manual 8 ton, long rams similar to the ones used on engine cranes. This might be an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwriyadh Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Fruit_uk, those Dakar jacks are air/gas operated from a hi-pressure bottle in the cab. They will cost a good wedge. Think carefully about the weight comparison between those Dakar vehicles and a normal vehicle, as the weight goes up so does the diameter of the rams. Thought about trying something similar on my Ltwt but decided it would be difficult to lose the required length (even with cart springs let alone coils) without ripping too much of the bodywork around. Later experiences showed that with a good rim to tyrewidth ratio the problems were always overcome by deflating to 4 psi and driving out. Tyre deflation valves set to very low pressure and on-board air made the process quick and easy. jw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Humphries Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 With all due respect to your dearly departed finger, a fair proportion of that is operator error i.e. don't put your finger in the way! I always say you should treat them a bit like a gun - i.e. if it is loaded and you are going to pull the trigger don't stand at the wrong end or stick anything important in the way when you do it... Definatley. I still don't know what happened exactly. I was jacking under the towbar of my Range Rover onto a tyre to try and break the bead. One split second it was up in the air and another it was fully lowered with me hopping aorund swearing and holding onto my hand. Yes - it "operator error" but I was being careful and knew they can be tempermental but didn't realise they can bite back so easilly without warning. I'd recommend any novice has someone experienced with a Jackall or Hi Lift demonstrate them fully rather then assuming they can work it out themselves. Paul Humphires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I was jacking under the towbar of my Range Rover onto a tyre to try and break the bead.One split second it was up in the air and another it was fully lowered with me hopping aorund swearing and holding onto my hand. This is the thing with hi lifts, they only operate if there is a load on them, around 28kg, to maintain the lift pegs in place. When the tyre bead gave way the sudden loss of load caused the jack to collapse momentarily, unlatching the the lifting pegs, and then the weight of the Rangie came down on it. Nasty injury, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9unit Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 try an air jack paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve King Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 When I bought my Defender the standard LR jack was missing, but the bottle jack from my scrapped Bedford Midi works in most situations with a block of solid wood for it to stand on. The only thing the bottle jack is not good at is lifting the vehicle when you have a flat tyre. Hi Lifts are good in this situation and are also good as a substitute for a winch if you get stuck. Hi Lift type jacks can cause serious injury, check the pins are clean, paint free and give them a squirt of WD 40 before use. I don't know if it is still around, but I did post a thread last year showing my severely squashed little finger. Hi Lift jacks do have their uses, but just be careful and err on the side of caution. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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