Coop
Caught the Bug
Other than making the mistake to use it to change a tire, when was the last time you actually needed to use your Hi-Lift out on the trail? Or, were you just wanting it up on your hood because you think it looks cool and really, there's nothing wrong with that.
I carry three jacks, the original equip. scissor jack, a bottle jack and the Hi-Lift. Always try to make the safest choice. In the last year, I've wheeled on fairly serious outings, 10 times and made the mistake of changing a tire with the Hi-Lift 4 times, once for me and three for my mates. Guess you can't fix stupid. Anyway, these tire incidents have always been rolled beads off the rims. In the eastern states we have a lot of rock, but we have a lot of deeply rutted clay and this seems to be the place we get the rolled beads. We look at the jacking options to get the tire off the ground for re-inflation or changing. I offer the Hi-Lift wide base plate for the bottle jacks or the Hi-Lift jack to my wheeling mates, and ignore all the negative comments and remarks. Sometimes the ruts are so deep the axles are buried in the clay so there is just no room to use the bottle jack to raise the axle. We look at other options, but at least on 4 occasions, we had no other clear choice. So out came my Hi-Lift. Everyone cleared out like I had a rusty steel winch cable. I figure from the distance everyone cleared, the blast radius must be about 25 feet for a Hi-Lift. With some planning for the angle and footing, we got'er done. I have a chain and hook for the Hi-Lift for metal bumpers that grips pretty good. Even after the Hi-Lift success, everyone is still bitching about the danger, and I'll admit I am cautious as hell when I use it. But it's just a tool, and it does work. I don't carry it around when I'm not wheeling, makes too much rattling noise and it's too hard to keep clean and lubed. When I do carry it, it's bolted to my LoD tire carrier.