Convince me I should keep lugging around my hi-lift

[M Rose]

Silly question , when and why was the last time you had to break a bead with a hi-lift ? And after the bead was broken how did you get the old tire off and get the new one on?? And for if some weird reason you did have a spare tire why wasn’t it on a rim already?

I keep up on my tire maintenance and stick to terrain that doesn’t kill tires as much, so the last time I actually had to break my bead was 4 years ago when the tire shop refused to find the leak on my brand new tires and fix it... so I dug out the highlift, and broke the bead, then I grabbed my handy 14” pry bars and the highlift handle and pried the tire off the wheel. Getting the new tire back on the wheel is actually quite easy. Block the outside edges of the tire up in two locations, lube the tire bead up with some axle grease found under your rig, set the rim on top of the wheel, place the highlift jack pad into the center of the wheel and press the wheel into the first bead, then just pry the other bead into place. Now comes the hard part... sealing the bead to the rim... my preferred and go to meat hood is taking a ratchet strap and wrapping the tire tread forcing the bead onto the wheel... usually this works, if not... more grease and make sure the valve stem is centered between a sealed area of the beed as you fill the tire. All in all I can take a tire/wheel assembly off an axle, swap tires from wheels and put the new tire/wheel assembly back onto the axle in under 10 minutes with the right air compressor.

 

[Lindenwood]

I think it is interesting how several people denegrate hi-lift owners as posers, yet they are probably the same folks who applaud the purchase $1,500 worth of winch and bumper that will probably also never be used.

Ive had a winch on multiple vehicles and only successfully used one once. Even then, I could have just as successfully used my hi-lift to winch myself out because I have a solid kit.

Also, please please stop saying "you cant use a hi-lift on a vehicle without sliders!"

I carry a Lift-mate wheel adapter and have lifted my plastic-bumpered 2019 Rav4 just fine on multiple occasions. My 5lb collapsible aluminum jack stands then even allow me to change a tire if I need.

But ultimately, "need" is entirely subjective. 10 times out of 10 I'd rather have 100lb of hi-lift + accessories (including my jack stands) than 250lb of winch and bumper on a lone trip. But, if you don't want to give up the space and / or money to mount it, then it is entirely up to you to leave it home.


I have never found a wheel that didnt work with my lift-mate.


And for the "can't change a tire" folks, here are my 5lb jack stands. The bases simply slide off and I keep them with the rest of my offroad / recovery gear. I also carry and have used the factory scissor jack, but I'd much rather use a jack stand either way for any work on the vehicle.

 

[Offroadnutz]

I keep up on my tire maintenance and stick to terrain that doesn’t kill tires as much, so the last time I actually had to break my bead was 4 years ago when the tire shop refused to find the leak on my brand new tires and fix it... so I dug out the highlift, and broke the bead, then I grabbed my handy 14” pry bars and the highlift handle and pried the tire off the wheel. Getting the new tire back on the wheel is actually quite easy. Block the outside edges of the tire up in two locations, lube the tire bead up with some axle grease found under your rig, set the rim on top of the wheel, place the highlift jack pad into the center of the wheel and press the wheel into the first bead, then just pry the other bead into place. Now comes the hard part... sealing the bead to the rim... my preferred and go to meat hood is taking a ratchet strap and wrapping the tire tread forcing the bead onto the wheel... usually this works, if not... more grease and make sure the valve stem is centered between a sealed area of the beed as you fill the tire. All in all I can take a tire/wheel assembly off an axle, swap tires from wheels and put the new tire/wheel assembly back onto the axle in under 10 minutes with the right air compressor.

In the past, on the two occasions I've had to reseat a tire on a rim while on a trail, I went the rednek way and used carb cleaner and a lighter. Works very quickly Ill give it that....

 

[Offroadnutz]

I think it is interesting how several people denegrate hi-lift owners as posers, yet they are probably the same folks who applaud the purchase $1,500 worth of winch and bumper that will probably also never be used.

Ive had a winch on multiple vehicles and only successfully used one once. Even then, I could have just as successfully used my hi-lift to winch myself out because I have a solid kit.

Also, please please stop saying "you cant use a hi-lift on a vehicle without sliders!"

I carry a Lift-mate wheel adapter and have lifted my plastic-bumpered 2019 Rav4 just fine on multiple occasions. My 5lb collapsible aluminum jack stands then even allow me to change a tire if I need.

But ultimately, "need" is entirely subjective. 10 times out of 10 I'd rather have 100lb of hi-lift + accessories (including my jack stands) than 250lb of winch and bumper on a lone trip. But, if you don't want to give up the space and / or money to mount it, then it is entirely up to you to leave it home.


I have never found a wheel that didnt work with my lift-mate.
View attachment 139681

And for the "can't change a tire" folks, here are my 5lb jack stands. The bases simply slide off and I keep them with the rest of my offroad / recovery gear. I also carry and have used the factory scissor jack, but I'd much rather use a jack stand either way for any work on the vehicle.

View attachment 139682

I like the jack stands. What brand are they? I cant make out from the pic...

 

[KonzaLander]

I like the jack stands. What brand are they? I cant make out from the pic...

I wondered the same thing. Think I found them on Amazon:
Torin Big Red Aluminum Jack Stands

 

[Lindenwood]

I wondered the same thing. Think I found them on Amazon:
Torin Big Red Aluminum Jack Stands

Yup!

 

[Downs]

Mine lives in my attic. But I can't bring myself to sell it lol.

 

[Brewbud]

I think it is interesting how several people denegrate hi-lift owners as posers, yet they are probably the same folks who applaud the purchase $1,500 worth of winch and bumper that will probably also never be used.

Ive had a winch on multiple vehicles and only successfully used one once. Even then, I could have just as successfully used my hi-lift to winch myself out because I have a solid kit.

Also, please please stop saying "you cant use a hi-lift on a vehicle without sliders!"

I carry a Lift-mate wheel adapter and have lifted my plastic-bumpered 2019 Rav4 just fine on multiple occasions. My 5lb collapsible aluminum jack stands then even allow me to change a tire if I need.

But ultimately, "need" is entirely subjective. 10 times out of 10 I'd rather have 100lb of hi-lift + accessories (including my jack stands) than 250lb of winch and bumper on a lone trip. But, if you don't want to give up the space and / or money to mount it, then it is entirely up to you to leave it home.


I have never found a wheel that didnt work with my lift-mate.


And for the "can't change a tire" folks, here are my 5lb jack stands. The bases simply slide off and I keep them with the rest of my offroad / recovery gear. I also carry and have used the factory scissor jack, but I'd much rather use a jack stand either way for any work on the vehicle.

It really depends on the vehicle and the terrain you are driving in. For most overlanding you are probably right. In rougher terrain, a winch may be better. In really rough rocky terrain, you may need both (glad I gave up those routes). I have probably used my winch 10 times in the last 2 years. My Hi-lift twice in 10 years. Most of the winch use was to recover others in situations a Hi-Lift would not have helped. The wheel attachments work well but I seldom use a Hi-Lift to lift just one tire. The reason I still carry a Hi-lift is for when I need to raise the chassis of the vehicle and not just the tires. Such as repairing a suspension part or leveraging a vehicle over to the side. (still have a bent Hi-lift in the garage from one of those episodes). If I had to choose, I would give up by Hi-lift before my winch. Recovery options are much better with my winch.

 

[FrankRoams]

I took mine off a year ago and never looked back. Also, I never wheel alone so there has never been a case of someone not having one. Case in point the one time we used on when a trail hitch failed. I am becoming a fan of not duplicating a ton of stuff. We don't need 5 Hi-lift jacks, or 5 winches and the list goes on... Divide the gear and the weight within the group. That's been working really well for us.

 

[Lindenwood]

My Hi-lift twice in 10 years. Most of the winch use was to recover others in situations a Hi-Lift would not have helped.

Are you saying even with a winching system, a hi-lift wouldn't have helped? Or just that a basic hi-lift by itself wouldn't have done anything?

 

[Brewbud]

Are you saying even with a winching system, a hi-lift wouldn't have helped? Or just that a basic hi-lift by itself wouldn't have done anything?

For most, the Hi-Lift wouldn't have helped with or without a winch. They have seldom been flat land recoveries. Many have been when people slipped off the side of a trail or were close to rolling. Some have been to get them up and over an obstacle on a hill. One or two were even flops. I have yet to use the winch to get myself out though.

 

[Lindenwood]

For most, the Hi-Lift wouldn't have helped with or without a winch. They have seldom been flat land recoveries. Many have been when people slipped off the side of a trail or were close to rolling. Some have been to get them up and over an obstacle on a hill. One or two were even flops. I have yet to use the winch to get myself out though.

Sorry, I am saying that if a winch pull was required to recover all those vehicles, how would a hi-lift equipped to winch horizontally not have also worked? I can pull about 25 feet with my hi-lift before having to reset any straps.

 

[Brewbud]

Sorry, I am saying that if a winch pull was required to recover all those vehicles, how would a hi-lift equipped to winch horizontally not have also worked? I can pull about 25 feet with my hi-lift before having to reset any straps.

I have used a Hi-Lift to winch before when my buddy's Blazer didn't quite make it across the river. It just doesn't compare well to a winch and it is not as safe. The last place I want to be is between the anchor point and what is being winched. I'll keep my winch for that type of work and just use my Hi-Lift for jacking.

 

[FrankRoams]

Yup, none of this has convinced me to carry a hi-lift again.

 

[Lindenwood]

I have used a Hi-Lift to winch before when my buddy's Blazer didn't quite make it across the river. It just doesn't compare well to a winch and it is not as safe. The last place I want to be is between the anchor point and what is being winched. I'll keep my winch for that type of work and just use my Hi-Lift for jacking.

Nobody is arguing that a hi-lift is as good as an actual winch for... winching. The discussion is morphed into a debate on whether a hi-lift is a useless poser flag as some say, or if it can actually functionally--albeit obviously with more time and effort--resolve a lot of recovery situations.

And, I argue with an emphatic yes, even including in your described situations. It sounds like normal use of a winch recovered all those vehicles, an yeah a hi-lift with appropriate accessories could likely have accomplish the same recoveries.

 

[NotGumby]

After so many years of non-use, I ditched the hi-lift for a Takla air jack. Haven't used it either....

 

[Vinman]

Over two decades of recreational off roading and I bet I haven’t seen a hi-lift jack used more than 3 times and each time a bottle jack would have been a better choice. I haven't carried a hi-lift in my Jeep since my first year of wheeling although I do carry it in the back of my truck if I‘m pulling a trailer in case the the power tongue jack fails.
I did use mine to break the bead on two of my tires today to add balancing beads.

 

[surfnturf]

My wife gave me a hi-lift jack for Christmas 35 years ago. Since then, we have explored approximately 6 to 10 trips a year.... That's well over 200 excursions. Over all the years, I can count on less than both of my hands how many times I have used it. Probably less than once every 20 to 30 trips. When you need it... you need it. I've used it to remove a tire so that I could patch it after ripping the sidewall, I've used it to lever my vehicle from being high centered, it's been used as an anchor point for my winch, and just last year I used it when I sheared a center pin on my leaf spring.

Personally, I would not go off-road with out it. Like a fire extinguisher... you may never need it... but when you do.. you'll be very upset with yourself if it sitting at home in your garage. I keep mine out of the way snugged tightly to my roll cage.

 

[Advtres]

I purchased a high lift you know because everyone else had them and since everyone else had them they must be super useful…. ( and you know they look so cool )

Well, I do not know how to properly use a high lift and my 4Runner has limited points to actually use one and I am as paranoid of the jack taking my face off, ( almost as paranoid as I am of bears when out solo camping ) .. so I went with the safe jack.

I have a winch, track boards, land anchor and a second bottle jack so hopefully I will never regret propping it up in the garage where it still looks cool.

When I go for longer trips solo I may pull it out and snuggle it next to the land anchor, but until then good friend enjoy your sabbatical.

 

[FrankRoams]

Took mine off 3 years ago and it’s been in garage ever since. Not once have I wished I had it with me. With proper tool there are way better options. Casting is the only valid reason I could think of at this point.