Before You Use A High Lift Jack - [ Watch This ] 

Do you use a high lift jack for recoveries?

"never use anything that's got skin attached to it, your hand, your finger, to hit that lever.." Great advice! I remember grandpa telling me something very similar 40 years ago when he was teaching me. His version was a bit more colorful though...

There we were, in the dark with no idea how to use the jack we'd borrowed from a mate... Quick RU-vid search... Then up comes Tim with his perfect and succinct advice! No waffling, no jargon, just facts to get you going. Thank you so much Tim! 👍🙏😁

No music no BS straight to the point, great video. cheers

One of the best demos for basic operation of the Hi-lift I have seen.

4:10 best hi-lift advice EVER, and the 100% correct solution to every person who say's farm jacks don't work. Great content, thank you!

Thanks for the video. Hadnt used my grandpa's jack in 40 years. Forgot how it worked.

Awesome, right to the point. Love the way you explain in common man’s language with the close ups to really show what’s happening

Words of wisdom Timbo - thanks for sharing!! Great full demo Lift and Lower, cheers.

They're incredibly useful tools from ripping up small trees and fence posts to helping lift small structures. With the right setup and enough time these things are dynamite. I used a farm jack for the first time in the 80's dad was quick to tell me how fast it would kill you or at best break whatever part of you is in the way. Thankfully I've never seen one fail or a person fail at using one. Right up there with chainsaws, ladders and grinders. You absolutely can't get too comfortable using them.

I needed this tutorial; thanks Tim! (and finally someone who knows good audio is important!)

Thanks Tim! Had one for years, never had to use one, didn't know how to use one untill now! Glad I happened upon your channel. Bottle jack makes sense also, less dangerous.

Good demo, safety Number one was stressed. Thanks.

One of the most concise and best videos about using a hi-lift correctly and safely that I've seen! Thanks.

One of the best safety videos I've seen. Thank you very much for sharing!

Great demo Tim. The maintenance and especially the lubrication of the pins are essential. You see so many covered in dust and bound up from lack of use that the pins can seize, and as you say, you won't hear that 'click' and the jack is loaded!!! Thanks again.

thank you for taking the time to film and demonstrate the safe use of this tool.

Great vid Tim. Safety first...... ALWAYS.

Back in the eighties for my series III Land Rover The high lift jack was my go to piece of recovery equipment. You could use it as a winch, or a lift. You could attach it to any point of the vehicle. But yes you had to be very careful with them as they do bite! The high lift jack and a Tirfor hand winch got me out of all sorts of predicaments😂

Excellent video with some life saving tips!

I had no idea the High Lift farm jack was so dangerous. New jack user here with no one to guide me, thank you for the professional and well done video!

This is the best video I watched on the use of this Jack! And because you showed a close up of the mechanics, I found out my lower spring loaded pin with the small rod Thur it is bent and that’s why it wouldn’t operate properly. You save me more the just time! Thanks.

Thanks Tim I just bought one watching your video puts me at ease to use it cheers

Just bought my first one after needing it. Thanks for telling how to use safely. Love your accent. Cheers mate

Great video. No frills. Learned new stuff today. 👍🏽

Thank you for the demonstration. Well presented and to the point. 👏😊

Great little video there. So many people have hi lifts but many dont know how to use them properly or dont really understand the associated dangers. Good tip is to practice using it at home so you get a good understanding how it works for when you really need it.

Appreciate you putting this together

Great video. I just purchased a jack! Thank you. You gave more safety tips than the booklet that came with the jack.

Great work as always Tim...common bloody sense (where has it gone ??) Well done Batesy !!

Just got one never used it before, I found this super helpful. Cheers mate

Good one Tim, well presented, I’ve never used my h l jack, have it in case 👍👍👍

Thank you for sharing the technique. I learned a lot!

Awesome video , thanks for all the help!!!

Great instructional video. Thank you.

thanks tim another great bit of advice

Good video. Irony is we had one on our Land Rovers in the army in East Timor and yet in all the driver courses I did we were not trained to use one. I was lucky one of my team had one on his personal 4WD so when we needed to use it (a few times!) he was the one that did the work. Now I have bought one I know how to use it. Thanks

Good info Tim. Cheers Steve

Sick! Love it ! Thank you❤

I'm going to put a decal "nothing with skin attached" on it. Best way to get the point across! Thanks for explaining the triangle of death!

Really great video, much appreciated. 👍

Thanks for the video mate

Thanks for the video!

Thank you very much for the video!

They are often called handyman jacks in the states. Great tool, but indeed dangerous if mishandled. Remember, you can orient them horizontally to pull something in an emergency.

The high lift jack,A dentist best friend...Thanks Tim...

Great vid explainer Tim!

This is a damn good video. A must watch for all the city people that use them as an ornament.

Awesome advice 💯

Bloody excellent video mate, keep your head out of the kill zone. Support the jack listen for the clicks and don’t introduce flesh at any stage. Practice and go slow. If in doubt watch the video again! Great advice many thanks. 😀

Great Video! Thank you!

Solid tips Bro!

Much appreciated!

Thanks for this.

Brilliant thank you!

Love that accent!!! A pleasure to hear!

as a humble beginner, I honestly think about these off-road situations even for a standard height 4wd. Honestly a high jack scares me. for at home doing maintenance , i use a Ridge Ryder Caravan Scissor Jack - 1600kg accompanied with two stands (always packed in vehicle). The positive. *is the jack it's long enough so that my head, limbs are out of the way from the body, or front nudge bar when jacking both front wheels up. *the impact gun does the work. *low profile + 60cm jack height. The negative *is the thread is aggressive, and using an impact gun on it will eventually lead it to fail or strip. *even with a large base plate, I've seen how it can begin to buckle when the base is on an uneven surface. I would nt say no the chance to listen to an engineer to explain/guess how one would be able to make a product like it but designed for a impact tool usage and more resistant to twisting etc overall.. Cheers from Shaun.

Thank you!

Thank you for the awesome video good sir. Your friend from Canada

Excellent video

Thanks Tim

Great video

Some great advice there Tim.👍 Personally I think the potential dangers outweigh the benefits so carry a 4T bottle jack in addition to the cars standard jack. Although there is an inherent danger in any lifting mechanism- never can be too careful Cheers...

Oi! A very good instructional video. 5 stars.

Just got one this morning for Christmas. Thanks TB. The box says its not for changing tyres, but I'd imagine that's what a lot of people use them for! Litigation culture at its finest

Thank You Man

Thanks Tim for your time and great advise. From now on I will use a hammer to release the mechanism. I am quite fond of my fingers, cheers!

Brilliant.

great demonstration Tim - I watched the video because I was about to buy one, under the impression that they are a must for the lifted 4WD out on the tracks - but now I see from the numerous comments that they aren’t anywhere near as essential as I thought they were - so I’ll stick with a bottle jack instead - that’ll save some money and weight as, like many, I’m rapidly approaching my GVM - love the channel mate - Chris

I can concur with this advice and my 5 stitches in my ear will serve as a good reminder.

High lift jacks are great! When i was young i got the one with the extra tall bar. It's a poor man's winch. Most often i'd jack my heap (a full sized 1974 Chevy Blazer with an iron 350 V8 and an amazingly heavy transfer case) up to the top and push it over to get unstuck. Saved my bacon many times. Sure, you've got to be careful but that's what brains are for. I sure had a lot of fun with that truck. It only cost $600 so i didn't care about dents and scratches. I totally thrashed it and sold it for double. Not a straight panel on that thing when i was finished with it! :D

Used my first handyman (old school high jack) today. Scary, didn't use blocks or e brake, my own stupidity. Got popped in the elbow and I learned.

Great job, Thank you so much. 🏁🏁😄👍🏁

Love an Aussie accent....I feel like this dude would be an AWESOME dude to ride with in the Outback!

reminds me of crank starting motors in the railways and lister generators

A loooong time ago, my family visited our Florida “swamp family” cousins. It was a Sunday morning, and my uncle, my brother, two cousins, me, and a typical loud-mouth, over weight, smart-ass, know-it-all Swamp Bumpkin went on a ride around the north Florida bogs and swamps in the know-it-all’s hopped-up International Harvester Scout. I was 12, maybe 13 (I’m 65 now), and my father gave my brother and I permission to go as long as we promised not to get muddy (we were leaving later that day, and we had a six hour drive in front of us-and understandably, my Dad didn’t want to be traveling with filthy kids!) Anyway, the Know-it-all, got us stuck; remembering my promise to my Dad, my brother and I couldn’t get into the mud to help push....plus the swamp know-it-all was improperly using one of these jacks. My father was an aerospace engineer.....and I understood enough physics to see that jack had a load on it, and it was starting to lean. Yep....you guessed it. “Swamp Ape” losing his cool, and cursing my brother and I because we stood off to the side staying clean and watching, placed himself in the “danger zone” of that under pressure and teetering jack, and swearing at us, his car, and grunting, he pushed and shoved and that Jack flipped up and tonked him right on the noggin. He lived, and luckily only had a huge welt and cut on his forehead, but I am not sure that it really made him any smarter....and to this day, I’m an annoying Mr. Safety when anyone is using one of those jacks!

Thanks

Kicked arse on the other videos I checked out ,little more time on the slide reverse mechanism would have made things a little clearer. CheerZ

I remember my dad having a very close call with one of these, He never bothered chocking the defender up, He decided to jack the thing up, and remove the rear wheel. Only for the full works to move forward on him. The jack ended up jamming against the bodywork, So he couldn't release the jack, which may have been a good thing, as it dug into the ground. If it hadn't have done that, the thing would have slipped out. My mam was in a right panic, was she not, and played holy hell with him. I had to grab a proper jack ,axle stand, and some blocks. I had to chock, and the jack the car up and get an axle stand under there, just so it would take the pressure off the hi lift jack. He was very lucky, but still never learned from it. He wanted to use it to do repairs on mine, and i did the proper things, like diff lock, in gear and chocking. You could see the Lift jack was starting to slip from under mine, and it would just spring out, I said. Right a proper jack is getting used and that's it! Since then we never used it, and he sharp shut up about using one, after i read him a few stories on the defender forum on how dangerous they are on defenders, as they just spring out. A few lads have had some well close shaves with them, and that was only changing a tyre over. My dad has since decided to switch to a bottle jack like i did, and retire using a high lift jack altogether. Maybe ok to use for other things like recovery here, but as you say you have to be right on your metal with them. Seeing one starting to slip in front of me, with my pride and joy on, was well enough for me not to use one ever again.

I received my 80 inch HI Lift jack today. I'm 72 years old and this is the first time I've ever owned (or even operated) one. I've seen them in action, but never really paid much attention. I think it is so cool how the two pins alternate as they lift a load. I was surprised when the jack just fell when I hit the lever to the down position, no jacking needed and I used a hammer, not my hand to lower the lever. I now understand that the jack has to be under a load for it not just just collapse when the lever is knocked downward. You made real nice video and it has helped me understand my jack, thanks. To lube it, do you just soak the pins area with WD40?

Another great video Tim. We don't have HiLift jacks but I'm guessing that they are like any jack, never get under a vehicle only supported by a HiLift Jack. Rgs Wayne.

Great video. The only thing I would add is don't stand directly in front of the jack, stand to the side. As they can flick out.

Great information about this for the people that don't take this seriously

Hi Tim, I'm a newb to 4wding. Been practising with the Hi Lift jack in the drive way. Haven't used it on the trails yet. My jacks instructions advised to keep the handle in the vertical position at all the times, unless in the process of cranking it up or down, and when doing this to always keep 2 hands on the handle. Seemed like good advice as the handle isn't holding any energy when in the upright position. Be interested what someone with a lot of experience thought of this advice. Hammer to flick the switch is an excellent idea. Will be using that.

Dam you make it look easy young felah,i like to practice lifting my landy on my concrete drive way and lose the vehicle sideways all the time,hmm i thinking its a landy problem because its a round lifting point not a flat one like your jack,l think it makes all four wheel drivers nerves when they get that high lift jack out,the more reason to practice. Stay safe and look after my nissan.

My truck has trailer hitch adapters on both ends. Just insert the jack in the hitch receiver and it won't skip out sideways. Of course, the truck could fall over sideways, though. Just be careful and watch the truck closely for movement in any direction. These jacks were originally designed to lift tractors that have no suspension, as well.

Couldn’t say it better myself!

I hate these jacks and in over 40 years of 4 wheelin have never had one or been in a situation that couldn’t be gotten out of by some other means. I have unfortunately seen many injuries to others using them though, the worst being a fellow who instinctively grabbed the top of the jack to try and stop the vehicle he was jacking up from slipping sideways resulting in his hand being crushed between the jack and the side of the car. It was a split second impulse action that lost him the use of his hand... bloody dangerous things that should be avoided at all costs as far as I’m concerned. Good demo though Tim.

Good one Tim,somewhere remote,and your finger gets removed curtesy of your high lift jack,how much trouble are you going to be in?Or a broken nose from the loaded handle slipping from your wet hands.Like you say,think safety,take your time,and come away safe,and ready for more adventures 👍🙂

Next time, show the audience the "loaded weapon". Many people underestimate the threat of the loaded high lift. Best wishes from Germany

Gracias por el video, Ud habla como si fuera de la tierra de abajo. Just in case I mean You sound like you are in Down under? Am I right? Saludos desde Costa Rica..

"Don't use anything with skin to hit that lever", I like it, when working with moving parts on huge machinery I used to tell the lad's "don't put your fingers where you wouldn't put your cock". It makes the point that you'll only lose digits/limb's once. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Why am I watching this, I don’t have a high lift jack or a 4wd 😂

Great video bud, just bought one after much research but unfortunately its junk and dangerous junk too, any rec's for a good brand? thanks

I'd attach the base plate to the bottom of the jack, and not take it off unless I'm replacing it with a new one. The replacement applies to both the jack and the base plate. Never know which one will get replaced when.

4:14 i had to use this once, didn't have a hammer, good thing i'm circumcised.

The going down part is so sketchy. I have the harbor freight one. The first time I used it I hit the lever and after the first click going down it wouldn’t go down anymore. Then all the sudden, it dropped all the way with the weight of my truck.

I know that the highlift jack locks into position with two bolts, but I would like to see how it raises the load. I am curious because I have never had such an one, and I like mechanics.. Greetings again. Aufwiederschauen..à la prochaine, Hasta la vista.. P.S I would like ya to post a video on the inside workings,which is not so easily see it.. By the way I have an automaticTerracan 4 WD.

Thank you, you may have just saved my hand or my teeth

Back in the day they were called stump jacks no light weight material in construction and holy terrors to use😂.