Stupid Additions that you will never use effectively and/or also are dangerous.

[talljeeper]

I have added a LOT of really dumb stuff over the years (40 years of Jeepin") to make my Jeeps look cool or trail ready My .02 from an old Jeeper.

1) I cringe whenever I see anything related to high lift jacks. Hanging them on an aluminum hood or side panel or bed, NO. In the event of a collision or rollover they are an effective projectile. Stop IT! If you have ever used one in the field (doubtful) you know a stable and safe usage is sketchy at best unless you are packing a solid platform to support the foot. These jacks DO NOT replace a winch for recovery. They are dangerous in the hands of a novice.

2) Overhead consoles. I don't wear a crash helmet when I drive or four wheel, do you? Think about it. Noggins are pretty soft

3) Stacking so much crap across your dash. Phone mounts, Nav., etc.. It doesn't really take a rocket scientist to figure out these vehicles need as much as help as possible with a optimal field of view.

4)See above, think about anything that impedes the the function of an EXPLOSIVE air bag(s) and the shrapnel effect add-on "accessories" could have and seriously injure you or your passenger(s) have. You drive a Jeep not an aircraft.

5) If you exceed the original manufactures safety and functional designs the failure/injury/death is on you, not Jeep.

Nobody expects the worse, but stack the odds in your favor and save your hard earned dollars towards protecting you and those you share the road and trail with and not "trends".

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[ShadowsPapa]

1) I cringe whenever I see anything related to high lift jacks. Hanging them on an aluminum hood or side panel or bed, NO. In the event of a collision or rollover they are an effective projectile. Stop IT! If you have ever used one in the field (doubtful) you know a stable and safe usage is sketchy at best unless you are packing a solid platform to support the foot. These jacks DO NOT replace a winch for recovery. They are dangerous in the hands of a novice.

Decades ago the same jack was sold in farm stores as a handiman jack. They included accessories that attached to the jack to stretch fence wire and do other things. Then Jeepers started using them and now they sell for a whole lot more and are called high lift jacks.
Get one jacked up high with some weight on it - it's going over unless on a solid platform - but even then, the foot of the jack itself is narrow. I've had one bust the boards it was on, sink and go sideways. It's a lot of pressure on a small area meaning high PSI.
They aren't safe even if you try to take care. Ideally you have a much larger foot to pin to the bottom of the post, not just put something under the base.

I chuckle in a way - it's like some of the stuff my wife uses - painted it up, repackage it as a special tool aimed at a different market segment, double the price and sell it. The stuff my wife uses for quilting used to be sold for other purposes for a fraction of the price quilt shops get.
Similar to these jacks. They were used back in the middle of the last century by farmers.
I guess someone bought one on a farm sale and started selling it for Jeeps?
Mine actually has the cam setup for pulling fence wire!
I probably paid 20 bucks for it in 1982.

 

[Hootbro]

I see the point to a point.

We are driving vehicles by people that do not want to live a "Bubble Boy" lifestyle and generally are risk takers to some degree and that includes the good with the bad.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

5) If you exceed the original manufactures safety and functional designs the failure/injury/death is on you, not Jeep.

I've yet to see any Jeep owner blame Jeep for a mishap or injury. It's more like "oh, well, blew that one" when things go south.

 

[Zachattack50]

I've used a high lift jack multiple times offroad, very usefull. No less or more dangerous than any other recovery device.

 

[Jteakus]

The High Lift.
I don't carry a spare on my CJ buggy but I do use (or loan) it almost every trip we take. It is secured to the lower part of my rear cage. Most of the younger guys that want to borrow it can't run it so we take a break from wheeling to aid in whatever repair they are attempting. Hint, carry a cheap quart of oil with the jack and keep your chin from above the handle.

 

[ScottBeach]

Anything that adds 100s of lbs of balist over height of cab.-- Tents. -- Thule carriers etc. Makes perfect sense.... get that center of gravity as high as possible to improve stability. /s

 

[John Lenheiser]

I just drive my vehicles stock as the day I purchased them, I just add fuel, I guess I'm a pretty dull person. You do know that factory stock vehicles do return you the most money when you sell them, anything you add will return you 25cents on the dollar and that's if your lucky.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Hi-Lifts have some uses on the trail other than lifting, e.g. pulling a vehicle sideways off of rocks. I’m not sure those scenarios are likely enough or can always helped by a hi-lift to justify dealing with the bulk and weight of carrying one. I’d prefer a small come-along and a large steel bar (6 feet long).

As an actual jack they’re absolutely terrible and obviously dangerous. About 20 years ago I had a 60” hi-lift. Out of the box I tested it to understand what I was getting in to. To this day whenever I see a 48” one strapped to a Jeep I wonder if the owner did the same. On my TJ, lifting from several locations I could only get my tires about an inch off the ground with my 60” maxed out because of the suspension droop. A 48” wouldn’t have gotten the tire off the ground. In the driveway this looked absolutely insanely deadly; 4500lbs on a stick. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the thing, so I quickly lowered it down. I carried mine horizontally across the bottom tube of my rear swing out tire carrier because it seemed like the least likely place for it to become a missile. But it began rusting immediately (Hi-Lift brand quality) and was always in the way. I stopped carrying it a few years later, never having used it.

A good bottle jack or even the stock jack with a good raised base works far better for lifting the truck and you can just lift from the axle tube directly the inch or so you need to get a wheel off. Using a hi-lift is like trying to do something simple in the most dangerous and complicated way possible.

 

[Chunky White]

I have only seen a Hi LIft jack used once and that was to move the rear end of a truck sideways so the guy could get by a tree. We literally jack the truck up by the receiver and pushed it sideways. I have never owned one and most likely never will.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The High Lift.
I don't carry a spare on my CJ buggy but I do use (or loan) it almost every trip we take. It is secured to the lower part of my rear cage. Most of the younger guys that want to borrow it can't run it so we take a break from wheeling to aid in whatever repair they are attempting. Hint, carry a cheap quart of oil with the jack and keep your chin from above the handle.

Yeah, keep the mechanism CLEAN and lubed with a dry lube that doesn't attract dust and dirt. When those pins get sticky they may not catch and you can get an unwelcome surprise. On the farm I found oil just made the pins sticky and slow to move making it difficult to let down, or, it would suddenly let itself down. So now it's only something like a silicone lube or even a graphite spray lube. They do get sticky and dirty. Mine has been used so much over the years there's actually visible wear on the pins.
Great tip on keeping face away from the handle or the post. It hurts like !%$!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have only seen a Hi LIft jack used once and that was to move the rear end of a truck sideways so the guy could get by a tree. We literally jack the truck up by the receiver and pushed it sideways. I have never owned one and most likely never will.

Yes - I've moved wagons, trailers, and trucks sideways using one. Jack it up, then tip the jack to the side. Reposition, jack it up, tip the jack. I had to do that with my big 3,000 pound flatbed trailer I had years ago (that's empty weight and likely it was more)
I went to Reading, PA to pick up a car. Reading folks know their streets are made for horses, not cars. In an alley behind the guys shop, I backed the trailer close to the overhead door but there wasn't room to maneuver and I couldn't get my F250 around the corner onto the street at the end of the alley. So disconnect, use jack to slide trailer around, take the truck around the block and come in the other way where the street was wide enough. Thank goodness for that jack.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hi-Lifts have some uses on the trail other than lifting, e.g. pulling a vehicle sideways off of rocks. I’m not sure those scenarios are likely enough or can always helped by a hi-lift to justify dealing with the bulk and weight of carrying one. I’d prefer a small come-along and a large steel bar (6 feet long).

As an actual jack they’re absolutely terrible and obviously dangerous. About 20 years ago I had a 60” hi-lift. Out of the box I tested it to understand what I was getting in to. To this day whenever I see a 48” one strapped to a Jeep I wonder if the owner did the same. On my TJ, lifting from several locations I could only get my tires about an inch off the ground with my 60” maxed out because of the suspension droop. A 48” wouldn’t have gotten the tire off the ground. In the driveway this looked absolutely insanely deadly; 4500lbs on a stick. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the thing, so I quickly lowered it down. I carried mine horizontally across the bottom tube of my rear swing out tire carrier because it seemed like the least likely place for it to become a missile. But it began rusting immediately (Hi-Lift brand quality) and was always in the way. I stopped carrying it a few years later, never having used it.

A good bottle jack or even the stock jack with a good raised base works far better for lifting the truck and you can just lift from the axle tube directly the inch or so you need to get a wheel off. Using a hi-lift is like trying to do something simple in the most dangerous and complicated way possible.

I carry a bottle jack and a hefty come along.

That's what I've wondered - when you build a Jeep for max articulation, then raise it up, you've got to jack a long long ways to get past the suspension droop.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

I carry a bottle jack and a hefty come along.

That's what I've wondered - when you build a Jeep for max articulation, then raise it up, you've got to jack a long long ways to get past the suspension droop.

Yep. I have a feeling there’s a lot of folks on the trail with a hi-lift, no bottle jack and they’ve removed the stock jack. And in reality they may have no way of lifting their tires off the ground. Hi-lift makes an attachment to lift the truck by the wheel but that’s like changing your underwear with your trousers still on.

 

[HooliganActual]

Anything that adds 100s of lbs of balist over height of cab.-- Tents. -- Thule carriers etc. Makes perfect sense.... get that center of gravity as high as possible to improve stability. /s

FWIW and I don't mean to raise any "hate" here...but people need to get over this.

I'm not disputing that an RTT and its mounting platform raise the center of gravity; but for years, I wheeled the hardest trails here in AZ with an AEV roof platform and a James Baroud Evasion EVO on the roof of my Wrangler and did every trail I wanted to do just fine. In fact, I've taken it on trails that many of my buddies wouldn't do (Hackberry, Sunflower, Table Mesa for those that know the area).

Does it raise my center of gravity? AbsoFlutely! Does it guarantee a rollover when taking a curb at the parking lot? No it doesn't.

EDIT: If the concern is about raising the center of gravity and making the vehicle "dangerous", then let's also call out lift kits and larger tires as they raise the center of gravity and make it "dangerous" too.

It's like any other mod you can do to your vehicle; you have to understand it's limitations and or benefits. I mean I have watched buddies with 37" tires and 4" lifts get high centered on rocks. Their lift and tires didn't guarantee that they could crawl over anything any more than my RTT means I will be laying the rig on its side.

Like I said, not trying to hate on this concept, it's just not as "evil" as it is often made out to be. I'd wager that I am willing to take it in more off-camber scenarios than most people are willing to take a stock Jeep. So people new to offroading should be extremely cautious and wary about raising that center of gravity or it will burn them, but if you are careful and sensible and don't "drive it like you stole it", it will serve just fine.

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