My wife bought me a Hi-Lift jack for Christmas. She got me the 60" jack because she thought it was the one I wanted. Only thing is, this thing is long. I don't see it being mounted anywhere but the roofrack.

My question I want to ask is should I take it back and get the shorter version, or should I keep this one? Should I opt for the shorter one because it would be easier to carry, and sacrifice the extra length?

Just wondering.

The jokes we could make with this..

60 in.?? Wow.. I would go for something shorter dude.. Personally can't see you using a jack to lift something more than a couple of feet anyway.. Perhaps you would be interested in my friend's hydraulic lift? :p

He's selling it for 10 grand I think.. :rolleyes:

do you have ARB or sliders ?
are you going to have a lift any time soon ?

if you will not have lift, 48 inch is the way to go
but with a lift 48 inch will be too short, so 60 is the way to go

Yeah,TAT I see how that could snowball into a pretty interesting conversation! hehehe

Thanks Oleg, I have a most of the suspension lift now, (next mod will be the upper control arms and balljoints) I don't plan to lift the body at this time. I do have an ARB and sliders though. I do think the utility of the taller jack would be nice but it is long and I haven't a clue yet as to where I will mount the thing. Any suggestions?

When you say lift do you mean sus or body or both?

I would definatly keep the 60". You can always fold down one of the rear seats, and store it length wise.

If you will get 48 inch one with your suspencion lift you will be very close to the top, when you will need to change a tire
and it will not be stable

with 60 inch one you will be about half or 2/3 way up which is what they sugest

just mount it on the top, or fold down one rear seat and it will fit there just fine

or dont know if this will work or not , try putting it dioganaly in your cargo area

you can also buy just the 48" I beam, if that is what you want, for around 20 dollars. That way, you have the best of both worlds, and that I beam can be a spare or used to patch up a trashed Jeep tie rod on the trails.

Got your MIG welder?

Thanks! I'm going to keep the 60". I'm convinced the extra length may come in handy someday. I always have the option of cutting it off if I ever feel I need it to be a little shorter.

Don't know about any I-beams but I do think a couple of brackets for the roof rack would do the trick.

Bwhahahahahahaha!!

Somehow I saw that one comming Tats!

60 inches might be too big.
Well... Unless you like to go aroung whacking people with it.


Back to being serious.

Have you thought about wedgeing it between the two rear seat cushions, it'd be a good barrier to keep kids from fighting.
I'm not sure how tight of fit it would be though.

At times my friend, I think I want to strap the kids to the roof rack and let my jack ride in the X!! (Just kidding)

If you keep the high lift inside the x, make sure it is tied down securely. If you were to get in an accident, you wouldnt want that thing flying around. Or if you rolled the x wheeling, you'd be hurt, or dead.
The best place for the highlift is stored outside. Do you really want to put it in between the seats after you use it to un-highcenter yourself in a hugely rutted, mud bog? I mean, you plan on using it, right? The outside it goes.
NJCruiser
1994 FZJ80- hi lift on rack
2001 Xterra SE 4x4-no hi lift needed

Putting it outside was the way I intended to carry it as I said in a previous post.

Actually, I've got a design drawn up in Acad, it would mount to the existing crossbars by clamping around the oval shape of the bar itself. I then could drill a hole for a 1/2 bolt and wingnut the whole thing down.

Aquamander, Just by the horizontal mighty-mounts. Ian/XOC hsd his mounted like this. Mighty mounts are less then $20 and all you need is a longer bolt.
http://www.xterrain.com/

That is a good idea, what's better is I have a set of them!

My concern is strength. That's pretty thin plastic there (1/8"). I'm not as worried of it breaking on the trail as I am of it becoming a missle in an accident.

I guess you could position the bolts to the inside of the bars. In the event they did break in an accident from either front or rear you would still have a bolt that would have to pass through the bar in order to fly off. Right?

I have the 60' jack and used XOC's mount. It works very good.

I had the same problem trying to decide between 60' and 48'. Went with the 60' because myself and two others were going to scout Soda Lake. I had visions of getting half way across the "dry" lake and getting stuck in the mud bog. Then having the 48' sink a foot into the mud. I also have a enlarged orange base to try and prevent sinkage as well as a jaws of life attachment.

Yeah you want to run both bolts through the bar. Xtra security!

Well, I put the jack on the mighty mounts even threw some rubber pads on to keep it from eating up the bars. It looks solid and feels secure.

Waterproof Seat Covers

Plus when I'm stuck, getting the inside of the Xterra muddy is the least of my worries. I supprised YOU would be worried about something like that.

About safety,
as long as the lifting mechanism is behind the seats, with the steel bar sticking in between, I think the seats will be able to hold the jack from flying to the front. And if it did happen to break through say in a head on, 80/80 MPH accident it would fly between the passengers in front. If it was on the roof it may fly like a spear into the other car if it breaks loose.

I have a 60" hi-lift mounted on the top of my brushguard on my Rover, don't see why this wouldn't work on an X.