This needs to be front and centre, its a safety-related matter. Lost of people wrench on their truck without to much concern for safety. This drives the message home.


Crawdad: what exactly landed on your head, the back half of the truck?

 

Glad that you made it out with minimal damage!

A game warden told me of an older and much more experienced warden who got stuck in the snow and used the hi-lift to help get unstuck. From what they saw the jack slipped and bashed him in the head. I don't remember how long he was up on the mountain before they found him, but he didn't survive. Extremely handy, but lethally hazardous even if you've had years of experience with them.

 

Sorry to hear about your close call and I am glad you are okay.

However, that accident was caused by your own negligence and/or stupidity, not a Hi-Lift Jack and the title of this thread is misleading.

Hi-Lift Jacks are NOT MAINTENANCE equipment and not meant to be used in your garage to work on your vehicle, they are RECOVERY equipment and meant to be used as such!!!

Invest in a set of jackstands or work on one side at the time.

Again, glad you are okay, but this wasn't the Hi-Lift Jack's fault. It was yours.

 

The trailer hitch and frame is what hit me and pinned me, with the weight of the back half of the truck on it.

Went to the ER last night and I'm fine, other than the obvious injuries. Apparently I have a strong skull.

Let me clarify something: I wasn't intending on working on the truck while it was supported by the hi-lift. My plan was to lower the axle on to the floor jack, raise the frame enough to get the springs off their perch, and then put jack stands under it. Should have been easy, and safe. My mistake was thinking "Crap, the axle isn't lowered enough, I'll stick my arm under there and lower it, it'll take 2 seconds" instead of continuing to lift the rear and then put it on jack stands. My head was actually CLEAR of the bumper - if it had come straight down, I would have been out of the way. However, HiLifts don't come straight down. They come back and at an angle when they drop, so the truck effectively shifted and landed on my head.

Doesn't make me any less of an idiot .

And it ain't the jack's fault, everyone - they're well designed, well purposed pieces of machinery, that can be incredibly unsafe when you use them unsafely.

Well, I agree about the first part, but I don't think the title is misleading - it's not a problem with the jack itself, but it's a warning about what can happen if you use them incorrectly. The design of a HiLift is such that it can "shift" under load - it's meant to do this, and can be incredibly useful offroad (ie, jacking a stuck truck and pushing it off the jack). However, it can be disastrous if it shifts without warning.

It was my own negligence that caused this accident, but all it takes is half a second of screwing up and you're dead.

Maybe a more apt title would be "Working on vehicles and Darwin's theory" 'cause I almost took myself out of the gene pool .

 

Danny,

It was courageous of you to post this thread and your experience without taking reprimands personally. I'm sure you are not the only person who has used equipment without precaution. I include myself in that group.

Having survived this ordeal, I think your contribution about this experience has made more people take heed of your warning of what could happen while using a hi-lift jack the way you did.

My hat off to you Sir.

 

HOLY MAN
the other day i was taking my trail rig off jacks after doing a few months of work.. and i had one jack stand left under the front cross member.. didnt have any wheel choked im a FIN moron.. all of a suddin im on the ground cause i wasletting the pressure off my floor jack and the trucks i see it move and im like O CRAP i use all my manly strength to hold the tire as it was coming down toward me,but it scared the living ISH outta me..

BE CAREFUL YOTATECHERS DONT WANNA READ ABOUT ANYONT GETTING CRUSHED..
I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON!

 

Hey Crawdad,

Your NOT Stupid, or, an Idiot.....Your just Human, like the rest of Us.

I'm sure We've all done dumber things,.. some of us have been caught already, and some of us, just have'nt been caught.....Yet.

Glad Your Alright!

Ballsy Post, Thank You

Kiwi

 

Glad you are ok crawdad....

I have almost done the same thing...I was working with jackstands under the axle even...the main Hi lift bar BENT and shifted the weight.....pretty scary...I was able to save mine with a couple swift kicks to the jackstands....

 

glad you are ok.... but i hope you realize the other factor of the accident. by chocking only one tire the truck can still pivot as the unchocked tire rolles forward or back, and that is why the hi-lift shifted and dropped the load. the only time you can get away with chocking only one wheel is when you only have 1 wheel in the air.

stay safe out there.

Al

 

wow glad you are ok best thing is to use the proper tools like a normal jack and jack stands I always thought high lifts where meant only be used for recovery.

 

Aye, they are SUPPOSED to be used for recovery only but not everyone has a home (floor) jack that goes up 36"....including myself

 

I have an 85 4Runner on 40s and I can get it off the ground with a simple floor jack under the axle and then using jackstands on the frame ( (4) 12 ton from HF for under $150)

If you are going to play with lifted trucks, you need to get the proper equipment to work on them...and a Hi-Lift is not the proper equipment!

 

Why would you use a hi-lift jack in the first place? You can get a 2 ton hydraulic jack for $25 and a pair of stands for $20 all for the same price as a high lift. What I do not understand is after you lifted the truck, why didn't you put floor jacks under the frame? Doesn't your gut tell you that the method you chose is dangerous? Well you learn from your mistakes.

James

 

yeah, i need to sell my floor jack to some "low rider", it's prolly 6" too short for my incredibelly stock 4Runner!

 

Oh, Im not condoning this type of behavior...just saying that its been done....no, its not safe at all...

I would consider myself VERY lucky if I could find some stands for 20 bucks that would fit under my frame!

My buddy that owns a shop let me borrow these Lincoln stands the blue and yellow ones)...I think they are around 500 dollars for the pair..

 

First rule of jacking up any vehicle you intend to work on: Dont keep it on the jack, use stands!

If you dont have jackstands big enough invest in a 4x4 and use that for added lift at least.

 

Hi-Lifts can be dangerous. About 8 years ago I was using one to jack an old trailer off of the bumper of my parents truck. With a lapse of judgement I had only blocked one wheel and the trailer was stuck pretty well on the ball. Once it came off it jumped off the ball and landed on my left hand which was stupidly resting on the bumper beside it. It broke my ring finger and crushed off half of my pinky, coming to a rest on top of my hand. The worst part about it was I had to use my right hand to drop the jack get it back under the tongue and lift it back off the bumper. After a two hour drive to the hospital and the ability to only count to 9 1/2 now I learned my lesson. I agree with everyone on here hi-lifts when used can be one of the best tools you can use out there, or one of the deadliest.




2000 4runner SR5
Hood scoop, 265/75/16s

 

My dad and I had his '78 LTDII, in mint condition and a rebuilt engine, almost smash the body work on the passenger side, when it fell sideways off a highlift and would have smashed into a concrete wall. Our saving grace was a stack of 4x4 blocks piled a few feet high that the bumper came to rest on.

We were lower it off stands to put it on the ground and the weight shifted. You basically get to stand and watch the horror unfold as a 5000lb car falls to the side... there's nothing you can do to stop that much mass, just get out of its way.

Never, ever trust a highlift, floor jack, bottle jack, especially scissor jack, or anything that can move to lift a vehicle, with your life. You can get some MASSIVE jackstands and it's not like they're hard to find. There's no excuse, I'm sorry to be insensitive, I'm glad the OP is ok, and is spreading the message to those that may have become complacent... but there's just no excuse for not being safe.

Imagine if your truck fell on you while changing a tire (pretty rudimentary proceedure, easy to assume it's safe), and your 5 year old son found you. Very scary.

I beg you all to think about the potential for disaster before you do anything.

 

and if you cant find jack stands, just use some concrete blocks and a 2 by, it works just as well

the 2 by is so you dont break the blocks when your setting it down

 

NO

NO NO NO NO.

I thought I had heard it all, but THIS has now become the WORST advice ever given on Yotatech.

Sorry to be so harsh, but concrete blocks are the single worst jackstand you could ever use.