Hi-lift near miss today - be careful everyone!
 

Well, I had the bright idea of rotating my tires today, front to back. So I thought to myself, "well, I never use this Hi-lift anyway, let's give it a whirl."

So I jack one side of my rig up on the sliders. I even have Brian's Hi-lift adapter to help.

So I start cranking and I get an unusual amount of flex out of my sliders; enough to make me stare at that side for a minute in wonder. Anyway, as I crank it one last time to get both tires off the ground, the friggin base plate slides out and the vertical bar nails my rig on the passenger door! :pop:

Now I am standing there staring at the vertical bar, which is pressed tightly against the upper body line of my door skin. Basically a huge amount of weight was being held by the vertical bar on the door skin. Ugh!

I got another jack and took the weight off the Hi-lift. I then removed the Hi-lift and grimaced as I pulled it away from the door. Thankfully there is just a very small dent and some vertical lines of paint missing. It could have been much worse, I think we can all agree to that.

Anyway, if you didn't already know, please be careful when using your Hi-lift! I followed all the precautions and still got a good scare (and a good scar).

I would have taken pics, but the wound is not bad enough to show up. :)

so was the hi-lift moving, or did the slider fail? I'm not sure I quite follow (i'm slow)

Oh my goodness...is the HI-LIFT SLIDER ADAPTER alright??? :shocked:

Yep, those things are made for the trail, not the concrete...too slickery.

:guitar:

Well, I think it was a combination of the slider flexing and the base plate sliding. What's really strange is that now my slider (on one side) is where it should be with the 1" body lift. In other words, the slider on that side is now permanently flexed upward. :think:

I like how it looks better, but I am worried about its durability. No offense to Stubbs of course. Maybe this is normal? :dunno:

Christian, glad the damage was minimal.
I have one of these.
http://www.hi-lift.com/Accessory%20Pages/orb.htm

http://www.hi-lift.com/images/Access...ORBSAND484.gif

You can make one, or just pick one up from a 4x4 shop like I did.
Mine is on the rear floor behind me at all times.

Makes the base much more stable.

Corey-

Thanks for the tip. I have seen those around. Would those benefit my Hi-lift on an epoxied garage floor (where this happened)? If so, then I need to go pick one up. That was freaky.

Ouch!
Sorry to hear that Christian!

Is the angle on the sliders extreme?
Come to think of it, can you post pictures of the sliders?

Here's the non-"jacked-up" side

http://pics.montypics.com/cdaviesaz/...2_pict2938.jpg

And here's the "bent" side:

http://pics.montypics.com/cdaviesaz/...7_pict2937.jpg

Seems that you tweaked the sliders... but the idea is that the sliders "tweak" and still take the load, rocks, trees etc. instead of not giving and tweaking the frame. Looks like you to get that fixed by cutting some or all of it off and putting on some new straight mounts. Just my 0.02.

:guitar:

In all honesty Brian, I like the tweaked side better. Dare I try and tweak the other side? :laugh: My biggest concern is if I actually need to "use" these things someday and they end up smashed against the pinch weld or something, causing body damage under the doors.

So cut them both off, fix the bent mount(s) and reweld them on where you like them (higher) to account for the 1" body lift...

Good luck.

:guitar:

those high lifts scare the ˟˟˟˟˟ outta me, i use mine in emergency situations only or when its absolutely necessary and use the hydraulic jack for maitenence

I just picked up a hi-lift and that was pretty much the nightmare I invisioned.

A couple questions-

What does the slider adapter look like/ do/ and cost?

Do you have the cast or stamped hi lift?

Why wouldn't this happen in the sand or hard packed dirt?

Hi-Lift Slider Adapter

:guitar:

Ah man, are you kidding? Dude, nothing short of anchor bolt in your floor will help your high lift in that situation. You couldn't possible have been all that shocked when this happened. As someone already said, hi-lifts are for emergency use only. I used one many times and they never stop being scarey. Use caution around them at all times.

Your sliders are crap, plain and simple. Don't try to be all nice about it because everyone on this board thinks Stubbs sliders are "the bomb." This just shouldn't happen. I really don't know the first thing about these sliders and don't know if they are a one size fits all deal and it is up to you to figure out if it is right for your vehicle. If that is the case, you figured wrong. If, on the other hand, these were sold to you with the manufacturer saying that these are right for your vehicle, then I would feel cheated, because obviously they are not. You should be able to jack up one side of your vehicle with your slider and not have them bend. I mean what will happen if you smash them on a rock. i have a good feeling they'd be in your rocker...

I should mention to those that don't know that I won these sliders, compliments of Yotatech and Richard.

I have been very satisfied with the sliders, then again I have never had to use them.

I have to defend Stubbs on this one. The dealership lifted my truck by them without a single bend. I was furious to see my truck had been lifted on a hoist by the sliders but after lowering down and seeing they didn't bend I was quite pleased. These things are stout and I have lifted my truck several times by highlift without incident.

My questions is, did you use the scab plates or just weld the tubes to the frame? did you put the scabs on in the diamond position?

Glad things turned out to be not so bad. (could have been a lot worse, a slipping hi-lift sounds like it can be big trouble)

In my opinion a slider should defintely not be bend after hi-lift use. :dunno:


Wabbitt's idea is good to remount everything and see how it works then. Not on slippery surfaces though.

Is it the slider that bend or the the mounting??

To be honest, I don't know. It's the 48", and it was $50. It is genuine, and it is black and red. :dunno:

No scab plates. I should also note that I am not pissed at Richard or anything. I am more pissed at myself for making a rookie move (when I have 2 other floor jacks and 4 jack stands). I was curious to see how easy it was to jack my rig up.