winching with Hi-Lift

[dr350jja]

anyone have experience using the Hi-Lift jack Off-Road Kit, for winching?

[Tom]

Check out youtube. several vids on there.

[scout man]

ive winched with my highlift before out of necessity. What are you wanting to know?

[Fordguy77]

I've done it, it sucks. Then I found the 3 ton Come-A-Long my dad was hiding from me, and threw that in my recovery box to avoid having to winch with the jack. Much faster and safer.

[dr350jja]

I have NOT used the Hi-Lift for winching, but am curious how well it would work. The reason being, is it's only rated for 5,000 lbs winching. I would think that it would need to be a VERY light vehicle, when using the jack as a winch

[scout man]

I have winched my scout (~6.5k lbs) onto a trailer with one before. Was it easy? No. Was it convenient? No. Did it get me out of a tight spot, and would I use if I was on a trail by myself and my winch broke? you bet!

I wouldnt rely on it in place of a winch, but its good to have the knowledge and the stuff to do it in case it happens to be the right tool for the job when the right situation arises. I would also make sure you have a good, solid E-brake on your rig, since if you are "winching" uphill, you will need to adjust the chains several times, and any roll-back from your rig is negative progress!

[scout man]

If your going to be on the Anniversary Run, (and if I am going to be on it) we can pull one out and do a demo with it so you have some experience with it under your belt in case you find you need it down the road.

[Jim]

scout man previously posted:

[dr350jja]

Before I put a Warn 9.5XP on the front of Li’l Blue, I got the Hi-Lift Off Road Kit for the jack (in case I needed to use the jack as a winch). What I have difficulty comprehending is how can the Hi-Lift be adequate for winching, if it’s ONLY rated to 5,000 lbs???

[Jim]

Well, if you had a 9,500 pound vehicle the 9.5XP winch would theoretically lift the vehicle straight up. Not something one is often to do. To pull it horizontally (out of a hole) would require, typically, much less poundage so a 5K limit for the HiLift method could certainly work for those lower demand tasks.

[Brad]

We NEED to do that Steve! I have the hi lift recovery kit as well and have never used it.

[xaza]

A couple hi lift jacks and some cumolongs have gotten my brother and me out of any situation we have gotten into, but a lot of work. We have used a high lift to pull the back end of brothers Jeep sideways uphill in the snow to straighten him up. Can't really see the uphill slope. Had him put it in 2 wd and slowly spin rear tires as I dragged him away from tree.

[ColoJeeper]

I've used my hi_lift jack to move my vehicle sideways in ice or snow effectively, and have used it to jack the vehicle up and then push forward or backwards off the jack to help move it out of deep mud and to break some of the suction when trying to winch it out. Also is effective when high-centered on rocks to be able to jack up and put something under the wheels. Using it to just try to winch the vehicle out of a situation has met with very little success, and to be honest, my hi-lift jack hasn't been in my vehicle for about 5 years now.
Get a good sturdy come-along if you want to winch with a portable device and you will be safer and have more chance as being successful as you can typically move more than four foot without having to unhook and reconfigure your chain or strap.

Also make sure you are not using a stretchy strap if you are using either a hi-lift jack or a come-along, as you will find that about the time you have all the "stretch" taken up with the strap, you have also reached the capacity of your come-along or hi-lift jack to move the vehicle.

[Backcountryislife]

If I recall this was a group from on here this day.


For what was needed, it was a very ideal tool. Had to reset it once, to get a new bite on the chain, but it did exactly what it was asked to do.

[Tom]

ColoDisco previously posted:

[Starkman]

Jim Williamson previously posted:

[Chris]

Someone might want to put together a recovery workshop if enough people are interested. A few years ago Pete, Bear and Brent taught a group of us some pretty cool stuff by example. IIRC we did it on China Wall.

[dr350jja]

xaza previously posted:

[dr350jja]

Starkman previously posted:

[dr350jja]

Chris previously posted: