I replaced an old jack i had on a trailer with an electric one and repurposed it for my jeep. Minor welding and grinding to build it. Advantages are its safer, lighter, and smalker than a farm jack. Disadvantages are it requires more leverage to lift and it does not lift nearly as fast. If your looking to build one yourself you can pick up the lift from harbor frieght for a good price and if you really want to be the cool gadget guy on the trail build it using the electric lift with your battery as a power source. Forgive my crappy welds, i only have a 110v wire feed. I also painted it to look better and cleaned it up after the photos were taken, but i think you get the idea.

 

Thin wall tubing... booger welds... I would not trust that to lift my truck by any means!

 

Ya I know its real crap. I posted it thinking somone much smarter than I would make one better.
I was able to lift the front of my jeep with it by extending the base to reach the winch plate. It held it pretty good but i was using a bit of force to get it off the ground.
ideally i was looking for somthing safer than the farm jack and lighter also. Once i trail test it i will report back on issues.

 

thats not safer man I'm sorry...i honestly wouldnt trust that, but thats just me. Plus like you said it takes more work to lift. Cool concept, could be useful for smaller machines like a utv. But a tad sketchy for a jeep imo

 

What is your theory on why it is safer (by design, not necessarily your execution)? I don't see how it is different in foot print and basic function than a farm jack.

 

Just from experience, the safety factor is not having a handle come up and knock your teeth out.

 

don't put your face above the handle and that can be avoided lol

 

I'll give you that one. I've used mine a bunch (for vehicle recovery/repair and other tasks around the yard/garage) and the only safety issue I have had is the jack want to tip at higher lifts because of the small foot print. I haven't had the handle try to pop back up on me. I have seen it, but I haven't had that problem.

Side note - farm jack makes easy work of pulling posts out of the ground. Look up a video of it on youtube for technique.

 

,I Like it when people try to make things better/easy but I don't think you can improve on a high lift best jack ever for off road! pull, push, lift, hands down the way to go!
that's my two cents.

 

 

I'll take a highlift anyday

 

I was able to field test this the other day when I snapped my axle. I jacked up the rear end (each side independently) to determine which axle it was. out of that experience I plan to cut the handle off and weld in an old socket and use a wrench to jack it up and down. it seemed to work well except the handle was a pain to crank. I placed it under the rear end of the rock slider and raised the jeep until the wheel was off the ground.

I typically wheel with club members and they all have farm jacks. So another viewpoint is that if there is a situation that this jack does not fit the need we can use a jack from someone else's rig. keep in mind this is just an idea or option I am showing and may not be for everyone. if I wheeled alone I may convert back to a farm jack just because its a proven technology.

 

A cordless impact will raise & lower it easily.

 

Nice tip David! I like it!

 

yes, good old fashioned mechanical jacks + 18V Milwaukee, rattles it up in 10secs

tears off wheels nuts, good thing to have in the Jeep, especially on the trail