Steering Gaurds and Recovery Points

[CarloG]

I got my car back with my hi-lift jack jack points and recovery points mounted.

Had the guys at Big Country 4x4 make up the steering gaurd, hilift and recovery point design all in one. All the bolts are 14mm and 12mm hi tensile bolts. Now that I've got the hi-lift jack. Now that I sort-of know how it works (which is different from know how to use it). Now that i have the recovery points I shall never need any one of them!!




The bolts bolt directly into the chassis with 2x 14mm bolts. The steering gaurd is 6mm SS.




This shows the profile of the bracket the follows the curve of the gaurd and the welds on the hilift point. Any comments on how to make this better?

The view from the front. Hopefully only small shrubs and middle mannetjies see this view. (I load the two forward facing guns with AAA buckshot)


I had them do the same on the rear, welded onto my existing tow bar bracket which is bolted onto the chassis with 4 12mm high tensile bolts. I must admit.... I do use the ball-pin tow hitch to snatch. The way i see it it fulfills a similar function to a load spreading strap. If i'm wrong on my "force distributionm theory" please feel free to point that out. I'd rather learn here than have to duck from an airborne tow-hitch.

[Peter Connan]

Hi Carlo

That stuff looks pretty strong!

The problem with snatching on the towball is that the neck underneath the ball, that joins the ball to the towbar is designed to shear off if the load exceeds normal limits, and the momentum of a Patrol in 2L tightening up a snatch rope can definately exceed the design load!

My only other slight criticism is the position of the hi-lift points (even though on my car I have points in almost exactly the same places). Please remember that you should never lift a car with a hi-lift jack and then work under the car (for example changing a wheel), because a hi-lift jack is extremely unstable. For the same reason it is not advisible to lift the car out of a hole and then attempt to pack stuff like rocks or branches into the hole, as the car is likely to fall on somebody. Therefore the best way to use a hi-lift jack is to jack the car out of the hole.

As an example, if the car is beached on a very high middelmannetjie, you jack the car up untill the wheels are higher than the middelmannetjie, and then allow the jack to fall sideways (obviously being very carefull not to bli@%em yourself with the jack. If you have done it right, the end of the car you were jacking is now standing with one wheel on the middelman and one next to the road. Do the same at the other end of the car if necessary, and drive off. But to do this you need jacking points in the middle of the car.

Thus in my opinion it is advisable to have as many hi-lift points scattered around the car as possible, but the most important ones are in the middle front and back, followed by points on the rock sliders (as this is where the car is most stable when jacked) followed by points at each wheel.

By the way did you know that with enough ropes or cables and a short chain you can actually use a hi-lift jack as a winch? It is slow and labourious but also cheap and effective.

Cheers
Peter

[Stefan]

I also snatch with a combination of my ball & pin towball and G-man's "augmented" recovery bracket at the rear.

Those HL points looks very strong Carlo, can you actually get at them with the High-lift? I had 2 at the front that I removed as they were too recessed, similar problem with the HL point under the Spare at the rear - I have to remove the spare before being able to use it.

[Kagiso II]

Without stepping on any toes - but to prevent any woes - get complete and proper "schooling" [read 'experience'] BEFORE you attempt a Hi Lift Jack recovery. Follows some picts taken on Baboon's Pass Lesotho [2009] - [you can figure out which actions were safe, and wich not - and try to figure out how YOU would approach the rocovery of that 'bumperless' Prado.
The first pict is of Boezman at De Wildt - the rest are Baboon's Pass]

and this is how high you must lift up before the tyre comes off the ground [Actually - Boezman's wheel was still on the ground in this pict]

Boezman hoogtrap.jpg (196.9 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

BaboonsPass.jpg (175.59 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

HiLift appl1.jpg (203.01 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

HiLift appl2.jpg (186.64 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

Hilift appl3.jpg (183.06 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

HiLift appl4.jpg (157.13 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

HiLift appl5.jpg (187.8 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

HiLift appl6.jpg (196.2 KiB) Viewed 2290 times

[Peter Connan]

I want to agree with what Uncle Mac says, but also if you can get a lighter car to practise on, it is much easier to handle a light car.

Oom Mac did that prado lose it's bumper on Baboons, or did it arrive like that?

[Kagiso II]

Hey tha P/ter - nope, he lost his 'parts' on Baboon's -
[posting some of those picts on F/Book as well - this 'resizing' one by one pict and then placing 0ne by one is time consuming

[CarloG]

Thanks for the input. What seems clear is that I should be careful and think things through before I jack her up! I have used a high lift once - in my driveway when i got it to make sure I could get at all the points etc. in my first lift the jack got stuck with the car raised right to the top of the 1.2m HLJ. So I managed to get stuck for about an hour in my driveway

Eventually had to get my little bottle jack under the axle to lossen the strain on the HLJ - using the wheel buddy on that occasion - and then lower it. It worked after liberal amounts of WD40 and some cursing. I'm not sure which one made it work.

The question about the front HLJ points and getting to them. I've had to use the 500mm extended pin to get to the points in the front and the one behind the spare wheel. It does worry me a little that the distance between the jack and the weight will increase the 'leveraged effect'on the jack.

I'll be carefull and ask for help if its around!

[Kagiso II]

when I have to replace a "flatty" out in the bundu I prefer my little 2-ton trolly jack [R99 @ Midas at the time] Pietpetoors (now kingpin of Hi-Lux forum, then still with us on the Nissan 4x4 forum) made me a sled that the trolly jack fits onto.
Put it straight under the axle ... works like a charm.