Mounting a Hi-Lift jack to the rear bumper

[leadsled9]

It's a fine line with the bottle jacks since the lift is so small in comparison to their height.

Two sets of requirements will demand a different size bottle jack.

One use is changing a flat tire. Seems everytime I get a bottle jack that has enough lift to lift a tire enough to change it....it's too long to fit under the axle when the tire is flat.

So....in order for a bottle jack to be useful for changing a tire....it has to be short enough to fit under the axle when the tire is flat....and have enough lift in order for you to put a new inflated tire on.

It's a different set of requirements when you just want to raise an already inflated tire to stuff branches etc. under it for traction. For that scenario you need a jack with enough lift in order to be of use so you can stuff branches under a tire....and it only has to be short enough to fit under the axle with a fully inlated tire. Of course, that tire could be burried in mud.

This whole issue is what makes the high-lift jack so useful. They can go from a very short initial height to REALLY tall.

 

[natjwest]

... Would a jack stand or just some wood blocks be the way to insure the job can be done? Jack it, block it, jack it again after blocking the jack up some more?

Yes, that would be the procedure. You mentioned using wood, which is good, concrete or bricks is bad (figured you knew that already).

And as leadsled says, the bottle jack might not be short enough when retracted to fit under the axle with a flat.

All that being said, a lightweight, long-throw bottle jack would be a good addition to other jacking solutions like a Hi-Lift and a stock scissor jack. A good addition if you want a third jack that is. Although I'd opt for a couple jack stands before a bottle jack (if you already have a Hi-Lift or stock scissor jack) since a set of two would be much lighter than a bottle jack and they're designed for crawling under your truck, a bottle jack is not.