ntsqd said:I did make that plate and I had thot of making a short run of them way back when, but when I worked out the pricing I couldn't make it worthwhile. In the desert racing community there is/was someone making a similar skid plate for a specific jack (I *think* an HF jack). AHA! http://dmzfab.com/product/jack-skid-plate-for-harbor-freight-2-ton-racing-jack/ It's apparently quite the thing these days, got a lot of hits from searching "floor jack skid plate".
In most receiver hitches the tongue weight is a torsional load. I *think* that it's safe to assume that the rotational direction of the torsion is not significant to the design. Given that, you can then assume that max tongue weight is also the max lifting weight.
Saw that plate and thanks...want to find the specs for the HF 2 ton [lifting height and jack height]...but will probably get them..
Appreciate all the time and input for folks on this forum....many ideas and approaches that I missed! Even a lot of off-road bottle jack applications seem to be available...
Stay safe out there..
Phil