Club 80-90 Forums

So today I received my order from CampervanCulture (Cheers Jed) which contained a high lift jack and the associated mounting brackets.

I had planned to mount said jack on the front bumper but have come across a slight issue. The depth of the actual lifting plate is far more than the depth of the bumper. This means you could only mount it facing out wards, and thus in the event of a collision, the first part to impact would be the lifting plate.

I've tried to explain that as best as I can, but here are some pictures to help.

So the depth of the lifting plate is roughly 9 inches or so:


But the depth of the bumper is only about 6 inches:


So when mounted, it would look like this:


Is this going to be an issue??

Alternatively, I could mount it on the rear bumper, but then when I want to check the oil dip stick, i'd have to remove the jack.

I was trying to come up with some alternative ways of mounting on the front bumper, I know a place that can make me up some more brackets to push the jack forward so the sticky out bits can point backwards, which I think would be the best idea if the current way is unsuitable.

Mounting outside the vehicle is not the best idea but for me the only option. Mines mounted on the rear bumper and I give it a clean and some light lube every so often to keep it working. I would imagine it would need a lot more maintenance on the front bumper.

It isn't sensible to leave it sticking out at the front like that. Could you perhaps fit some vertical 'tabs' so that it is attached pointing up?

We cut the standard on our hi-lift down by about eight inches so ours now fits under the bench seat.

I suspect that mounting stuff like that on the front on a vehicle would fall under the construction and use regulations, just like bullbars and other things that could cause harm to pedestrians, in this case even when the van is at rest.
It wouldn't half dig in someone's kneecap...

Yeah, I had wanted it mounted outside the vehicle as I don't (yet) have a roof rack for it and don't really want it taking up space inside the bus.

clift_d wrote:It isn't sensible to leave it sticking out at the front like that. Could you perhaps fit some vertical 'tabs' so that it is attached pointing up?

I suspect what i'm going to do is exactly this, have four L shaped brackets made to lift the jack up and mount it with the lifting plate facing down towards the top of the bumper rather than out towards people...

silverbullet wrote:I suspect that mounting stuff like that on the front on a vehicle would fall under the construction and use regulations, just like bullbars and other things that could cause harm to pedestrians, in this case even when the van is at rest.
It wouldn't half dig in someone's kneecap...

I've not heard of those regs before, what would that mean? I know bull bars are a no-no these days, you think this would be the same?

You can't be driving around with sharp pointy things on the front of a vehicle. It's just common sense.

Goes along with "chest ripper" bonnet mascots etc

If a pedestrian walks past and snags themselves on it, or you pull up at at a junction and a passing cyclist clips it and comes off, you would be in the poop.

Put it inside and it won't go rusty quite as quickly. Personally I would always buy a genuine Hi Lift, not chinky copy.

clift_d wrote:It isn't sensible to leave it sticking out at the front like that. Could you perhaps fit some vertical 'tabs' so that it is attached pointing up?

Actually silverbullet is right - best not to put it on the front at all.

How about dismantling it and just mounting the rail outside? They don't take long to dismantle/reassemble. Just a thought.

But that doesn't shout "I go offroad I do! Really!"

silverbullet wrote:But that doesn't shout "I go offroad I do! Really!"

Don't get me wrong, I have a hi lift.. But I really don't see the point of carrying them around all the time, they are big and heavy and not needed. A good bottle jack or the standard one is all you need to change a tyre.
If your going on a off road day I can see the point.