That’s interesting. Thanks for the advice. Will look into new tires in a different thread because they already exist

 

Thanks to whomever here posted the link to George4x4 in AUS!

As we've been discussing kit here I found a product which is now on my must have list when taking my KK off-road - albeit we don't do a lot of beach camping here in Colorado :-D Be it sand or mud I've always wondered how to wrestle with the scenario pictured in their catalog. Sure one could use the a spade shovel or similar to try and replace this sled - but this is elegantly simply: Basically a skid/sled for the jack stand..

 

compare vehicle weight to fitting weight capacity... then add safety factors. Here's a link from the Land Down Under descrIbing that process. IN addition to gear, Safe-Xtraxct has some great videos and links to iOS and Android Apps that can help with the math. The Apps is free and worth downloading as you can setup a hypothetical extraction on your phone with weights for each vehicle, type of surface, and incline and it will give you an indication of the weights involved in the scenario. That can help provide real world context to what I consider the abstraction of the math.

Google (et al) and YouTube search is your friend there. Search for those queries as videos will be more complete and helpful than anything I can type here. I have found many of Robert Pepper's instructions and explanations excellent to understand terminology and the physics at play: from his YouTube channel. He's worth digging deeper into. And again Ronnie Dahl's as mentioned previously has superb gear explanations and their use/distinction.

Short version is a tow strap/rope is static in that it doesn't materially stretch (given it's fabric some small degree of stretch is inevitable) and as such it does not store nor release energy. A Tow Strap (being static) could break something if one hammers on the gas during an extraction. A Kinetic Rope / ****** strap are conceptually the same or so close I consider them the same. A Kinetic Rope is designed to stretch - building up - then releasing stored energy - to help extract the vehicle. l liken it to an huge rubber band - pull it and let it go. It allows one to use slower speeds (range of 2~5mph) to build up energy to get someone unstuck which is inherently safer than trying to yank on a static rope/strap. Apologies to extraction experts, engineers, etc., in the audience for such abstract descriptions.

Yes that's the spot - I likely used the incorrect description. There are fittings for bottle jacks that permit adaptors to fit that point. Some jacks have flat plates onto which one can use a rubber fitting on or over the plate that fits the point in your photo. Some jacks have adaptors with preformed rubber or metal bits that fit that shape. I have a few different ones that fit that shape and smaller welded seams for my garage jack stands, bottle jack and floor jack. Amazon has a plethora: search "jack stand cover" or "jack pad" to see various options

Again, I"m far from an expert on this subject and tools. I just try to be a safe and informed user and purchaser.

I hope that helps

 

I’ve looked at quite a few bottle jacks online, snd they don’t seem to go tall enough or are not strong enough for a Defender. Any brand/model recs?

 

I don't have this, but have been eyeing it off. I reckon with the extensions it should be good enough.
https://safejacks.com/collections/bo...th-bottle-jack

 

I'd add, a foot pump, or even a hand pump. Electrical power runs out, yours doesn't.

I carry a big plastic bicycle workshop floor pump as a backup - it's light, doesn't take much space, and can get you aired up surprisingly quick.

Side note, contemporary portable pumps are becoming better and better. I got this as a backup for the city car, but it seems to be able to handle even offroad tires: - I wouldn't trust it as a a main pump yet, but a couple of these will cost less, weigh less, take less space, and work faster than a single compressor. Currently resides in the pocket at the C pillar, fits perfectly.

 

Very nice post, and a good segue to take it farther - all right, you see that the list is becoming longer and longer, and OH MY GOD, IT'S NIGHT, WE BROKE DOWN AND NOW HAVE TO FIX IT ALL BEFORE THE TIDE COMES!!!

...that was to highlight the fact that having these things is just a part of the problem, the other part being - knowing where things are, especially important if you don't have the luxury of having the vehicle equipped and ready to go out in the blink of an eye.

Our crew's solution to this problem was to have a printed trip checklist that listed what is where in the back pocket of the driver's seat. Every time we were rolling out with changes, the checklist was updated, reprinted, and replaced. Every time, every crew member had to walk through the checklist and point and call the items in it so that everyone would know what is where in a hurry.

Some really unexpected items made it onto the list over the years; yours will be different but ours turned out to be a fork, fine tweezers, and a head magnifier to treat those that had the misfortune to walk by a jumping cactus.

Related, but probably offtopic for this thread and this forum, is how do you store all this while at home. When we started going out, we built a simple "trail cart" with all the things fitting there nicely, but as the list grew, it became too small at some point, and right now we're revisiting this question and will probably end up having equipment on dedicated hooks and/or shelves on garage walls, prime candidates being the Hi-Lift jack and traction pads.

A deep rabbit hole, this.

 

I'm interested in the discussion about jacks. I've had to swap wheels out-back and managed OK with stock jacks, but I'd really like something more safe and stable on uneven terrain.

My advice? Your vehicle is secondary. Your safety is primary. Be sure to have plenty of food, a lot (!) of water, warmth, communications, manuals, a focus on tires, etc. Save the winch and the other 1,000 lbs. of he-man accessories for later. Practice common sense: turn around if in doubt, don't leave your car if you are stranded, bring a friend, and so on.

Have fun!

 

I have changed tires on my LR3 and LR4 with stock jacks, and it seems it has to lift forever to go from lifting frame to tires actually lifting off the ground.

The Safe Jack kit comes with extensions to lift up to 36”, but it looks like those are simply rigid extensions and don’t increase the amount of travel the jack actually has. It looks to me that the effective lifting distance of the jack is around 5-6 inches. Not sure how that little travel gets the tire off the ground?

Please point out the flaw in my thinking…

 

This is going to be a controversial statement I realize but having had personal experience with these infernal devices - my recommendation is that unless you get qualified, in-person instruction on the proper use of the hi-lift then I would leave it out of your kit. I've got an offroad buddy (Isuzu friend from back in the day) who has a near full set of fake teeth thanks to a momentary loss of concentration when backing the jack down which lead to him getting full on Mike Tyson'd in the face with the handle. Never mind that I've personally bent two of the things with my offroad rig (which is a *lot* heavier than the Defender but still, I don't trust the damn things).

As a "manual" winch they are incredibly useful. For general purpose lifting of objects - great. For lifting your vehicle up to work on it on the trail - nope. Not anymore. My wife would enjoy an early retirement on the life insurance payout and we just can't have that now could we?

My jack of choice offroad is the ProEagle (or HF Badlands) offroad floor jack. It has a 3 ton capacity and giant tires on it that make it relatively easy to manipulate where exactly you need to put it. The only downside is that its very heavy and large. Barnes 4WD sells a cradle for it that you can use to secure it but again, lifting it in and out of the truck is a huge issue. I fabricated a pivoting slide rail system to help me mount it on my roof rack.

jack under the axle (if the vehicle has solid axles) or control arm - not the frame. If you jack from the the frame you need to account for the entirety of the suspension down travel before you actually get the tire off the ground. If you jack under the control arm you have a lot less work to do to overcome the suspension.