Well as a young guy that hasn't really had too much time around them i don't have many stories, but my 30+ year old jack does . . . And i'm sure you guys do also, And i'd love to hear them - good or bad.

I got my jack from my dad, who said he mostly used it for pulling fence and unsticking tractors, although it has been on a few automobiles also. Its sent at least one person to the hospital (knocked him out) Today I cleaned it up and put it in the disco when -

. . . LO AND BEHOLD!
A man in a mercedes benz had a flat and was frantically looking for a jack (YES TIME TO TRY IT OUT!), my hydraulic jack wouldn't fit under his car, but the highlift did . . . I warned him it would lean against the plastic on his car when i picked it up but he didn't care. The man had never seen a hilift and was impressed, and i was very much tickled to pick a mercedes up with it.

 

oh, and my hi lift paint rubbed off of his door.

 

The hi-lift jacks are dangerous. I almost learned this the hard way last summer when I decided to try picking my wife's Toyota up by the 2" hitch receiver so I could put jack stands under both sides at once in my not quite level driveway. I picked the truck up easily enough, but discovered that I couldn't step away from the jack without it falling over and dropping the truck about a foot to the right or left.

I'm lucky. I was aware of the potential for injury, so I just let it down. If I would have gotten it to stay in place and stuck the jack stands under it, the truck still would have shifted or fallen resulting in it taking (at best) some significant damage. (Damn uni-body crap!)

 

I found a man on a deserted dirt road, his hand was trapped between the top of the tire and the fender after his truck dropped off the jack. He put his hand on top of the wheel to pull it off the hub and in the process pulled the truck off the jack and onto his hand.

 

they are very unstable. I jacked up a jeep on time in sandy soil..the sand shifted causing the jeep to lean and pin the jack. They make wide base plates for them..a friend made his own out of some plywood. They are safer with a wide steady base.

 

I've been thinking of getting one because of their price and utility but I cant see where I can safely lift the side of my D2 without destroying the plastic side sills or rubbing on the doors.

 

You cannot, you need metal sliders with jack points or steel bumpers with preferably jack points.

 

you can lift the rear...the hi-lift jack foot fits in the hitch