air jacks
 

I have read about air/exhaust jacks and i have seen them in action, but i can only find one site that sells them and they seem exspensive. are worth it?
can anyone tell me of any others, the one site i found is www.air-jack.co.uk

I wouldn't bother with this guy. Once I tried buying an air jack from him and only wasted my time - he stalled me for two weeks and then didn't bother to deliver the goods despite several phone calls.

Draper also has a basic air jack in their catalogue and it's cheaper.

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Roman (UK)
www.overlandcruiser.info

I also found the Air Jack dude rather uncooperative - but I managed to find one of his jacks used and its great (featured in Dez Driving dvd). I havent used a regular jack or hi lift for years
IMO the Draper looked too flimsy and small for an overland loaded 4WD. Found even crapier Asian-made ones in France. Go chunky.

Ch

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Author of Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 5 and Sahara Overland II

http://www.sahara-overland.com and http://www.adventure-motorcycling.com

Draper jacks are fine. Retail theoretically for about 40 sterling but in reality this can range from 25 quid upwards. Ive used the same one in Egypt for 3 years now and its never given me any hassle - thats jacking out fullsize Landcruisers and Land Rovers. The hose is a little short for the LWB vehicles, that's my only complaint.
Halfords will order them in for you at 31 quid a go. I was at a Land Rover show recetly where they were 25 quid.

I own an Australian Powerjack airjack which I used extensively in dunes in ME for getting out of 'stuck in sand'mode!I found it very rugged and extremely easy to use especially in high temperatures where a bit of effort saved is golddust.
HOWEVER for overlanding I would not travel without a mechanical jack.When the airbag fails(never seen this on a good model)its terminal.Excellent in soft sand but if you don't intend to do much of this then the decision will be whether you feel you've got the room for the airjack as they are fairly chunky(size of sports kitbag say).NEVER buy cheap airjacks,seen plenty of them go bang for a variety of reasons.

Good point. They are IMHO handy for getting a car in the air without much hassle and handy for popping one out of sand but once knackered (which they can do spectacularly) thats it! Scissor and trolley jacks get clogged with sand easily and some ME-sold ones are terribly unsafe. Hilifts!!!!

Worth saying NEVER expose airbags to sharp bits of the jacked vehicle (JATE hooks, exhaust mounts, bolt ends etc) or hot surfaces (exhaust parts) (obviously dont JACK on these areas, but the bag will deform and change shape under inflation and will press onto all sorts of places ooer missus). Also dont jack on structurally weak bits - remember the German bloke in Saudi who jacked his Landcruiser up on the fuel tank - result - tank snapped off, bloke died through dehydration as he was immobilised.......

That said, they are the badger's nadgers for deserts.

Quality and safety issues aside, what effect does using an air-jack have on the engine / exhaust? Could it lead to failure of the joints on the exhaust? I suppose this would only happen if they were already weak, but has anyone had any experiences like this?

Dan

I would guess an airjack must operate about 100kPa? (Lifting 2500kg over an area of around 50cm x 50cm?).

If so, it won't do any damage to a healthy exhaust system, and regarding back pressure, it probably offers similar resistance to that of a turbocharger. (I might be way out here, but I'd imagine a 1-bar turbo puts about 1 bar of back pressure on the engine).

However, I'd also think that a rusty silencer could pop under a bar of pressure. Less likely for joints to split, but any sealant would a weak point, and any small gaps might get bigger. The worst consequence of any exhaust failure though (I would think) would be that the jack would become inoperable.

So you'd have to use your trusy high-lift http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

Regards,

Michael...