High lift jack vs ratchet winch

I have what I call a ratchet winch - a very old small bulbous casting with a handle and chains coming out each side. I've used it in the past for lifting the engine out of a boat. I'd forgotten I had it but found it today when looking for parts of a scaffolding tower in the garage (poss question about that coming up later!).

I've been dithering about buying a high lift farm jack type device for a couple of jobs, one of which is pulling a boat upright on a trailer but I think this winch would probably do that job.. In the past we might have attached a rope to the Land Rover in low range, but the "children" are telling me we shouldn't be doing things like that these days and I need them to help as a second pair of hands/eyes.

My question is which device would give least danger and most precision in use. I've never used a farm jack, so I don't know anything about them. Are the cheap ones from ebay like

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good. Would that also work as a jack for a Mk 1 Disco, or would it need attachments for that job?

Reply to
Bill
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I've carried Hi lifts for more than 20 years and they're not very useful for pulling as you tend to use a lot of the active length in taking up slack. I also have a 5 tonne chain and ratchet winch which is much more controlable.

Hi Lift jacks do require a lot of care in use because of their inherent instability.

AJH

Reply to
andrew

Agreed. Also, the one I have (Machine Mart, istr) isn't very easy to use because you have to maintain something like 50 pounds plus of load on it while you are starting, or the mechanism doesn't work at all. Presumably there is a "knack" in using them, or perhaps it is easier with two people.

But I think I would go along with Andrew and say the chain hoist is intrinsically stable. The other gadget of mine which gets more use is a wire rope ratchet puller (cheap as chips). You can't use it as a hoist because it only goes one way, but it's fine for "dragging" jobs.

Reply to
Newshound

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I have a hi-lift for the Disco, we off-road a lot .. you can see it on the back at 30 secs+

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's use as a winch is only 'cos we can't afford a proper winch, or decent tackle. Winching is a long process and you need a set of chains/hooks to hold the load while you re-jig the pull.

It's use as a Jack is useful, it's got me out of three situations, twice when alone, and has paid for itself many times over. It's a jack of all trades but not great at any of them singly but completely useful when you need it. It's so adaptable it's used for loads of things, not just off-roading related. I've used it to Jack fence posts out of the ground at school, spread/tension wire fencing around a pasture, hold a roof up for a while, like an Akro-prop, squeezed chassis rails together while a tightly fitting steering guard was bolted on, broke open (legally) a small safe by jacking the exposed hinges off ..

I find it pretty safe to use, but I take precautions, and make sure it works before I need it to, IYSWIM! If used wrongly they can be incredibly unsafe, but overall I like 'em.

When we do get a winch I'll still take it off-roading .. it's use to spread tree-branches or pull dead-weights away across lanes, where the vehicles and winches can't get, is ideal.

For pulling a boat onto a trailer though, I'd suggest your existing winch/tackle would probably be easier, safer and faster. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

In message , Paul - xxx writes

use as jacking points. My rear bumper has a big rust hole in it (I'm being told the bumper is "just decorative") and only last week I had to have the offside running board mounting welded back up after it collapsed under me. It looks as though an adapter for a high lift jack would add about 50% to the cost of the jack?

Those were some of the other types of job that were attracting me to one of these jacks. My son has bought a house with a garden that needs work on fences, trees etc.

Yes, I've been doing a dummy run in the path here with my chain hoist (I knew it had a name that I couldn't remember) and it looks likely to work well enough. The job is not to pull the boat onto the trailer, but to pull it upright on the trailer after it was blown over to an angle in high winds, so it's more a short precision job rather than a long pull.

We actually got the boat upright enough to get the mast down by jacking with those long props they sometimes sell in Lidl and Aldi. We used the Lidl ones which were so good that when I saw the similar ones in the remainder bin in Aldi, I bought a couple of those too. Completely different from the turnbuckle action Lidl ones, but amazing value. The only thing that stopped us getting the boat completely vertical was the weather and that the sacrificial and deliberately weak rubbing strake we used as a bearer started to break away.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Really helpful.

Reply to
Bill

Yup, we have rocksliders where there were sills, (roughly 150 x 50 x

5mm box section) and use, as you say, an adaptor onto the hi-lift for side jacking. We've actually found it easier to use the front bumper mount areas to lift the front though.

The fence posts I pulled were 4" square, 2" deep and post-creted in. I just used an old strop wrapped around the wooden post and lifted, strop tightening down on itself to grip and it brought them up a treat, no effort at all, compared to jacking the Disco!!

Reply to
Paul - xxx

Don't. Terrifying beasts. Clumsy to use, really awkward for winching and potentially lethal for lifting. Mine has a mud-cover wrapped around the "works" which includes pockets for a small wooden mallet (reverse direction without losing a finger), the instructions (essential reading before use) and a padlock & chain to stop anyone else "borrowing" it who doesn't know how to work it.

Get a Tirfor instead.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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