Whats the big deal about a Hi-Lift jack?
A Hi-Lift jack (HLJ) or equivalent (Jack-all, etc.) does far more than just lift a corner of your truck to change a tire. An HLJ can be used (tediously) as a winch, but it’s main feature is its ability to pivot an end of the vehicle from point to point. If you jack up the front end of a vehicle from the center of the bumper so that both front wheels are off the ground, you can push that end of the car over to one side, thereby moving the front wheels a couple of feet to one side, and effectively turning the vehicle 20 degrees or so. Can be very handy because it’s faster to pivot the front or rear wheels out of a deep hole than it is to winch it using the HLJ. The situation where pivoting with the HLJ becomes really crucial is when you get yourself in over your head on a boulder problem. It’s happened to everyone. You see a line that looks doable. You start moving in. You miscalculated. All of a sudden your rig is belly down on a rock, and all the fancy driving in the world isn’t going
