Silencing your rattling High Lift Jack

My high lift jack is most probably the most over rated piece of equipment I ever bought. Everybody makes such a fuss about it and according to many it is a "must have" tool.

During the past 5 years I never used mine for a recovery. We used it about 6 times in total for the odd flat or to shows people how it works.

In 1996 I installed a high lift jack on a friend's Landy. Last year (2009) he had a flat next to the road and because his normal jack was not in the landy he decided to use the high lift jack. He then realised that he had no jacking points. He decided to use the front bumper for the job, but the front bumper almost came off and bent. So in the 13 years he had his high lift jack secured to his Landy he nether used it and this is a guy who often goes on overlanding trips.

But anyway, since we bought it we put it on the car. You know, it is that fear that you might need it if you do not take it with you. But since it is on the car all it does is to irritate the hell out of me. A high lift jack is always rattling.

Last night I decided to make a plane.

First I drilled a 7.5mm hole in the head and tapped it so that there is thread in the hole. I then turned in a long bolt with lock nut. If you fasten the bolt it pushes on the rod of the jack which keeps the head steady. Obviously you will have to loosen this bolt before you use the jack.

So that hopefully will take care of the loose rattling head.

The other thing that constantly rattles is the handle. I tried to tie it to the rod with a cable tie, piece of wire and even insulation tape but it keeps on rattling. I once saw a gadget on Andre's vehicle. It was made from rubber and apparently you can buy it from the outdoor shops.

I decided to make my own since there are no gadget shops where I stay.

I took a piece of 18mm shutter ply wood, turned the jack upside down on the wood and traced the profile of the rod and handle. I first drilled holes in the corners and then used a jig saw to cut out the holes.

Cut it smaller and make the edges round. And there you have a nice thing that will hold the handle and rod away from each other, preventing it from rattling.

I also painted the wooden block last night. Let's see if it lasts, if it don't last I will just make another one. You can see I did not have a hole saw so Just cut the hole with the jig saw. If you have a 32mm hole saw use that instead.

While we are busy with the Farm Jack, these damn pins (see pic below) keep on breaking. Look at the last picture, I replaced the pins on mine with a 5mm screw with nylock nut and it works perfectly. Last much longer than the spring steel pin.