I'd trust it over a floor jack. And well carrying a floor jack with you every time you off-road is probably pretty inconvenient. You might need a larger one especially for lifted vehicles. If you're on a rocky, ledge-y, and off-camber trail maneuvering a floor jack is going to be even more difficult. I'd go with a Hi-Lift or a Safe-Jack with a base if uneven surfaces is a concern.

I haven't used it yet, but I bought a bushwacker x jack for this exact reason.

Yeah...I was meaning to buy some for a long time and actually could have used some on the run. It was a wake up call reminder!

Bottle jack works just fine in a number of places. It makes no difference whether you're stock or lifted. (not counting long travel here). The suspension doesn't change when you put a 3" lift on. You have to lift it the same height off the ground as a stock one.



Also RTFM... Toyota 4Runner: If you have a flat tire - Steps to take in an emergency - Owners Manual


Also - I would remove the A-arm skids because they're pointless. But not for changing a tire.

Jacking on the a-arm is just bad practice to begin with. Thats not how its designed and it'll probably slip off at some point. It should be tall enough to reach the frame or lower crossmember where your skids bolt to.

Yeah...I did look at the manual during the tire change and....I must have been under too much duress/pressure. There was a line of rigs behind me that couldn't pass until I got moving again. I think I switched up the front/rear and saw that the rear needed to be on the axle and was thinking that was the front axle.



This is really where I should have put it, where the a-arm skid is not involved at all ->



Now, I assume the 'real' jack location IS affected by having a lift or not, so if I have a 2-3" lift, all I need to make sure I have is some wood to make up for that 2-3"s. I don't have a long travel suspension so I don't think it matters if I'm using the stock bottle jack or not.

The real jack location is not changed with a lift. Your stock control arms only go up so far and down so far. When you lifted it - you probably didn't change that at all. They still only go up so far and down so far. What happened is you changed where they start. So... they still stop going down at the same point. Meaning you do not have to lift it any higher off the ground than you would have without a lift.

* some lifts do allow for around 1" of additional down travel. And if you have 33" tires - that's about 0.5 inches extra of tire height. So in reality it's possible that you could need as much as 1.5 inches of extra height. But the stock jack should easily handle that much difference.

Just put the jack under your engine skid and crank it up until the tire is off the ground. Easy peasy. Ideally near the rear center like the FSM shows. The skid should work just fine.

Good luck!

All of that seems correct to me but this.

I'm not sure on the exact numbers but any bolt-on coilover would only give you a negligible amount of extra downtravel from stock front suspension as far as the factory jack is concerned. Bilstein 5100 front shocks have more downtravel than any of the King, Icon, or Fox's have believe it or not.

Your factory jack should still work with any lift kit, its pretty long, except for maybe +2" and +3.5" long travel. (These are added width kits not inches of lift #s). It just takes forever to extend it all the way out.

Edit: Jetboy beat me to it.

If I'm putting the jack in the center of the engine skid and lifting the entire front...that sounds more dangerous than just trying to lift one side? It seems like its much more likely to possibly fall to a side.

skid plates on LCA's lolol

Yeah, Total Chaos, RCI, CBI, King....they don’t know shit about off roading

Marketing is neat.

I can totally see how the crowd made the situation worse due to actual or perceived pressure to act fast.

A few comments:
--What pressures were you running for that to happen? What rating do your tires have? If you are running P or LT-C you should not have to air down as a standard procedure. Too much pressure can get you a tread puncture by a sharp rock, but what you experienced is far more likely. Plus, it is debatable if lower pressures add traction in snow. If you have E-rated tires, then, yes, traction at street pressures won't be great.

--I understand that some enjoy clubs, etc, but I am not personally a fan of big groups of any kind. Having different types of vehicles in the group makes things even worse.

--One of the advantages of the air jack over the HiLift is that it can be easily used on uneven ground. I have a Chinese version off Ebay that I have only used in testing but I re-tested it recently and it still works. It has been wasting space on trail for years, but you never know.... That said, the rig can easily move after the air jack lifts it off the ground, so I would not call it a safe solution. Just different, a lighter tool that is easier to store.

--If we are to critique the skid plate package, the unprotected rear LCA brackets are #1 issue to address for any ledges, followed by the stock rear LCAs themselves, then the aluminum package, then the weak design of the front lip of the RCI tank skid. I don't want A-arm skids, but once there.... Also, after a lift the rear differential is quite exposed. Won't be damaged easily as a whole but the drain plug can.

Take or throw any of the above comments/suggestions at will, just my opinion based on what I do. I am not saying I know better what is good for you.

Overall, my best guess is that the entire situation was caused by unnecessarily low tire pressures. Or you really messed up on that spot, which is okay, we all have those moments!

Says the bro with a kitchen sink of mods in his sig line

Dang got me good, I mean it's not cool enough to have my IG handle, some """Molle""" shit, and a """attic"" but it'll do.




anyways, LCA's are pretty beefy, just seems pretty odd to need more sheet metal bolted to them