[nevadaesh]

For years I've had my Hi-Lift mounted on my OEM roof rack. That mount changed when I bought a RTT and a new Baja Rack to set it on. With the tent opening out one way, and the two awnings on two other sides, there is no place to mount the jack. I looked at the spare tire and I just know there's too much weight canting out to use the bolts for the spare. So yesterday afternoon I happened to be sitting in a position to look at my front bumper from the side and found a place.

I have installed a Lucrum mount in the past and saw right above the mount there is room, about 2" wide, to mount a jack. Of course a plastic bumper with bolts through it will not support the weight of a jack for very long, so I bought a 3' x 2" steel bar as a backer plate. It's straight but the bumper is rounded as these 2 pics show:

So with a little jumping down on the steel backer I got the curves close enough:

So after measureing the hole pattern on the jack I drilled 3 - 1/2" holes in the backer plate and the bumper and bolted it all together:

I then mounted the jack and instantly found that the plastic bumper flexed way to much and knew that it would never last with the bouncing when off pavement.
Right above the shackle bracket on the Lucrum mount there's just enough space to install a couple of vertical reinforcing bars. You can see them in the photo above and here is a close up. They are some galvanized stock I had laying around, cut and drilled and painted. The nuts and bolts are stainless steel:

I did have some help off and on during the day, Mickey, one of our dogs:

I remounted the jack and there is absolutly no flex now. I will have to keep a close eye on this during our next outing. Sure hope is holds up.
Here are a couple more pics with the jack on. The center bolt is for a padlock. Going to match the color of the rig and paint the jack.

The install allows full access to the winch, does not interfere with any of the lights and I think looks pretty good.

So that's what I did today.

 

[OK_FJ]

Wow cool! I never would have thought to put it there but I like it a lot. Props man!

 

[Capt Sensible]

Looks good. I agree I would keep an eye on it just to be safe. I like you hi-lift, it's old and beat up. Looks good.

 

[Layonnn]

I like the idea.

But, that plastic bumper isn't held on by much. Have you removed and installed the plastic fascia before? There is very, very, very little holding it on. I could rip it off with my hands. You have a good 50-60lbs of steel weight hanging on that thing. Good luck to ya!

 

[nevadaesh]

Wow cool! I never would have thought to put it there but I like it a lot. Props man!

Thanks

Looks good. I agree I would keep an eye on it just to be safe. I like you hi-lift, it's old and beat up. Looks good.

Yea, maybe we will paint it and beat it up again. Then again we may not paint it. I do like the "used" look of it.

I like the idea.

But, that plastic bumper isn't held on by much. Have you removed and installed the plastic fascia before? There is very, very, very little holding it on. I could rip it off with my hands. You have a good 50-60lbs of steel weight hanging on that thing. Good luck to ya!

I have to agree about the plastic bumper, but with the backing plate and reinforcing straps, I'm really hoping it works. Definitely a test location. Having the Lucrum mount below gives me much more confidence that it will work. Stay tuned.