The $9.83 TJ High Lift Jack Storage Solution

Text and photos by Sam Houston

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Since I've owned my TJ, I've been trying to discover an out of the way place to store my High Lift jack. I wanted a solution that was CHEAP, rattle free, out of harms way, and preferably inconspicuous. My solution covers all of these easily. I call it the $9.83 solution because that's the amount of my Sears Hardware bill covering the supplies I used (and I had two bolts left over).

When you think about it, it's the #$%@ beam of the High Lift that makes it such a pain to find a storage place. I have seen some folks successfully mount the jack under the hood on the rods that go from the firewall to the radiator support, but I did not personally like that solution. Then, in February, I went on a ride and one of the guys was driving a YJ with a shovel stored in the round frame cross member right behind the front bumper. This got the gears turning in my head and I discovered that you can store the beam for the High Lift in this location on a TJ. If you have the factory front bumper and no fog lights (as I do) it's a 5 minute job … otherwise you may have to drill a hole or two or come up with a bracket or two.

What you need for this project (other than a 48 inch High Lift jack) is two 2.5 inch 3/8 bolts, two 3 inch 3/8 bolts, two 3/8 fender washers, two 3/8 flat washers, and two 3/8 threaded knobs ….. total cost $9.83 at my local Sears Hardware store.

Step 1: Disassemble the Jack. Here is a shot of my ancient High Lift Jack and the hardware required for this project. The jack is disassembled into the base, mechanism, handle, and beam. The components are sitting on an old duffel bag that I store all the jack parts except the beam in. This duffel lives in the bottom of my Tuffy storage box. The three inch 3/8 bolts, washers, and knobs are also shown here.

Step 2: Where does the beam go again?

Here's a shot of the cross member in which I store the beam of the High Lift jack (complete with mud still in place from the March 7, 1998 Southern 4WD Association Meeting).

Step 3: Slide the beam into place. Simply slide the beam trough the cross member. Unfortunately, it won't ride here quietly or stay in its cave without some help.

Step 4: Attach the beam to the bumper. Slide a fender washer down to the head of one of the 3 inch long 3/8 bolts. Then slide the bolt through one of the holes in the beam and through the hole in the top of the front bumper where the factory fog lights mount until the fender washer contacts the beam of the jack. Use a flat washer and a knob to secure the bolt in place. Repeat on the other side. Once you've tightened both knobs, the beam will be flexed a little and it will not rattle. Nor will the knobs loosen up. My Swampers (though new) are badly out of round and shake the hell out of the TJ at 70-75 MPH. This setup didn't loosen at all on the 4.5 hour highway drive to the Southern meeting, a day on the trails, and the 4.5 hour drive back.

If you do not have the stock front bumper, or you have lights mounted, you could still use this location, though you'd have to either drill a hole in the bumper or come up with a bracket.

This location will suck if I get the front end wedged between two big rocks and need the jack, but otherwise, it's perfect. Maybe the Jeep engineers had this in mind when they designed the frame.

The finished product. As you can see from this shot, the location meets my objective of inconspicuous. I circled one of the knobs so that you can spot it, but other than that, you cannot tell that there is a High Lift in this picture. I've even had folks on the trail ask what the knobs are for, then look a little closer and ask how the heck I came up with that. I just smile and say I stole the idea from "Dirt Devil."

Sam’s TJ Buildup Part I | Sam’s TJ Buildup Part II | Sam's Hi-Lift Mount | Sam's Soft-Top Installation | Sam’s TJ Buildup Part III

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