Lift-Mate

meant to say that the rubber pad on lift mate fits against my tyre wall and the edge of rim, so not reall risk there.. but I have 17" rims and the lift mte is not adjustable, so smaller rims would meant llift mate may be against the tyre wall only, but as it has a big rubber pad, I dont see the problem with that.. rubber on rubber, and you are only lifting against the spring so easy peasy.. much better than tryig to lift the whole side of the car or trying to crawl underneath with a bottle or scissor jack.

For tyre changing using the above approach, I carry a block of wood that can be put under the suspension and then drop the Hilift down. Murphy says if you have it, you won't need it. I have found the block useful for other things nonetheless.

Having just bought a new vehicle, I am fitting a front and rear bar which has Hilift slots so maybe I won't need it in the future.

Hi All,
Just a quick clarification required please.

Coyote says you are lifting against the spring and not the whole side of the car, can anyone explain how this is so???

As I understand it, the Lift-mate is attached to the wheel, which in turn is attached to the axle, which is attached to the springs, which are attached to the chassis and hence the body.

So jacking the wheel must lift the wheel, the axle, the spring, the chassis and the body.

Correct?? If not, please explain.

Disco

If you jacking one metre then correct. But ususally you need to jack only say 20-30 cm. In tnis case majority of lifting will went into spring compression, i.e.you need much less efforts.

Basically the spring is not that stiff that as soon as you start to lift the wheel the whole car lifts.. as you jack up.. the spring compresses. yes, eventyually the spring will compress that far that you will start to lift thw whole sideof the car, but the beauty of the this device is that you get the 'lenthgth of spring travle' to jack the tyre up before you start lifting the full weight of the car.. Is that about as clear as mud?????

Coyote,
Your explanation still sounds illogical to me.
If the weight of the car is resting on the tyre, the spring is still carrying the weight of that corner of the car.
As soon as you start jacking at the wheel the spring is still carrying the weight of the vehicle and this can not change.

The only thing you gain is that you do not have to jack the jack up so high. You are lifting the wheel direct and NOT lifting the body and then having to allow the spring to extend to the limit of it's travel before the jack starts to lift the wheel .

Disco.

the reason you dont have to lift as high is because unless the spring is fully compressed, there is still travel left in the spring.. as you start to lift the WHEEL (not the car).. the wheel will lift untill the spring is fully compressed (the range depends on how much load is on the spring of course which in trun dependfs on how much crap you have in the back hehehe) hence you are only lifting the wheel not the whole car.. once the spring becomes fully compressed, you THEN start to lift the weight of that corner of the car, the point is you dont have to lift the whole corner of the car the full distance of the suspension travel before the wheel starts to lift of the ground.. Keep in mind here, the reason you are jacking is probably because the wheel is not getting traction and it needs to be blocked under eg mud or severe angle or bottomed out on soemthing like a rock etc. and hence there is no car weight being borne by the wheel.