Safe Jack - Review

BlkWgn

BlkWgn

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Here is my review of the Safe Jack that I originally posted on our blog Family Off The Map


I have been looking at the Safe Jack kits from Bogart Manufacturing for a few years, I have read about them, watched the videos and window shopped at Overland Expo. Well I finally came home from expo this year with the 6 ton Bottle Jack Recovery kit. Luckily the only use it has seen was a driveway test, but so far I am impressed.


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The full kit​
The parent company of Safe Jack is Bogart Manufacturing, and is best known for high quality aircraft jacking systems. They took the innovations they had made in the aircraft industry and put it to use to find a solution to safety issues the US Army was having with the HUMVEE. Bogart was able to design a system that would allow them to safely lift an up armored HUMVEE in under 3 minutes under the worst of conditions.

The kit I went with is the 6 Ton Bottle Jack Recovery kit (37M-BJRK-6W) and added on the optional Universal Bottle Jack Base (97M-UBB) and the optional Wheel Chocks (17M-SJWC4). I have always carried the HiLift Jack, and I will continue to carry it, but there is inherent risk with the farm style jacks especially without proper training. The Safe Jack system is quite versatile with a lifting range of 8"-36" and will be able to replace the HiLift for most general lifting needs.

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Safe Jack 6-ton Bottle Jack Recovery kit​
The kit comes in a small tool bag that is pretty well filled but does have room to add some accessories, gloves or other small items you may want handy. In the bag you are going to find a 6 Ton Omega industrial bottle jack, screw collar extension (on the jack in the photo), a 3" and 6" jack extension, an 8.5" to 12" adjustable extension, a flat jack pad, and a round jack pad.

The first step to any project should be safety, so the wheel chocks went on along with the safety chains that keep them in place​

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Safe Jack wheel chocks​
Next I grabbed the 3" extension along with the Round jack pad and slipped it under the axle of the 8,000 pound Power Wagon.

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6-ton Safe Jack with 3" extensions and Round Jack pad​
As you can see the round pad fits perfectly on the axle and thanks to the extension it only took a few pumps of the jack to get the front wheel off of the ground, and left me with lots of lifting room left in the jack if I needed to go higher. The round pad would also work great for lifting from rock sliders, tube bumpers, or even under the leaf springs.

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6-ton Safe Jack with 3" extension and Round Jack pad lifting the driver tire on the 8,000 pound BlkWgn​
The Safe Jack really performed well, but there were 2 minor things that I did not care for. The first is an easy solution, the 2 piece handle for the jack is rather short. With 35" tires and the jack under the front axle, the handle just barely sticks out past the tire. This means that you either have to partially be under the vehicle to jack, or you have to reach in one-handed at an angle that does not give you much leverage. I carry a small piece of pipe in the truck as a breaker bar so in the future I will simple slide it over the jack handle to have a little extra length on it. My second issue is with the universal bottle jack base, and it stems from the universal aspect. The jack is held in place with a combination of metal tabs, washers and bolts. Basically, you stack the washers for the height you need to fit your jack and tighten it all down. This does hold the jack securely but there is just something about stacking washers that does not sit right with me visually. The only way I can really see to effectively change that would be to have a set of spacers for each model of jack which is not practical and would make the universal base not so universal.

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Safe Jack base plate
​
All in all I am very happy with the system and look forward to using it on the trail (hopefully on someone else's vehicle) as well as adding the 12" x 12" Jack Stand Kit to my arsenal. If you are interested in getting one of your own or checking out the safety solutions Bogart has for the HiLift jack check out SafeJacks.com and if you have any tips, tricks or comments about the Safe Jack, feel free to leave a comment below.



Disclaimer: The product was purchased at Overland Expo show pricing and was not supplied for review.
 
I just got the same set up, pretty much mirror Chris' opinions of the 6-ton set and universal base plate.
 
Outstanding review! I'm also a big fan of this product.
 
I missed the discount but just ordered the The recovery kit without the Bottle Jack. I have two bottle jacks in my garage and my truck an F250 Superduty comes with one. I am leaving on a 4 week trip on 2 July and wanted it for a warm fuzzy just in case. Just checking here before I receive it... does it require a particular bottle jack? I know they sell them but did not need a 3rd :( Anyone with a Superduty have the kit?

 
Crap, I just looked in the other thread, thought I measured the diameter of the collar on mine, I didn't.

To answer your question, the jack that Safe Jack sells has a collar that is part of the adjustable/threaded portion of the piston. That collar insures a snug fit between the jack and the adapters. If your jacks don't have that collar, or something similar, the adapters will not work well. That was the primary reason I bought mine with the jack, I didn't want to have to screw around trying to find the correct jack.
 
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So if I understand you and their site... unless one of my jacks does not have a 1 1/4" base on piston I need their collar? Guess I should have called them first. Headed to shop to measure mine ;)
 
Yes, you just need a jack with the 1 1/4piston which is "most" 6 ton jacks. The collar is available separate (all of the pieces are) but the way it was explained to me at overland expo is that the collar is not necessary. The collar covers the threaded extension on the jack to fill it out to the 1 1/4, without the collar you just leave the threaded section on the jack fully screwed in (lowest position) and use the accessories directly on the piston. The downside to this is you loose about 2 inches of height.
 
BlkWgn said:
Yes, you just need a jack with the 1 1/4piston which is "most" 6 ton jacks. The collar is available separate (all of the pieces are) but the way it was explained to me at overland expo is that the collar is not necessary. The collar covers the threaded extension on the jack to fill it out to the 1 1/4, without the collar you just leave the threaded section on the jack fully screwed in (lowest position) and use the accessories directly on the piston. The downside to this is you loose about 2 inches of height.
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Thanks... just measured and as you stated my 6 ton is 1 1/4" :) The jack in the truck that came with it has like a 2 1/2 plate on top... guess that may work in a lot of situations. But I think I'll take it out and mount my 6 ton to save space and weight.
 
I have had my kit about two years now. First time I needed it, the bottle was dry. I was pissed. But my fault for not checking the fluid level before putting on my rig. Anyhow, no problems since. Good unit.


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Note to self... go check the oil in my bottle jack. I too have the kit but utilize my already owned jack.
 
treefireguy said:
I have had my kit about two years now. First time I needed it, the bottle was dry. I was pissed. But my fault for not checking the fluid level before putting on my rig. Anyhow, no problems since. Good unit.
Click to expand...

So what did you do to refill it? What did you use? Is there a field expedient for someone who has this issue?

:coffee
 
Dave said:
So what did you do to refill it? What did you use? Is there a field expedient for someone who has this issue?

:coffee
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Luckily one of the other guys I was with had a bottle jack that worked in his truck. So I used that. I bought some fresh jack oil later that day.


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This is actually a great reminder not just for this jack but for all of our recovery gear. It is easy to load stuff up and have it sit for a while in the truck. I am going to take a bit of this holiday time off to check the oil level in the jack, lube up the hilift, inspect the winch line and straps, grease the snatched blocks

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Glad I saw this. I've been eyeballing the safe jack system. Is it worth it to buy the kit with their bottle jack, or am I just as well served to buy a bottle jack elsewhere?

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Scott said:
Glad I saw this. I've been eyeballing the safe jack system. Is it worth it to buy the kit with their bottle jack, or am I just as well served to buy a bottle jack elsewhere?

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Honestly, you could probably just get any quality jack and add the kit. One thing I found out, there is nowhere on my Power Wagon to use a HiLift. Literally nowhere. So a bottle jack is super important!


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treefireguy said:
Honestly, you could probably just get any quality jack and add the kit. One thing I found out, there is nowhere on my Power Wagon to use a HiLift. Literally nowhere. So a bottle jack is super important!


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It is a good quality bottle jack, but it is just a bottle jack. There is nothing that keeps the system from being used with a properly sized jack from a different manufacturer, and all of the pieces of the kit can be purchased separately so you can mix and match to fit your needs

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Scott said:
Glad I saw this. I've been eyeballing the safe jack system. Is it worth it to buy the kit with their bottle jack, or am I just as well served to buy a bottle jack elsewhere?

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Scott, I bought mine with their jack just to be certain that the components would fit the jack correctly. Any jack with a 1 1/4" piston will probably work.

As far as jack fluid, in a pinch you could use most any kind of oil, hydraulics is hydraulics, principles will be the same.
 
bob91yj said:
Scott, I bought mine with their jack just to be certain that the components would fit the jack correctly. Any jack with a 1 1/4" piston will probably work.

As far as jack fluid, in a pinch you could use most any kind of oil, hydraulics is hydraulics, principles will be the same.
Click to expand...
Once I decide to pull the trigger I'll probably just buy one with a Jack and I'll buy their universal mounting plate/stabilizer as well. Its not cheap but seems like it's worth it.

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