Jeep Articles / Technical and Installation (River Raider Offroad TJ Hi-Lift® Mounting Brackets)

River Raider Offroad TJ Hi-Lift® Mounting Brackets

Article written by Moab Man

Date Added: 02/07/2010

Update-"Installation Issues"If you off-road, a Hi-Lift® jack is mandatory? or should be. No other tool has proven itself in more gnarly situations off-road than Hi-Lift® jacks, but where to mount it in a short wheel based Jeep?

River Raider Offroad has released their own bracket system intended to protect your 48? Hi-Lift® jack from outside trail damage, use virtually no interior space, and require no blood sacrifices from your backseat passengers slamming their head into your Hi-Lift® mounted across the rear of your roll cage tubes.

Each mounting kit; TJ/LJ/JK and even XJ?s (sorry YJ?s), comes complete: mounting brackets, all hardware, and even a tap for cutting the threads into your roll cage. And of course? a sticker too. The tools you need to provide: 7mm wrench for the tap, 3/4 inch socket w/ratchet, 3/4? wrench, pliers, and some cutting or machine oil.

Follow along as we install the River Raider Hi-Lift® mounting brackets on a TJ.

Installation

1. Located in the rear corners of your roll cage are two steel bungs. Cut bolt threads into the bungs using the provided tap.

If you?re not familiar with how to tap threads; it?s pretty straight forward. Apply a small amount of cutting oil (if you don?t have cutting oil any machine oil will suffice) to the threads of the tap. Insert the tap into the bung, apply inward pressure, and turn the tap clockwise. Once the tap bites in, continue for about one to one and a half turns. At this point reverse direction for a quarter turn to clear the metal cuttings. Repeat until the tap has cut all the way through and is no longer cutting fresh threads. Remove the tap and clean the threads of any metal debris. An air compressor works great.

2. Line this bracket up with the bung on the passenger side. Apply a thread locker to the 3/4 inch bolt and snug the bracket to the roll cage. We will tighten everything down once we have it all in place and adjusted for fit.

River Raider suggests that you test fit the one inch long bolts with the holes in the foot of the Hi-Lift®. Not all castings of this foot are uniform and the holes may need to be drilled out.

3. Mount this bracket on the driver's side of the vehicle. Again, use thread locker and snug the bracket down.

4. Place your 48? Hi-Lift® between the mounting brackets.

5. Tighten the foot of the Hi-Lift® to the passenger side bracket using the one inch long bolts (bolt, lock-washer, & wing nut). We suggest using a pair of pliers, or similar, to hold the wing nut in place while tightening the bolt. The lower bolt can be tricky to get to. We used and extension with our socket/ratchet.

6. Pass the two inch long bolt (bolt, flat washer, lock-washer, & wing nut) through the River Raider bracket and out the Hi-Lift®. Tighten it down. A 3/4? wrench will be needed to access the bolt head.

7. With the Hi-Lift® secured to the River Raider brackets, tighten the brackets to the roll cage.

Wouldn't hurt to double check everything one last time.

Installation Issues

02/07/2010 - While the River Raider Hi-Lift Mount remains our Top Choice? we have found the proverbial fly in the soup ? and that fly is our hardtop. The structure of the hardtop causes a misalignment (picture right) with the River Raider Hi-Lift Mount preventing its use with the hardtop in place. Soft-top owners won?t have this problem. (Article originally published 10/25/2009)

Final Thoughts

Product testing presented a challenge; how do we test the River Raider Offroad Hi-Lift® mounting brackets? The bracket design is perfection, lock-washers and thread locker prevented it all from vibrating apart over the summer, and to sum it up? all is solid. And while were not fond of subjective testing, all we could think of was whether having our Hi-Lift® onboard, day-in and day-out, would become a hassle or annoyance.

Our answer? We pretty much forgot about our Hi-Lift® jack being there. The only issue we could find, and we worked hard to come up with this one, our Bestop Duster cover will not go on while the jack and brackets are installed.

So whether it?s Megan Fox (a.k.a. super babe) or our River Raider Offroad Mounting Brackets, we?ve learned yes it?s possible to find a ?flaw? if you really look hard enough. When you want to use your duster, take the brackets off. As for Megan?s flaw, were sure it exists? maybe.

Purchase / Vendor Info

Vendor Name:	River Raider Offroad LLC.
Address:	6389 Rockhill Rd Chambersburg, PA 17202
Phone:	717-262-3079
Website:	http://riverraider.com

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Technical / Installation Articles - Body Interior / Exterior