Changing tire on the trail

I bought a 3rd gen 4Runner OEM jack from eBay and a few 911 Motorsports jack extension accessories. These have a 1.5" bore and fit a 3rd gen 4Runner OEM jack without modification:



The saddle has cutouts to fit frame rails and round tubes (like sliders). To spread the ground pressure, I'm also using a Reese hi-lift jack base with a few diagonal cuts in the locator ring:



The 3rd gen 4Runner OEM jack has a 3500 lb capacity, which is enough. Only thing to watch for: since the jack's swivel plate is wider than the ram, the 911 extension tube can tilt. You need to position the jack so the extension tube remains aligned with the ram.

Bill of materials:
Toyota P/N 09111-60075 jack: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=09111-60075&_sacat=0&_sop=15
Reese Bulldog P/N 7048400 jack foot:

$35 Reese Towpower 7048400 Farm Jack Foot Plate, Black, 10in. 10in. x 1in.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011PGV3DU/
Curt P/N 28272 flat jack pad: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8673460&jsn=3
911 Motorsports P/Ns JE-P -031Z (saddle) -041Z (6" extension) -042Z (11" extension): https://www.911motorsports.net/Replacement-parts--for-Jack-Extension_p_79.html

 

Correct jack points if anyone interested.

 

That's great if you have a bone stock, un-lifted 4Runner. I don't think it matters on the rear, but certainly on the front. Makes a good case for throwing in a few blocks of wood to gain some additional height.

 

I have a 3.5" with extended travel shocks front and rear. 34" tires.
For the front I can get away with leveling blocks.
For the rear I have to use a jack buddy and jack up the axle.

I carry these on board.

 

I highly doubt the stock jack run out of height even with lift.
Atleast inside garage it worked on lifted 4Runners. This is a screen cap when I test fit 285 on my 2.5in lifted Limited.

 

I'm really surprised. I haven't actually tried it on mine. Will do on my next service! Thanks!

 

That makes sense, since most lifts don't add much droop.

 

Agreed. If you have a normal (less than 3") lift and 33's I think the stock bottle jack will work find.
A couple caveats here though.
The bottle jack can sink into the mud or dirt quite a bit. So some sort of jack pad helps with that.

If you do have extended travel suspension, you'll need a safe way to jack the rear up by the axle. The stock bottle jack will not overcome this droop.

 

I think my maxtraxx should make a nice jack base.

 

I think that's true even with stock suspension. The suggested jacking point is the axle, just inside of the shock mounts.

Hungryhawk's adapters look perfect for that, since the bottle jack is probably sketchy on the round axle housing on anything but the garage floor.

 

So I would carry these 10x2x14 (or something thick and beefy) sections of very hard wood. I forget what it was. It was $32 per foot I'd bought for some project and had left over.

Going out into the desert I wanted something I could use as a good base on sand for the jacks and even double them up if needed.

Again, this was very hard wood. Perfect for this sort of thing and is kit I would carry with me going off road. Loved those boards.

However, we're out in the Mojave and I'm setting up tents, and stuff to make dinner and my wife wanted to be on fire duty and after I got done with some stuff I go over to see how she's doing and see my beloved boards in the fire. Looked like they'd been burning for a little while now. She was proud she found good firewood stashed away in the 4Runner.

So yeah I normally like to keep some very hard wood, short lengths of board to use a footing for jacks for tire changing on the trail. Good idea. I highly recommend it. Also works as firewood.

 

That’s such a Norman Rockwell moment!

 

Love the cutout on the reese jack foot.

 

Oh no! I honestly don’t even know how I would respond to that. Sometimes it’s hard to make someone understand how truly special a nice block of wood is, especially when it's found its perfect use in life.

Perhaps it’s best to simply enjoy the warmth of the fire at that point.

 

I have one of the plastic Jack base plates for my stock jack that a few people have already posted.

I'll also note that if you're changing the tire on a soft surface, even if you can't get the wheel completely off the ground, once you ensure that the vehicle is supported securely you can always dig out from underneath the tire with the shovel that you should be carrying.

I've even heard of this being done by simply placing a large rock under the axle housing and then digging out from underneath the tire.

 

https://youtu.be/m6uto4wQY_g?si=Ssz2Rwc2guG8DnvX

 

This looks interesting but why do you need the 3rd gen jack? I measured the top of my 5th gen jack at 1.5" so shouldn't it match the 911 Motorsports ID which is listed at 1.5"? Or is the tolerance just too tight?

 

You should definitely sell these

 

I grieve for that old man lol.



It’s only through the power of the internet that we can take comfort knowing that we are not alone:





https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HbZGTSc_buU


Just don’t show your wife these. It will break her heart once it dawns on her how much that piece of lumber meant to you. You are not alone

 

Maybe you could use her favorite wooden rolling pin to start the grill next cookout...

 

The swivel plate on my 2010 OEM jack measured larger, like 1.7" (going by memory). What's the P/N shown on your jack?

 

Okay, I got a better measurement and it's actually 1.56" so maybe that's the answer. I have seen reference to people popping the cap off, so that could be a possible way to do it.

 

^The cap is an endstop for the jackscrew inside. Removing it will cause the jackscrew to decouple from the sleeve outside and render the jack useless. I ruined two 3rd gen jacks this way trying to adapt them to fit Safe Jack accessories which have even smaller bores than 1.5".