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How To Lift A Military Truck Safely

We can’t do enough to help our brothers and sisters in the Army, can we? When it comes to servicing military trucks, special care needs to be taken considering the weight of those vehicles and the sensitive equipment they might be carrying. A lot of times military trucks end up with a banged-up undercarriage due to the rough terrain they have to endure. A standard truck jack is what you need to lift such heavy vehicles for access to the subframe, wheels, or transmission. A rolling bridge jack is even better in such circumstances because it allows for more controlled and efficient lifting.

In this blog, you’ll learn how to lift a military truck safely and efficiently using a hydraulic floor jack or bridge jack.

Prerequisites 

Before you can go about lifting a military truck in your workshop, you need to keep the following tools handy:

  • A robust truck jack: make sure you have a truck jack with enough weight capacity to elevate a fully loaded truck. Otherwise, it can bend and buckle under stress, causing harm to the operator and the vehicle. Also, make sure that your floor jack or bridge jack has enough lift height to reach the lift points on the undercarriage of vehicles with high ground clearance and elevate them high enough for easy access to the subframe. Military trucks almost always have high ground clearance. So, the last bit is particularly important.
  • Jack stands: Always use jack stands with a truck jack. Because military trucks are big and heavy, a robust floor jack might not be enough to support the vehicle’s weight. Jack stands assist in vehicle service and maintenance by sharing the load on the truck jack and making it safer to keep a vehicle in an elevated position.
  • Wheel chocks: You cannot be too careful when working with heavy vehicles! Wheel chocks prevent vehicles from rolling forward or backward during the lifting process and add an extra layer of safety.
  • Protective gear: Never work on a vehicle without wearing protective gear. Your eyes and hands need to be protected at all times during the lifting process.
  • A reliable power source: Because most modern truck jacks use compressed air along with hydraulics to lift vehicles, it’s important that you have a reliable power source to operate the air pumps of your equipment. The absence of a reliable power source can increase downtime unnecessarily.

Now that you know what you need to go about lifting a military truck, let’s jump right into a step-by-step guide on how to lift the vehicle smoothly and efficiently.

Step-by-step guide to lifting a military truck with a reliable truck jack

Step 1: 

Position the truck in the service bay. Make sure the area is clean and well-lit beforehand. Check your lifting equipment for malfunction or structural damage. This is important because you don’t want your truck jack to give up on you midway through the process.

Step 2:

Position the jack under the designated lift points of the truck. If you aren’t sure where the lift points are, consult the truck’s manual. Lift points are reinforced areas on the subframe capable of withstanding the pressure exerted by a truck jack’s piston.

Step 3:

Raise the lifting apparatus of your floor jack to touch a lift point on the subframe. If you are using a bridge jack, make sure you use adapters appropriate to the vehicle type with the twin lifting arms of the jack so that it can lift the vehicle across its axle. Place jack stands beneath the remaining lift points to support the weight of the lifted vehicle in case you are using a floor jack.

Step 4: 

Use the controls of the truck jack to gradually lift the military truck to the desired height. You can start working on your truck once it’s secure in its elevated position.

Step 5:

Once you are done with your repair job, lower the truck slowly until the wheels are situated firmly on the ground. Don’t forget to remove the jack stands and the wheel chocks if you have been using them. Your truck is now ready to roll!

The Best Jack for Military Trucks

At this point, you might be wondering what’s the best lifting equipment you can use with military trucks. As you know already, with military trucks you need something robust and durable with a generous weight capacity and lift height. Well, we have good news for you!

Introducing the Scorpion MJ25 Floor Jack!

Why it’s special:

  • With a 25,000 lbs. or 25-ton weight capacity, the MJ25 is an absolute beast when it comes to lifting big, bulky vehicles.
  • And how high does it lift? Over 36”! Can you believe that?
  • Say goodbye to long downtimes! The MJ25 Floor Jack also uses stackable adapters to suit any military vehicle type.

And we are not finished yet! There’s the J50000H Stan Jack to make your day. This beast of a bridge jack will make you grin from ear to ear with the following qualities:

  • The J50000H easily lifts vehicles as heavy as 50,000 lbs.
  • An extended lift height made possible by heavy-duty hydraulics makes short work of lifting military trucks.
  • An incredibly low collapsed height makes the J50000H the best fit for all workshops across the continent.

Savvy?

Endnote

No matter what you buy for your workshop, remember what’s cheap upfront might not be cost-effective in the long run. Buy your truck jack from a reliable manufacturer with a reputation for manufacturing class-leading products for a substantial amount of time. That’s what you call an investment for the future!