Inflateable AirBag/Jack

Ive seen advertised in a fue mag's and on internet sites, a Inflateable airbag / jack. You some how attatch to your exhaust and with the engine running it will lift the vehicle out of t sand dune or other terrain to change a tyre etc.

Has anybody used of seen one work?

It just seems to me that it would take alot of exhaust pressure to inflate the bag enough to lift a 2.5ton truck? - Could this harm your engine as well?



Jas

Normally large heavy duty bags. Not cheap/light/small

Large area/low pressure = several tonnes

Often used by emergency services/recovery services

Am not convinced about their use in the overland vehicles

HTH

Brendan

Brilliant things IMHO ... for the right situation. Sand and snow are the two situations in which an air-jack will excel. Having such a wide footprint it’s ideal on soft surfaces, whereas a High-lift would need a large baseplate if it wasn’t to sink out of sight.

Most other situations however, the all-conquering Hi-lift/Farm-Jack/whatever will do the job and so much more.

Surprisingly, air-jacks take very little to inflate and won’t harm your engine – unless of course somebody knows better?

off topic but i can't help but wonder if this could be adapted to create a vehicle flotation device aswell as recovery

freespirit4x4 wrote:

off topic but i can't help but wonder if this could be adapted to create a vehicle flotation device aswell as recovery

I suppose if you had a fue inflateable bags that you could seal off and attatch to your truck you could go for a swim, but surely its easier to get a ferry?!

Tom MC said bigger footprint on sand snow - would you say the same for tyres? Off topic i know but i generaly run taller thinner tyres for UK greenlaning, if this a bad call for overland?

Standard everyday tyres are fine - 205's for instance - and just drop 'em to 20psi in the sand. If reinforced sidewalls they can go even lower, but personally I wouldn't go lower than 10psi. The key is speed - SLOW is the only way.

no ferries across the bearing straight

Mines rescue use these jacks they did a demonstration a few years back where they showed it in use it was very impressive

They are a compact and often useful device in the right circumstances, some situations have been mentioned, but there are many more in which they are useful.

I used them regularly, and still have a couple which are used periodically, but you have to be careful to avoid the cheaper ones flooding in from Asia as they are cheap and nasty and burst very easily, instead go for a reputable brand of good quality and they will survive off road conditions.

Avoid using them on stoney ground which is sharp, in forests where there are numerous small twigs, and in conditions where there are thorns; and always ensure the underside of your vehicle has no sharp edges as these will burst them. I always find a good smooth underbody protection is best as this eliminates many of the brackets and screws which can burst them, in addition i always carried a piece of plywood to place the jack on to prevent ground conditions bursting them.

They also make good seats.

I have a Draper airbag jack, and as long as you have a "conventional" exhaust i.e. round tube, not flat, then you should be ok to use it. It comes with a groundmat, to help on stoney gorund I guess.

I didnt have much success with it on muddy ground TBH but it worked well on my Suzuki here....(I broke the rear axle u bolts here) so I used my spare wheel to act as a placemat, you will notice that I also had a hi-lift supporting the Zook.

i've got an airbag (Bushranger) but similar to the Drapper one. Cracking bit of kit. I've used it to lift my Discovery 3 without a problem on muddy ground. It only needs about 10psi to lift the car so the exhaust is more than capable of lifting that. If you have two exhaust though you'll need a bung to block the one you're not using to inflate the jack.

Thank you for share.

jacket wrote:

Thank you for share.

Soon as I saw the name "jacket" I just knew that's what you were going to say. 9 posts all the same, that's your lot - where's that guillotine?

Jas wrote:

[
Tom MC said bigger footprint on sand snow - would you say the same for tyres? Off topic i know but i generaly run taller thinner tyres for UK greenlaning, if this a bad call for overland?

I'd agree on the tyres.if you lower the pressure on a tyre the footprint doesn't widen but lengthen and this is aided by the taller thinner tyres.

Also if you run standard size tyres then they are more likely to be available locally. I run 8.25 /16 truck tyres on the Iveco, easy to get, longlasting and relativly cheap. If I need massive mus traction well thats where the snow chains get used.

To use an air jack you really have to be careful about the ground and the underside of the vehicle - no sharp stones and jagged bodywork/chassis/exhaust/etc. They can be great but beware, they are easily punctured.

Just for info; The Draper airjack, is exactly the same as the "cheap Asian ones" from China and Malaysia. They are ALL made by the same company in their 2 factories. They also produce around 90% of the "High lift" type jacks. They just knock them out in various colours/sizes etc with different labels on them. I got a Champion farm jack a while back....when it arrived the "makers" label was peeling off and what was underneath,,,,"HiLift"!!!...but the 48" Champion was only 30 quid!!

As for driving on snow, I have found over the years that NARROWER tyres are a definite help in SNOW as they tend to cut into the snow as opposed to great big wide tyres which almost"float" on top of it. Opposite for sand though....wide if possible and lower pressure.

maadmaan10 wrote:

As for driving on snow, I have found over the years that NARROWER tyres are a definite help in SNOW as they tend to cut into the snow as opposed to great big wide tyres which almost"float" on top of it. Opposite for sand though....wide if possible and lower pressure.

Spot on. The best vehicle in the snow years ago was the VW Beetle - skinny tyres, weight over the back wheels.

The 2CV was even better.

Can't argue with that, although the Renault 4 wasn't too shabby either.

Although all good in the snow, the 2CV definitely has the edge over the R4, Beetle, the old rear-engined Skoda and Mini because of its incredible combination of lightness, traction with its front-wheel-drive system, suspension and high ground clearance. The 'Ugly Ducking' in fact has to be the next best thing to a 4x4, and in some scenarios even better. It was and still is an exceptional machine.

I liked its original design brief:

Must be easily made from available materials, hence the corrugated body made from the old tin sheds.
Must be able to carry four people in reasonable comfort; hence four seats.
Must be able to carry a large cargo; hence tip and pull out back seat.
Must be fuel efficient and to 100KPH, hence a 2 cylinder, air cooled rotovator engine.

But my absolute favourite is; must be able to traverse ploughed fields carrying a tray of eggs without breaking them; hence large and narrow wheels, large underbody clearance, long travel suspension, and a flat underside.

The best car I have ever driven in snow was......showing my age now.........a SAAB 96. What a lovely (but ugly) car that was.

Yes it was ugly, but once again its design brief was to stop a 1500Kg Elk coming through the windscreen at 50K/H

Assassin wrote:

Yes it was ugly, but once again its design brief was to stop a 1500Kg Elk coming through the windscreen at 50K/H