The biggest problem in that picture, and the one we're illustrating in it, is the angle at which the strap-to-top clamp achieves.
You'll notice how the strap appears to "move away" from the stanchion - that's not good and it's because the old red top clamps can only be used safely when in-line with the stanchion. Hi Lift fixed this when they designed the new top clamp for the extreme. This new clamp has an attachment point at a right angle to the stanchion. As the nose and top clamp "come together" during operation they are kept in-line with the stanchion and never at an angle.
I agree the old style sucks.
Having the strap over the nose of the Hi Lift is NOT a bad idea! We tested a chain over the nose and a strap over the nose (this was performed over 30 times) and the strap NEVER came off. The chain came off twice. This exercise is performed by us numerous times a month every month and we have never had that strap break, slip, bind, or otherwise become "compromised". A "pinned on" connection to what? Not the casting webbing on the nose and adding yet another piece of hardware to an already "hardware-rich" recovery is somewhat dangerous in and of itself. First rule of a recovery rig: Keep it simple! More hardware is more shrapnel! Before any recovery an assessment must be performed where possible dangerous scenarios are taken into account - trucks rolling forward is one such scenario. The rig should be set up to keep the jack operator as far from the vehicle as possible.
I also prefer to use the strap over the foot. I think this always works better.
Having had the strap slide off of the foot, and then 'pop' as the rigging came back under tension, as vehicle lurched and rolled funny I ALWAYS recommend securing the strap to the foot. On most new high lifts there is a hole in the foot that can be used for this. I have used a lot of different things....a stick, pin, zip tie, etc. There is no need to add compounding hardware under tension, but it functions more as a safety device.
Have you ever scene a Hi Lift jack lever swing up under "power" against the stanchion during a come-a-long? You can move the direction lever up or down and that handle will not move under any load. Now, jacking a truck up is another matter! What we call "the no-go-zone" between the handle and stanchion is NEVER entered under any circumstances!!! One of our instructors saw someone almost loose and eye and I have personally seen someone get their head beat between the stanchion and handle 3 times before they got their head out!!! (They were wearing their Kevlar thank God!) The handle comes up and down that fast when something goes wrong when it's being used as a jack. If you loose a shear pin or climbing pin the whole rig collapses in a com-a-long. The handle has nothing to slam against.
Yes, I have seen people fail to make a complete stroke on the jack handle while using it as a come-a-long after loosing their footing. With enough tension in the system this usually results in the lever smartly smacking the chain. The lever CAN and WILL ********** whatever is in that area if your not paying attention 100% of the time. Why stand there at all?
I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble of wiring or taping the choke hook to a chain link. When you relieve tension to re-set or take down the rig re-setting chain length quickly with ease is the point behind the chain. It's one of the ONLY times you'll see us use chain. (It's heavy, and unless you're using Grade 8 3/8", in which case its VERY heavy, it's relatively weak compared to straps and winch extension.) I always ask students: Which would you rather have me throw as hard as I can at your face? Chain? or Strap?
Again, IF your going to use chain like that why not spend the 30 seconds to be careful and tape or wire the hook? Having seen chain slack and 'pop' off the hook after it has moved I highly recommend it. Pulling is not always a static operation, in my opinion the system needs to be able to be fully under tension, go fully slack, and go back under full tension with ZERO chance of anything coming undone. Safe is Safe.
You can run the nose/lift trolley all the way up or down. In fact, if you use it as a spreader that's what happens quite a bit. If you're jack is getting stuck ANYWHERE along the stanchion - top, bottom or middle - take better care of your jack. We see a lot of brand new jacks and especially military-owned jacks stick from no-use and all the damn paint! The military likes to spray the whole damn jack, springs, pins, joints, stanchion and all!
You can run your jack all the way up against the top attachment and run out of room to be able to get the 'half-click' you need to change direction on the jack. This has nothing to do with care of the jack, its a mechanical limitation.
I enclosed a diagram of our whole "kitandkaboodle" so to speak. You can take the chain out if not needed or the winch extension if not needed. (I've just used 2 straps before.) The nice thing about what you see here is the ability to re-set your rig quickly, safely and easily. Put a chain sinnet in the winch extension to eat up slack and finish the fine tune by choking up on your chain. (You can see here why the 48" jack is tedious as you're only moving your load a couple feet at a time once all your stretch is out of your rig.)
Yes, I am very familiar with the rigging for pulling. In that pic you show the jack close to the load. I do not recommend that if at all possible. You also mentioned it above. Recovery is not a race 99.99% of the time. I HIGHLY recommend taking the extra 2 minutes here and there 'lock' the rigging in place so that it cannot shift and 'pop' as the vehicle moves, lurches, or falls of a cliff.....
