Hi-Lift
Almost everyone who is an off-road enthusiast has a love/hate relationship with the common farmer’s jack—a jack that is predominantly produced by Hi-Lift.
While they can be one of the most dangerous types of tools to use on the trail if set up improperly (and you’re often not in an ideal jacking area when using one on the trail), we can’t imagine leaving the pavement without one. Not only are they reliable lifting devices, but we’ve seen pieces of Hi-Lifts used to fix tie rods, sway bar links, and we’ve even cut down the I-beam of a Hi-Lift to put in place of a coilover shock that broke so we could drive home.
Even in vehicles that carry other types of lifting devices, we also have at least one Hi-Lift jack bolted down somewhere. If your Hi-Lift jack rides loose in your vehicle, we highly suggest you find some type of mounting device for it before it becomes a missile. Lots of companies like Fourtreks and Hi-Lift have mounting brackets that let you secure these jacks.
Billet Yokes
When we broke two standard Dana 60 1350 pinion yokes on the same truck, we decided to try something a bit more stout. Luckily for us, the driveshaft and U-joint survived both times that the yoke snapped on us. We finally upgraded to a billet yoke that was more than twice the cost of a standard yoke. We haven’t broken a rear Dana 60 pinion yoke on this truck since. While going with the billet yoke may have been more than double the cost, it is actually saving us time and money in the long run.
Light Force HID Lights
Depending on where you live, some of your off-road equipment might get more rigorously tested than other owners’ equipment in other parts of the country. In Southern California, we often have to worry about UV breakdown, but our project Dodge in Colorado has to deal with negative temperatures. And since these Light Force lights were added, they have worked flawlessly. They do take a little longer to warm up and get bright (likely due to air temperature) but the lenses and plastic housings haven’t cracked or become too brittle over the last few years.