Safe Jack Recovery Kit + 6 Ton Bottle Jack Off Road Accessory: Intro & Quick Test On the 5th Gen 4Runner
Introducing the Safe Jack Bottle Jack Recovery Kit + 6 Ton Bottle Jack
Whether on the trail or roadside, the difficulty of lifting your vehicle to change a tire or make a quick trail repair can be a little bit of a challenge with a high clearance vehicle such as a 4Runner lifted up 2”-3.”
It can be even more difficult to make a tire change or trail repair if the vehicle has an extended travel or long-travel suspension where the droop of the front IFS might prevent the front tire(s) from lifting off the ground with a standard OEM jack.
Enter the need for an aftermarket jacking solution!
There are several options for replacing the OEM jack in your high clearance 4Runner. You can take a look at exhaust-driven airbag jacks, the very popular Hi-Lift Jack, the newer ARB Hydraulic jack, a classic floor jack, or a bottle jack option.
All these options have pros and cons.
The new ARB Jack looks extremely safe and usable, however, it comes in at nearly $800 price tag. The also very popular Pro Eagle floor jack is going to be very safe and has very capable lifting heights, but it’s large and bulky taking up quite a bit of space and weighs in at 60lbs.
The popular Hi-Lift is very capable, however, it too is about 40lbs, sometimes feels very unstable, and can be very dangerous without some solid understanding how to use it properly.
At the end of the day, all these jacks mentioned are very capable and work well when properly used.
The Safe Jack Recovery Kit w/ 6 Ton Bottle Jack
Today we’ll be looking at a classic bottle jack option and why it might be a great solution for you both at the roadside and on the trail.
At just 23.5 pounds fully packed, the Safe Jack 6 Ton Recovery Kit with bottle jack provides a very compact, very packable, and extremely lightweight option compared to almost all of the aforementioned solutions above…there is a lot to like about this recovery kit!
Find 4Runner Recovery Kits on Amazon:
- Safe Jack Bottle Jack Recovery Kit w/ 6 Ton Bottle Jack – Check Price
- Safe Jack Recovery Kit WITHOUT Bottle Jack: Check Price
From Safe Jack – Feel safer during lifting and jacking operations. Be prepared for any lifting task the trail might throw at you. Feel safer knowing that the jack isn’t going to slip off an axle or topple off a stack of cribbing. The Bottle Jack Recovery Kit combines all of the most useful tools to turn a 6-ton bottle jack into a compact, powerful and safe lifting tool.
Why Safe Jack?
One of the factors that drew me to this particular Safe Jack Recovery Kit is the variety of height extensions and lifting pad attachments that are included. These attachments will prove extremely useful down the road when on the trail or even just roadside.
Whether needing to lift my 4Runner on 33” tires with IFS or my trail buddy’s Jeep on 35” tires, I really like that this kit included a few attachments that should leave me equipped to lift just about any SUV, RV, trailer, or truck on the trail or roadside.
The other factor that really drew me to the Safe Jack Bottle Jack option was its weight and size. Coming in at just 23.5 pounds fully packed with all accessories included, this bottle jack setup is almost half 1/2 as heavy as the 48” Hi-Lift jack and almost 1/3 as heavy as the Pro Eagle floor jack.
A bottle jack set up is so much smaller as well! This Safe Jack kit is just about the size of an NFL football when fully packed up.
What’s Included in the Kit?
The kit was packaged well and included all the various pieces that were said to be included.
Included in the kit:
- 6 Ton Bottle Jack (Omega Industrial Quality)
- Bottle Jack Extension Screw Collar
- 3” Inch Bottle Jack Extension
- 6″ Inch Bottle Jack Extension
- 5″-12″ Inch Adjustable Bottle Jack Extension
- Flat Bottle Jack Pad
- Universal 3″ Round Tube Bottle Jack Pad (Axle tube, leaf spring, etc.)
- Heavy Duty Canvas Safe Jack Bag
- Plenty of Stickers & Instruction Manuals
Specs & Features
- Extensions and Pads are Made in the USA
- Lift Range of 8″ – 36″
- Durable Steel Construction
- Reliable Omega Brand Bottle Jack
- Lift at an Axle, Frame or Another Lift Point
- Extensions & Jack Pads in any Combination
- Extension Screw Collar Provides Max Useful Stroke
- Increases Safety over Common Hi-Lift Jack Usage
- Makes Jacking Easy in a Variety of Ways
- More Stable, Secure Especially When Paired w/ a Stability Base
- 5 Pounds Fully Packed
Safe Jack Set Up and Use
Pick and choose which height and pad attachment you need and start lifting!
It’s really that simple.
In my testing, I raised my 4Runner at two different lifting points. All the attachments and the bottle jack itself performed well in each scenario.
Let’s take a look… Set up is pretty straight forward and easy.
Based on where you need to lift your vehicle, you will likely either use the Flat Pad or the Round Tube Pad, but I suppose you could use the bottle jacks shaft head alone if you needed.
Make sure you have put the plastic collar onto the bottle jack shaft first before using the height or pad attachments.
Lifting from the Frame
First, I lifted the 4Runner from the frame just beneath the front door.
For this, I again used the flat jack pad but also used the 6” Safe Jack extension as well to reach the frame and crate enough lifting range to get the front tire elevated off the pavement.
Lifting from the Rear Axle
Secondly, I lifted a rear tire using the round tube lifting pad directly on the 4Runner’s rear axle.
No height attachment was necessary for this jacking point. Just the round tube jack pad directly onto the bottle jack.
Lifting Range and Height Tests
Full jacking height tests yielded the following results.
All height tests included the plastic collar for the height and pad attachments. It’s important to note that you can combine the height attachments for additional jacking height.
I did not combine any of the height attachments, the following measurements are just the total jack height with plastic collar and height attachments.
Safe Jack states that you can safely combine height attachments for a max full combined jacking height of 36”!
Here are the individual results (pictured left-right/top-bottom):
- Bottle Jack w/ plastic collar = 16”
- Max Height w/ 3” extension = 19”
- Max Height w/ 6” extension = 22”
- Height w/ Adjustable Extension (lowest setting) = 25”
- Height w/ Adjustable Extension (highest setting) = 28.5”
The Verdict & Final Thoughts
I’m really pleased with this recovery kit from Safe Jack.
I like how many jacking/lifting options I can carry on trips and daily driving with such a small and packable and relatively lightweight jacking kit.
I would absolutely recommend this bottle jack and accessory solution for 4Runner drivers that do not want to use (or cannot use) a Hi-Lift jack but that still need extra lifting range for high clearance options.
We’ve attempted to use this jack to change a flat 35″ on a friends jeep and it was useless – the jack does not have the range to get under the axle of a flat tire and lift to the point an inflated tire can be fitted. It’s travel is less than the wall height of a 35, and my new Jeep is on 37s! I don’t understand how this can get such good reviews? What am I missing? – Looks like the actual lift capability of the jack is only 5ish inches – way less than the sidewall on a 35 or 37″ tire.
I’ve run into that scenario in my 35″ tires, so figured I’d share my thoughts here.
I bought the compact jack stand that they also sell and used the ladder lift technique.
First, lift the vehicle with the bottle jack, then use the compact jack stand to hold in place at that height. Then, swap or add the different length tubes to the bottle jack to get more stroke, and start lifting again from the point where the stand is already holding up the vehicle.
The other option is to dig under the flat once lifted to max bottle jack height, but I never had to go that far yet.
More work than a pro eagle or other floor jack? Absolutely. No denying that. But for me, space is extremely limited and I had nowhere I could mount a traditional floor jack inside or outside my 4Runner. I also wanted to forgo using a hi-lift jack at all costs for safety reasons.
Safe jack is pricey, but worth it to me. Less weight and more compact.
A double ram bottle jack may offer you the range you need. See: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RWJ5SQK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1WF5PLAB10LN6&psc=1
pro-tip: buy the omega jack from amazon. The mark up on the safejack website is crazy high and that’s before shipping costs.
Do you know if you the attachments fit the T4R stock bottle jack ?
That is what I wondering too. The stock bottle jack has a 1.5″ diameter post, all the 6 ton safe jack adapters are for 1.25″, but the 12 ton adapters are for a 1.75″. I’m thinking of trying that out, but I can’t tell how much wiggle room is available or acceptable. Sent a DM to Safejack on their web site but got nothing back.
Any updates on this? Was the extension able to fit over the factory jack?
I didn’t ever move forward with it. I’d still like to know though!
Great info. How would you say the axle adapter compares to bottle jack buddy? Price wise and function, I’ve been looking at a few brands. Not sure what to go with yet but I don’t think I’ll buy an entire kit.
Good article. The weight, size, and price point for the jack are very appealing. Might have to add this to the recovery arsenal! Thanks for the insights, Steve!
Would this kit or the main parts fit where the standard jack is stored?
Hi Andres, in short yes. first remove the OEM jack and bungeed jack handle. Then secondly if you remove the Safe Jack bottle jack from the Safe Jack provided red bag and place the jack itself it in the deeper side of the OEM jack compartment …and then tightly roll up the other Safe Jack attachment accessories in the safe jack provided red bag, then yes you can actually fit both the Safe Jack bottle jack and the accessory red bag into the OEM jack compartment. I just did this today in response to your comment, so im not sure if there will be any noise of the bottle jack rattling round…if there is noise of the jack rattling around on the metal, I’ll just pad the metal a bit and that outta take care of the road noise if there is any. Thanks for checking out the article!
If it works out in the OE jack location (no rattle and fits well), I will swap ours out. A follow up off-road on multiple terrain types would also be legit. It’s nice to have a HiLift but even nicer to not NEED that extra weight and space.
after removing the OEM bottle jack and its handle thing, I was able to fit in the Omega bottle jack in the deeper section and I was able to tightly compress the Safe Jack attachments into the provided red bag and fit it in the OEM jack compartment and put the door back on. My door clips are a bit loose/worn and the door popped off a few times while driving, but nothing fell out. if your door clips are good, then you outta be fine!
Although an old post, thank you for that update. I too was wondering if it would fit in factory location.
My door clips are pretty beat from all the in and out. Send some updated pictures!
Very nice on flat spaces for the base
But do real world trial on a trail
Yep, the point of this article was to primarily introduce the product and its options. I may do a part 2 trail-test and follow-up article out in the Ozarks on the trail this fall! Thanks for the feedback and for checking it out.