Yakima Universal Mighty Mounts
I bought a large, 60" Hi-Lift Jack, and needed a way to carry it on the outside of my H3 Adventure. Since the jack is five feet long, there is really no practical way of keeping it inside the cabin if I want to have passengers with me. I looked at various options, including cargo racks. But, when I went to a local sporting goods store and opened a bunch of boxes (with the store's permission, of course), I decided that I could probably just mount the Hi-Lift Jack directly to a pair Yakima Universal Mighty Mounts attached to my factory luggage rack bars.
I bought a box containing a set of four Yakima Universal MightyMounts, part number 03590, for about $40. I only needed two MightyMounts, but there's nothing wrong with having an extra pair for spare parts, or in case I need to attach something else in the future. And, with four, I could even attach a couple of pieces of Unistrut if I decide I need to mount a bunch of things. There was plenty of hardware, as the box contained four each of all of the folllowing pieces. The box even came with a nice, rubber coated finger wrench -- the only tool needed for assembly.
MightyMount Configuration for a 2006 Hummer H3
As you can see in the picture, each MightyMount has two different hex bolts, and two different bails. And, the backbone has both an upper and lower hinge point for the bail. Through a bit of experimentation, I determined that the "B" bails attached to the backbone's lower hinge point and secured with the short hex bolt fit the 2006 Hummer H3 factory black luggage rack bars very securely.
There is one difficulty, however. When mounting the MightyMounts to the luggage rack bars, it is a bit tricky to start the thumb-wheel on the short hex bolt because there are only a few threads hanging below the bail in this configuration. But, I could not use the long hex bolt because it hits the roof of my H3. Once the thumb-wheel is tightened, however, there is at least a quarter inch of bolt extended below the bottom of the thumb-wheel, so you don't have to worry about the thumb-wheel popping off.
Customizing the MightyMounts to Accept a Hi-Lift Jack
To firmly attach the Hi-Lift Jack to the MightyMounts, I spent about $8 to buy a few extra parts from a local hardware store:
- 5/16" x 1-1/4" fender washers, Qty. 4 (2 per MightyMount)
- 5/16" x 18 T-Handles, Qty. 2 (1 per MightyMount)
The main body of the Hi-Lift Jack is basically a steel I-beam with oval holes cut into it. The inside of the "I" is about 1-1/2", so the 1-1/4" fender washers fit nicely between the flanges. And, the 5/16" nuts supplied by Yakima fits very nicely into the holes, as long as the nuts are turned so that the flats are parallel with the long side of the oval holes.
The plastic spacers supplied by Yakima are used to raise the jack up a bit so it does not interefere with the MightyMount backbones. And, the bottom side of the spacers are slightly curved and have a few groves, so they can be adjusted to make sure the washers fit flat against the jack when everything is mounted on the luggage rack. The long carriage bolts supplied by Yakima are used, and are pushed through the backbones from the inside.
The only other trick is to make sure factory luggage rack bars are spaced apart far enough to let the jack handle and mechanism fall complete between the two bars. Also, when the MightyMounts are secured to the luggage rack bars, the spacing between them must align with the oval holes on the Hi-Lift Jack so that the carriage bolts sticking out of the MightyMounts will fit through the Hi-Lift Jack. I found that, with the front bar locked into the first usesable notch in the track and the back bar locked into the last usable notch, the spacing was perfect.
When you attach the Hi-Lift Jack to the MightyMounts, there are a few things you should consider. First, the foot of the jack should be towards the front of the vehicle. When mounted foot-first, the jack's mechanism and handle hinge is also towards the front, with the handle extended towards the back. Thus, you are less likely to get brush or small tree limbs snagged on the jack mechanism or handle. Secondly, if you want to lock the jack to your luggage rack, you should get a cable lock similar to the MasterLock Python series because they are weather resistant, and the cable does not have any end-loops so it can be fed through the holes on the jack.
