Having a do-it-yourself mentality can save a lot of money when carrying out minor repairs and maintenance on your vehicle. However, you will not go far without knowing how to jack your ride properly.
But the thing is, you can not just follow the traditional method when jacking up a UTV. Why? UTVs are pretty light! And just the basics of jacking up your ride will not cut it. Therefore, you must learn how to jack up a UTV safely.
Well, to make things much more manageable for you, we are here to walk you through the correct process. And do not worry; our guide will not be as hard as the ones that you find on other blogs.
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Safety Tips While Lifting UTV
Before we move into the process of lifting UTV, we would like to discuss some safety concerns. UTVs are generally light. But that does not mean that any jack will work with it. You should keep the weight of your UTV in mind. Pick a jack that has more weight capacity than your UTV.
Secondly, consider the maximum height of the jack. That criterion will dictate how much working space you will get underneath the UTV. And we would recommend getting the jacks with a high overall lifting capacity.
Easy Process of Jacking Up A UTV Correctly
Jacking up a UTV is all about proper stability and balance. Not all of the guides emphasize enough on that. But the process is not like any other regular guide! And if you want to be escorted in the right way, you should follow these steps with full attention:
Step 1: Get The Right Jack
First and foremost, you should find the right jack for the lift up your UTV. Basically, the hydraulic, scissor, bottle, UTV, quick, or table jack will be good picks for this process. However, among all of them, the scissor jack is the cheapest. And it happens to be the safest for the UTV as well.
The scissor jack works exceptionally well for off-roading vehicles. And the great part is that they are easy to transport. However, you need to consider that they are a bit longer than the others and require more energy to work.
Other than that, the UTV jack is a great pick too. However, these jacks tend to work better in environments such as garages. And you will not have that much luck with the outdoor settings.
Step 2: Park Your UTV at The Right Spot
Whether you are planning to learn how to jack up a side by side or others, the second step would be to park your UTV. And when it comes to finding the right parking spot, your garage will be the perfect pick. But you might not have that much space to work in your garage. In that case, find a solid and leveled ground.
You should put proper emphasis on the leveling of the spot because that is pretty crucial. If you select a sloped or unleveled location, the UTV may roll when you are working with it.
That said, when parking the UTV, you should use the parking brake. It will offer an extra layer of security and enable you to park your car safely. Also, get some wheel chocks and put them on the side you do not plan to work with.
To illustrate, if you are planning to jack the front side, place the chocks on the rear wheels. Similarly, when you want the rear, put the chocks on the front of the UTV. And if you plan to jack one of the sides only, place the chocks on the other side.
Step 3: Locate The Jack Spots And Slide The Jack
You will need to go through the owner’s manual for this step. What you will be looking for is the location for placing the jacks.
Usually, there will be bulges under the frame, which are basically the jack points. However, your UTV might not have any jack points at all.
In that case, you will need to find an area on the frame that can balance the vehicle when it is raised. Somewhere between the two tires on the sides will do the trick, but you should definitely test things out.
After you find the right placement, slide the jack right beneath that point. The saddle of the jack should align properly under the location. And setting it up correctly is pretty important. Without right alignment, the UTV will not lift up in a balanced manner. And you will risk damaging the vehicle or injuring yourself.
Step 4: Lift Your UTV
Now that the jack is in place, it would be time to lift the UTV. For this, you should follow the instruction of the jack you are using.
For example, if you are using the scissor jack, you should hook up the compressed air to the hose. Let the air in to make the jack raise your vehicle.
On the other hand, if you are using a quick lift, you will need to use the hand crank to lift the UTV. Basically, the process will differ depending on the jack you are using.
Step 5: Insert Jack Stands
Even though UTVs are reasonably lightweight, you still can not settle on the jacks to hold them in the raised position. Instead, you should slide the jack stands in place. For this, you would need to lift the vehicle just enough to insert the stands. And after placing those, you can lower the jack and let the point rest on them.
Step 6: Lower The UTV
After step 5, you can work under the UTV. And when you are done, you just need to follow the steps in reverse. In short: lift the vehicle to get the jack stands out, then slowly lower the UTV to the ground.
Pro Tip to Raise Your UTV in The Field
While being on an outdoor adventure, you might find the need to lift your UTV. In that case, you can not follow the regular UTV jacking up method. The terrain of the fields will not be that forgiving. And you will have a hard time trying to find a solid ground that is leveled.
Therefore, we highly advise you to carry 2x6 wood planks with you all the time. You can place them on the ground and create a solid location to lift the UTV. Also, for offroad adventures, we suggest carrying a quick jack with you. It is small in size, and you can easily fit it in your UTV.
Final Words
Learning how to jack up a UTV can be a piece of cake when you follow the right steps. And we hope that after going through our guide, you have realized exactly that. Nonetheless, do remember to keep the safety tips in your mind whenever you are carrying out a lifting project. And do not lift your UTV on the sloped ground!
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