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July 16, 2024

What Are Climbing Jacks?

 

Climbing jacks are used to raise and lower loads of any size with safety, precision, and control.

Lifting and lowering heavy loads is a challenging task, often addressed by suspending the load with equipment like slings or cranes- this may not always be the safest or most efficient approach, though.

Hydra-Slide’s climbing jacks provide an efficient solution to your raising and lowering needs without compromising the safety of your operators. Keep reading to learn all about how climbing jacks work and why they're an optimal choice for many applications. 

What are Climbing Jacks?

A climbing jack is a hydraulic jacking system designed for precise and controlled movements when lifting or lowering heavy loads. The mechanism involves a hydraulic cylinder inverted inside a specially designed casing. As the hydraulic piston extends downward, it exerts a controlled force that lifts the load. This process allows for incremental adjustments, facilitated by jacking timbers- such as Ekki or Dragonwood timbers- stacked beneath the jack's foot.

Hydra-Slide’s climbing jacks only require one block pile per jacking point and the process of adding or removing layers to the block pile can be repeated until the load reaches its desired height.

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How Climbing Jacks Work

This animation depicts the process of lifting a load using a combination of Hydra-Slide’s CJ150 Climbing Jack and Ekki Timbers.

The climbing jack begins on a base layer of ten ekki timbers. When the lift begins, the hydraulic piston attached to the jack’s foot extends downward and lifts the casing upwards. Once the cylinder has extended fully, another layer of ekki wood is added perpendicular to the direction of the first layer. The first four are added while the piston is extended and touching the previous layer and the middle blocks are added once the cylinder is retracted; this facilitates the next part of the lift. The process described above can be repeated until the load reaches the desired height.

New Addition to the CJ Family

Our newly-designed 150-ton capacity CJ150 Climbing Jack is the latest addition to the Hydra-Slide Climbing Jack family, and it pairs perfectly with the HT500 Heavy Track System.

Features

Safety of operators is a top priority at Hydra-Slide, which is why climbing jacks should only be paired with 10,000 psi power units that have load holding capabilities, such as our Hydra-Pac Synchronous Power Units. These units incorporate a load holding valve, which allow for smooth and controlled movement of heavy loads and insures the safety of your team.

If the pressure in the system drops suddenly, the holding valve will close to prevent fluid from escaping, resulting in the load remaining stationary. These units also ensure equal weight distribution among all jacks in the system to maximize not only their capacity, but also their versatility.

Climbing jacks can be used on small- and large-scale jobs- Hydra-Slide offers climbing jacks in capacities ranging from 55 tons to 200 tons. And by combining multiple climbing jacks in a system, operators can significantly increase their lifting capacity. For instance, when properly configured with equal load distribution, a system of four CJ100 jacks can lift up to 400 tons.

Conclusion

Hydra-Slide’s climbing jacks are an ideal solution for safely and efficiently lifting and lowering heavy loads. Their precise control, safety features, and scalable capacity make them indispensable for a wide range of applications, from small-scale projects to large industrial operations.

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At Hydra-Slide, designing and building skidding systems is all we do, and we're passionate about our business.

If you want to know more, we'd love to hear from you.

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