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At least you guys all got your vehicles back. One time I got so badly stuck in Central Africa that I was forced to abandon the vehicle because I could not wait three weeks for the mud to dry out enough so I could dig it out. For all I know, my Land Cruiser is still stuck in Central Africa.

Today I would like to talk about that tool that you might not think about too often until you have a flat tire or a pop out and you are on the side of the road or some place in the desert. There are over 8 different types of Jacks! But for our purposes we will focus on the 4 main types of Jacks Scissor Jacks Hydraulic Jacks – these include Floor Jacks and Bottle Jacks Hi-lift Jacks – also known as a High Lift or Farm Jack Exhaust Jacks Scissor Jacks A scissor jack is perhaps the most common type of jack you may have encountered as these jacks come with your car! Pros: Scissor Jacks are lightweight and reasonably small, making them easy to store and use for the average consumer / car owner. These days there are even electrically operated scissor jacks available that run off your vehicles battery. This makes jacking your car up to change a tire a very simple process. Cons: They are incredibly unstable, they are also very slow to use as you have to turn the screw quite a few times to get any meaningful height out of them. If you have a tall vehicle or you will be going off-road then you need to look somewhere else, this is not the jack for you. Floor Jacks With floor jacks the arm of the unit is pumped repeatedly. This pumping action sucks oil out of the jacks oil reservoir and forces it into the lift chamber, creating an increase in oil pressure and resulting in the saddle arm of the jack rising and lifting your car. Pros: These jacks are far superior to scissor jacks as they take much more punishment, wear and tear and rarely if ever fail, even after decades of use!. They even sell them without the wheels to be used off-road (see below). Cons: Look at the size of that thing! not all of us have space for our off-road equipment, camping equipment and this massive thing. Bottle Jacks Another type of hydraulic jack that you may be familiar with is the bottle or whiskey jack. So named as its physical appearance resembles an old fashioned whiskey jug or bottle. The bottle jack has a single lift rod, which acts as a piston. Cons: One major drawback is its collapsed height is usually only half that of its extended height, this means its unsuitable for many regular vehicles. When using on a vehicle many people like to use a block of timber to help cushion the impact on the cars body of the relatively small (in comparison to a floor jack saddle) point of impact. Pros: Is ideal for vehicles with higher clearances, such as trucks and 4wds. The range of height is much less than a garage jack as well, but once again for vehicles that already have high ground clearance this isn’t a problem. They are usual more robust, take up a lot less space in your vehicle when compared to a floor jack and can safely take more weight. Hi-Lift Jacks (Widow makers) Hi-Lift Jacks, also known as High Lift and Farm Jacks were originally developed for farm work, they are made of a pair of climbing pins, that climb the height of the jack (sometimes as high as 2 meters) by a ratcheting action, achieved by a manual pumping mechanism. Cons: The jacks are not suitable for conventional vehicles, you need to have steel bumpers and/or rock sliders to use this jack, they will sink in the sand, they are super dangerous if you don't know what you are doing (see below). Pros: There are no hydraulics to fail nor cranking of an undersized bottle jack to raise your vehicle. Simply plant the jack under your vehicle, place the foot of the jack under a secure anchor point on your bumper or rock sliders, and then, using the long round lever, start cranking. Exhaust Jacks The exhaust air jack lifts a vehicle using emissions coming from the tailpipe. A hose attaches from the exhaust to a big sack placed under the car. The air coming out of the pipe fills the bag, and voilà! The car lifts off the ground. Cons: This is meant to be used with 6 or 8 cylinder vehicles, it may not work with 4 cylinders because there is not enough engine compression to lift the vehicle. If you have a dual exhaust you can't use this. Pros: The sack is placed anywhere under the chassis, so no jack points are necessary. Since the gadget is basically a big balloon, there's no need to center it under a particular spot on the car. This works perfectly on sand.

Just tell them they need to change the blinker fluid.

Some say the last 2 people to see the RAV4 were Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, and we all know what happened to them.