"Our new battery-powered Easy Jack offers a much safer way to change tires and gearboxes on center pivot irrigation systems, as well as for any other job where you'd use a jack," says Dan Kennicutt, TD Technologies LLC, Sutherland, Neb.

The electric-over-hydraulic jack operates on a 12-volt rechargeable lithium ion battery and can be used up to 30 times off a single charge. It can lift up to 3,300 lbs.

A steel arm on one side does the lifting. The operator simply pushes a 2-way switch on top of the jack to make it go up or down.

The jack has 17 in. of travel. However, the base has an adjustable "lifting lug" with a series of holes in it, and by changing the position of a pin, the jack can lift up to 3 ft. high.

"A lot of farmers use manually operated high-lift jacks, but they can be very unsafe. Many farmers have been injured when the locking mechanism on the jack failed and they got hit in the head, resulting in lost teeth or even broken jaws," says Kennicutt, who invented the new electric jack along with Tye Baumgartner.

"Our jack has infinite adjustment up or down. It weighs 65 lbs., but we think the safety advantage is worth the extra weight."

Kennicutt and Baumgartner are developing a tire carrier that lets you use the jack to haul center pivot tires on back of a pickup or utility vehicle. The jack fits into the vehicle's receiver hitch and is used to carry the tire. "The carrier lets you haul the good tire into the field and carry the bad tire out," says Kennicutt.