me and my dad were talking yesterday and he brought up somthing that had happened over 20 years ago, we were in a parking lot helping one of his buddies with a broke down old buick ,he had the wheel off, my dad was part way under the car when the jack gave out , the drum and control arm with weight of the car crushed his arm luckily 2 of his friends were able to lift the car enough for him to get out..
Not on a hot rod, but...I was welding a Freuhauf dump body gate, with the body up. Standing btwn. the gate and body, I had a long 4x4 holding the gate open...I needed to hammer the split seam closed, so as to make a nice, non-filled weld, and, stupidly, I whacked it hard enough to knock the board out. The gate closed shut on my head like a bear trap... I got out, and thought perhaps I would fall, dead to the floor, at any moment, but...nope. Just a three day headache, a VERY black and purple head, and a lot of scratches/ cuts.
I was also once working under a Buick in a parking lot, up on a small cheap floor jack. A childhood friend's dad told us young lads that if we were ever working under a car, to always put the wheel under it, just in case it fell off the jack. So, being the overly paranoid type, I pulled the spare tire out of the trunk and put it under the frame rail, and laid down next to it to repair the plugged electric fuel pump. Over the course of 10 minutes, the jack bled down 6 inches, settled on the tire, and started letting the air out of the bead. That's when I notice the frame rail was nearly on my chest. 10 years after his lesson, my friend's dad saved my life. I have no doubt I'd have been pinned under that car and suffocated. -Brad
Probably about 35 years ago... had just built and installed a new engine in a Chevelle. Had a buddy "tighten" the upper radiator hose clamp for me. Was leaning over the fender with no shirt on adjusting the valves... hose blew off and scalded my neck and chest... yeouch!! Got in my mom's car to drive myself to the e'room - made it about a mile and was pulled over by the cops for speeding (imagine that!)... got a police escort from there on in. Luckily, no scars and no ill effects - did gain a healthy respect for checkin' things twice.
I was pulling a tranny out of my trans am about 7or 8 years ago and while I was sliding the yoke out of the trans I turned my head to see the rearend and I had one of the wires from my sheared and frayed E-brake cable pierce my cheek and hit my tounge! I was stuck there like a fish on a hook! I had to slide the wire out of my cheek as I turned my head very slow and very painfully so it could exit at the same direction it entered, and it took a while to get all of the grease and road dirt out too.... A good friend of mine Who is now almost 70 had this story to tell me while I was working on his 18 wheeler about 5 years ago.... "I was about 16 years old working on my dads old 18 wheeler. I was under the truck getting ready to pull the tranny, and my wrench slipped off of the bolt and I lost my grip on it. As it came to earth, well... as it came to my face anyway, I couldn't move fast enough and it smashed my 4 upper front teeth out of my mouth. So about a week later we went to the dentist, and I had him remove all of my teeth and make me dentures!" He has had full dentures from the age of 16!! I asked his wife to see if he was story telling and it is true! I belive her seeing as they have known each other since grade school. So needless to say after these incidents I am very carefull while I'm under my rides doing anything! Mike
Had gasoline go in my eyes and in one ear. The ear... that was the worst burning pain I've ever felt. I couldn't stand for hours even after having it flushed out and it felt like my brain was on fire. - Matt
I was pulling a junkyard rearend outta the local U-Pullit. I got the rear end most of the way out & only had two of the upper trailing arm bolts left. Like a doom-ass had my hand on the lovely junkyard dirt to prop myself up while I beat the hell out of the upper trail arm bolt...the rearend came thundering outta the car and pushed my hand in the dirt...I felt a stinging sensation but didnt really think much of it until I pulled my hand outta the dirt and had a 2" by 4" of scrap greasy steel protruding from my hand....I looked at the other side and saw the same peice of steel...twas a through and through puncture. Of course I couldnt let my spoils (and work) go to someone else, I wrapped up the punctured hand finished dragging the rearend out, loaded it in the wheel barrel and went home...first thing out of my mouth when I got home was "honey, I think I need to go to the emergency room" She asked why and in proper doom-ass form whipped the rag off my hand at which time my lovely bride fainted... Once I revived her she gave me a ride to the ER for the proper removal of said steel.... I still have the chunk of metal as well... Oh but there's more...so there I was sitting in the military hospital getting stitched up and I had to show the Corpman apprentice how to suture...read: I had to do the first three myself...sheesh Thank god for ladocane
Scalded by antifreeze, after someone else was "bright" enough to remove his radiator cap when I was working on a vehicle at a gas station/service center and he pulled in next to the PAYING customer's car. I had my back turned towards him, as I was lashing valves on a running engine. Some nice second degree burns down the back, shoulder, neck, & face. He was good enough to say, "Sorry...thought you were gonna move so I could fix this thing." I was going to hit him, but the other mechanic beat me to it.
You havent experienced pain till you have got brake fluid sprayed in both eyes at once.Its a rush let me tell ya.Its a whole lot better than carb cleaner ...
Anyone remember that video of the guy in the junkyard sitting under the front rotor? The car came off the jack and the rotor went right through his shin, I think only one side of skin was holding his lower leg on.
Eleven years ago I was putting a new trans. gasket on the C4 in my '55 F100 about a week after redoing the exhaust. I left the truck on the ground as it was still high enough for me to get under there without any great discomfort. I still had the drain pan in place under the trans. and one of the last pan bolts to go back in was a slippery sonuvabitch, and I must have dropped it back in the pan four or five times. Being a hot-headed kid, the last time it plunked back in the old fluid I yelled out "FUCK" and just kinda spazzed... Next thing I know, blood is filling both my eyes! I squirmed out from under the truck and wiped my face with my shirt until I could see out of my left eye pretty good... the right eye was still burning like a bastard. When I spazzed, I had slammed my head forward and reamed the top of my right eye-socket on one of my newly-installed exhaust U-bolts. It made a pretty good hole that has since been engulfed by my mannish eyebrows, but I learned to always face U-bolts up, and I've made great strides in being a more patient, even-tempered individual!
A guy was doing a headliner,the cloth ones with the stiff wire supports ya flex into place. he lost his grip ,the wire sprung into his face, blinded him in one eye.Shit happens fast.
In high school about 77 or 78, we had broken a bolt off in the starter mounting hole. I had a friend jack up the car with a bumper jack, so I could slide under and look at it.......sure enough, the jack broke loose, and the car came down on me! luckily the tires were on so all it did was pin me under it. Oh ya we had a Big block in it, with small block springs...so it really pined ME!
I've earned my living turning wrenches for 40 years and have been pretty lucky. Right now, though, I am off due to a torn rotater cuff. That happened when I had a Ranger on the lift and had the rear bumper off. I was standing with the bumper behind me when a coworker needed a hand. I turned around,forgetting that the bumper was there. I fell, landing on my left elbow, driving my upper arm bone up, tearing the cuff. It didn't hurt too bad that day, but it was singing a song the next day. Another time, long ago, I was smacking the business end of a pickle fork with a health sized hammer. Missed the fork and hit my hand with a full power swing. DAMN!!! I believe that one brought tears. The hand sure got big. Yup, I broke it real well. I did buy a chisel holder the following week.
Changing the FMX in my '64 Marauder, doing up the last bolt and the jack slipped, pinning me under the frame rail. Nobody around, it was up to me to get out as best as I could. I wedged my hand against the frame rail, and the elbow on the cement floor. Pushed with much screaming and tears in eyes, as the hide scraped off my elbow, but it wedged the car up enough to squeeze myself out from under, with the loss of a shirt and more hide off my chest and back. Then all I had to do was get my arm out. You guessed it, more hide loss as the elbow went the other way. Then there was a buddy who took a wheel nut off a 3-ton, and stuck his finger in to get the nut out of the socket. Accidentally hit the trigger on the impact wrench, and threaded that sucker over both knuckles! His finger was turning black, no time for finesse, he hit reverse on the impact and bzzzzt, threaded it back off! OWCH! We asked him what he'da done if the threads had stripped. He didn't see the humour.
Damn guys!!! Guess I've never "really" been hurt working on my car, just the usual knuckles split to the bone and occasional rust in the eye, burns, etc. Makes the old sphincter scrunch up just reading about some of your injuries........ I did have a "mickey" ( high speed grinder with a 7" carbide disc) slice through my left forearm at work 19 years ago and left a V shaped scar 3" long on each leg of the V, it kind of filleted my arm. Long story but it got away from the guy I was working next to, I put my arm up to protect my face and it nailed me but good. Didn't bleed much and didn't really hurt until after surgery, it cauterized the wound and cut all the nerves on it's way through and left a big flap of meat like a ripped back pocket on a pair of Levi's. Got lucky that it didn't cut all the way through the tendons, it just nicked them and left one layer of tissue over the bone. It was 6 months before I could straighten my arm completely and almost a year before the outer 3 fingers on my left hand got full feeling back and regained 100% movement, strength never will be 100% so it's a good thing I'm not left handed. It's still kind of dead inside the "V" of the scar and sometimes it itches like a mother but it could have been a lot worse.
OK, I feel like a light weight after hearing some of the above stories, but.... Working on a Deere Model B engine, top cover off and removing a rod bearing...arm in the crankcase getting the front bearing and the counter weighted crankshaft decided to rotate to bottom, trapping my arm and pinching the crap out of it...I was alone, naturally, and caught there 2 hours before I took off my shoe, picked up the dropped rachet with my toes and rotated thew crank back "up", to free my arm. No damage but my dignity. 20 years later: Removing a pitman arm, pulling on a 12" crescent really hard and the puller twisted...crescent hit me between the bottom lip and chin, leaving a bloody hole I could whistle through. Asked the doctor if he could just leave it that way, but he refused. It could have been handy, you never know...MIZ
I have 13 years in building driveshafts for cars to big trucks. Many burns and smashed fingers. The worst trick for me happened on the bed of the driveshaft balancer. I had a 4wd front shaft laying on blocks in the bed, breaking down from balancing a big truck shaft. While pulling the 30 lb u-joint/yoke fixture from the socket in the balancer, my left forearm bumped the machined edge of the slip yoke of the 4wd shaft, cut my arm wide open. Nine staples, and 6 weeks rehab, couldn't turn my wrist, back to "normal". You can cut meat with the back of a knife if you hit it hard enough.
Not nearly as 'BAD' as the other guys, but just as a caution to the rest of you. Always, always, always unhook the battery when working on any electrical. I was using a box end in my left hand to remove the nut on a starter solenoid, you know, the one the battery cable is connected to? Wrench contacting the nut, nut contacting the cable, cable connected to the battery, when the nut broke loose the back of my wedding ring grounded on the exhaust manifold. Instant red hot piece of metal around my finger and the smell of cooking human. Still don't wear a ring and that was 45 years ago!
Hmmmm. Ten years ago I was drilling holes in the frame of my f100 to mount the four link and the drill bit (chucked into a BIG milwaukee) broke, sending the thing straight into my thigh. I didn't pull my finger off the trigger til I was at the bone. OUCH!!
I once drove a phillips head driver bit all the way through my thumb while pushing too hard on a drill motor. In through the nail out the back side, blood everywhere.
I had the gas in the eyes and ears thing happen to me too, man did that hurt. Still have a scar from about 30 some years ago when my dad was drilling a hole for a mud flap and I was holding up the flap to the edge of the fender and the drill bit broke and he drilled my finger.
Well, my story sucks after reading all of yours. I was changing the fuel filter on some POS and the I was pulling on the wrench securing the filter to the frame rail while looking to see what I was doing and the wrench slipped and bloodied my nose, only nose bleed I have ever had. One of the dumbest things that could have caused multiple injuries was getting in a rush and not disconnecting batteries. This happened were I work and we were getting a rush order on a truck in the shop and it needed an alternator and some other repairs. One of my coworkers was under the truck putting the balancer and front pulley back on the engine after replacing a front seal and I started to remove the alt. The power wire to the alt. was the last thing to remove and when I went to remove it the post spun and grounded the terminal an the back of the case and all hell broke loose. The guy on the floor had his hand in the front pulley putting in bolts when the truck caught on fire and then the engine started to turn over. Still cant figure out what the hell made it turn over but that was the fastest I have ever seen that fella move. Learned a big lesson that day and was thankful after we got the fire out that no one was hurt. Cant believe that they did not fire my dumbass that day but I think the boss could see in my eyes that I had learned my lesson and let it slide.
I can say that i've done most of these things to myself,including laying under a car supported by tins of paint... luckily it was a light 1948 Morris 8 but the arsehole starting sinking on me while i was underneath and smelly old lead based house paint started flowing across the floor. About 18 months later a school mate was crushed under his car when it was supported by cinder blocks which collapsed.. Worst injury was when working under a locomotive changing and axle..we lowered them down with a hydraulic hoist like a car lift. we rolled the new axle into place and were lifting it up ,These have got big steel wheels on them BTW, and the fucker rolled along the track on the hoist ,where my hand was. Dislocated all the fingers on my right hand as the wheel pressed the joints apart. Still hurts 33 years later.
Dropped a heavy ass 50 or 60 ton bottle jack on my big toe. Went to the doctor and they drilled a hole in my toe nail. It was like a big gusher when it went through. Toe felt great after that. Toenail fell off a few weeks later. That was 20 or 30 years ago and my big toe still hurts off and on. Had my hand between the pad on a in ground lift and the frame of a car adjusting the arm and this old guy that worked in the same shop hit the lift lever and pinned my hand between the lift and car frame. I started yelling as he let the car up almost all the way with me raising my arm and stretching. Let it down and nothing at all was wrong with my hand.
For this and other finger tearing reasons I also never wear a ring... Boy does my chick complain, But when it's my turn to die i'd rather leave this place with everything I was born with Mike
a little bit of everything,but i think the most painfull was just this past friday. so simple but damn it hurts. under my elky working and pulled rib muscle? didn't know there was such a thing,but dang can't even take a deep breath,or turn right. lift arm or anything. man this thing hurts ....i know, i know,wimp
Hope you don't mind photos.. I was using a 4" cuttoff wheel on a grinder when it kicked back and caught my thumb.. I ended up severing the tendon, I could not move my thumb at all, the inner tendons just pulled it in.. Took two surgerys and over 6 months to heal.. They scared me for a bit after that
The Jalopy Journal
