On a serious note..I always use jack stands..my father told he lost a friend when he was working on a car with a hydraulic jack..no jack stands..and Jack slowly lost pressure..and lowered vehicle on his chest until he couldn't wiggle free or breath. For that reason..I use them. By the way..cool pic! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
It's always good to train the young gearheads early. When I started to help my dad wrench when I was a kid, the first thing he drilled into my head was jacking up a car safely. Even now, I use jackstands, chocks and the floor jack. I get paranoid.
Can't say it too many times. Me too. Best way to be, I think. I use the stands and leave the jack under there too...at least. If I'm crawling around under the car, I also use stumps and/or wheels/tires. Just in case. Cool picture...lol.
When I was in Afghanistan we would drive by and see all types of vehicles tilted up almost on their sides being supported by a few rickety old 2x4's...and you could see the boards bending under the weight of these cars. There would sometimes be 3 or 4 people underneath these things doing stuff like transmission swaps, u-joints etc!!! I never did see one fall on anyone but every time I saw it I would just cringe. As much as I love hot rods and spinning wrenches...I dont want to die by being crushed by one. Jackstands save lives!!
Yeah guys I NEVER go under without my stands.. when I was 19 I had a 60's Chevy fall on me.. if it weren't for my brother and some adrenaline there's no telling what would have happened!
FYI check out these stands... some spendy but handy as heck and whats your life worth? [email protected] http://youtu.be/cXCvq6DNJi0
Yep that is exactly what I saw alllllll the time over there...they even had little kids running around underneath them!!! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A SAFETY MOMENT: A friend of mine lost his brother inlaw under his car when the jack let go. Sad thing nobody else was at home to help him when it happened. Even sader was the fact that his wife came home from shopping and say his legs from a distance sticky out from under the car and thought he was still working away. Was'nt till dinner time and he had not come in that she went out and discovered the worst...
i have a nice scar on my fore head from a car falling on me. i just had a birthday and was given a set of stands. i did have them under the car properly. the car shifted to the side when a bolt broke loose. i was just barely able to get out as the car slowly fell down. if it was not for the stands i would not be writing this. also dont buy the sheet metal tubular stands. these are the ones where they split a tube three ways and flare out the pieces then weld a ring around the bottom. i have seen these split causing alot of damage to the car. i now have a lift and rock the car before i go under it and also walk around the car and verify the placement of the pads.
I'm even paranoid of jack stands, I like big timber like a chunk of 10 x 10. I'll stack a couple of those under the axle, no slipping.
That's also in a country where getting blown up is a very good possibility. The fear of death is there, but it's in another perspective.
You can buy a decent set of 3-ton stands at Harbor Freight for under $20. Cheap insurance. And yes, HF can be crap, but if you use one rated for 3 tons under one end of a 2-ton car, you aught to be allright.
I lost a very close friend a year ago last august, used jack stands but did not set e-brake. Car rolled back and fell off stands and crushed him, i miss him every day RIP Glenn
Just bought a set of 6 ton stands (if some is good more is better, right?) to replace the 30 plus year old tube stands I had but I still leave the jack in place - better safe than sorry.
Another bloke just died over here last week,working on a 4x4,come down on him. I used to kick my sons in the arse whenever I saw them doing it!The kick didnt hurt them as much as their car would of!
I was in X-Ray school in Tyler, Tx. at Tyler Junior College and Medical Center Hospital, a regional trauma center hospital (82-84). I was working weekends as an "extra" for a little spending money, and mostly for more experience. I was called to the E.R. to do some portable x-rays of a guy that had been brought in from one of the outlying hospitals. He was a rather large man (very obese), and had been working under a car with just a floor jack holding the car up. It collapsed, and crushed his pelvis; flattened him right out, pushed his rectum out like a grape from it's skin, separated his urethra from his bladder, and fractured his pelvis in several places. I'm over there alone, with a major trauma case, no one to help, and the Drs. are telling me what they want as we go. I was doing things, under direct physician supervision, that usually are only done by a Radiologist, under well controlled circumstances. I did more single X-Rays, and involved radiologic studies (intravenous excretory urogram, retrogarade urethrogram, limited barium enema), than anyone/everyone in the entire X-Ray dept. had done the entire weekend.......by myself. Learned a lot about working being under pressure, improvising, and working directly with multiple physicians all wanting something different from one moment to the next. The nurses were essentially completely unwilling to help, and the regular X-Ray techs were either in surgery, or sleeping, as they were doing 40 hour weekend shifts. Thankfully, I did have an X-Ray Dept. orderly to help me out, and process films. The patient wound up having multiple surgeries; orthopedic, urological, and general surgery over a period of weeks; he was in the hospital for months, and when he finally left, was walking with the assistance of a walker. He had also lost quite a bit of weight. I always remember that case whenever I have to work under a car; the jack stands are always put to use, and there is usually a backup of extra wheels/tires placed under the bumper, "just in case". Ain't going to happen to me! Butch/56sedandelivery.
I remember using 2 bumper jacks to raise one side of a car so I could get the transmission out, or if I thought about safety throw a cement block under the frame just to be safe. God must have wanted me here on earth for some reason. (haven't figured out why yet) Now days, I prefer not to get down and under, but if unavoidable I have jackstands and 6x6s. Best thing I've done though is build a set of ramps 32" high over a pit that is 32" deep. The ramps won't let you get trapped in the pit and only being 32 deep your head is never below the edge of the pit, so fumes won't get you. I have a safety chain that will keep the vehicle from rolling off. Doing brake/suspension work is great, everything is at bench height.
And don’t forget or disregard chocking the wheels still one the ground I was under a pro mod car that rolled and slipped off the stands …. Im lucky slicks were off and I fit well in a wheel tub
Lost an acquaintance here as well when a car fell off a jack on him. Not a pretty way to go and he wasn't very old. Left 3 kids without a father. Those old sheet metal ramps are killers too. Been known to collapse. If you still have a set, put wooden blocks under them or toss them.