Hot Rods Jack stands? We don't need no stinking jackstands

A little reminder for the folks that might not have the word:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-killed-when-car-he-was-working-on-falls-on-him-deputies-say

 

Happened to a very good friend who was the last person that I would have ever expected to crawl under his 32 with only a floor jack under it. But he did and it cost him his life. I am sure that he thought “it will only be for a second”.

 

very sad-I work alone in the garage and make sure I use good jackstands and wood blocks. There have been a few guys around here killed the same way-very sad.

 

Two here in the last one year. Sad..

 

A friend of mine died when installing a transmission in his dirt driveway under a car supported by cinder blocks.Neither the dirt or the blocks were enough.

 

It has been a little over 12 years, but there was a gentleman here in Riverton who had his Chevette up on four ramps, all facing the same direction. His car rolled off of them and killed him. Be safe, people will miss you when you're gone.

 

I've been to two funerals for this....one was a collapsed steel ramp and the other was a collapsed home made wooden ramp.. R.I.P.

 

I worked as an orderly in the E.R. in Atlantic City in '67 & saw a lot of horrendous stuff that summer, but one I never forgot about was a young man brought in as a D.O.A. He looked just fine other than the fact that he was dead & his chest was crushed. He had apparently be stealing something underneath a car & in the dark, with a shit-ass jack & the the car fell on him. To this day I take every precaution, simply because that snapshot sticks in my brain.

 

I would be lying if I said Iv'e never done it, But now that I'm older and wiser ...never again.

 

I've been guilty of relying on a floor jack too many times. You think 'if it starts to go I'll have time to get out'. But when they do fall it's often instantaneous. Reading this, I hope makes it the last time I ever tempt fate.

 

Had a scare 40 years ago while helping a friend install a new exhaust in his '32 roadster.
We were working in a small one car garage with the roadster sitting on stacked concrete building blocks.
Both of us under the car, and one of the blocks was in the way of installing the tail pipe. Roger grabbed a bottle jack to take the load while the block was re located, instead, as soon as the weight was off the block the car 'corkscrewed' and fell.
Roger was skinny enough to wriggle out under the rear axle, but I was stuck with my leg between the wheel and a crazy crooked lump of concrete. I had to wait patiently while the car was chocked up so it could be lifted safely to let me out. We both learned a lesson that night.
Have never used blocks of concrete or wood since. Might not be so lucky next time. I now have a collection if purpose made axle stands. that are always used.
Garpo

 

All very sad stories to hear. Another option for a small buffer is to slide an old wheel (laying flat) under as well. Sure it's awkward to move around, but... Living in an earthquake prone area I use it as a back-up should something happen and a car gets jostled.

 

Jacks are for lifting, not for holding.

 

No cement blocks. When they fail, they fail.

 

I’m a little claustrophobic, hence just the thought of being stuck under my car freaks me out with anxiety.
I ALWAYS use jack stands and all my blocks are wood.

 

My dad and I worked under our cars with a damned BUMPER JACK!!! We coulda wiped out two generations of our family!!!! God is good.
Not now.
6sally6

 

I've always used stands. However, when I was younger and dumber I thought all Jack stands were the same. I saw a pic of the type which is a split piece of tubing that had collapsed. Now that pair only hold up a rear end in storage. But I have used metal ramps and chock the rear wheels. Now I'm questioning those. Are those prone to collapse as well?

 

Man I’d never even thought about a steel ramp going down and I’m super paranoid about being under the cars. Guess I’ll be finding jack stand points when they are on ramps from now on as well.

 

I have said this on a couple of other threads.... my brothers buddy was 18,graduated high school and just got engaged . He was working under the front end with cinder blocks holding the car up. A few minuteslater the cinder block cracked and the car came down and crushed him.They buried him in his car club t shirt.

 

Years ago I was driving down the street and saw a guy working under a car held up by a bumper jack, I stopped and hollered at him that he needed to put some blocks under the car to keep it from falling and he procededed to come out from under the car walk out and holler at me to mind my own F@#$%^g business and he knew what he was doing . That was just about the time the car started to roll backwards and came down with a crash and the top of the bumper jack took out the grill on the car. His wife came running out of the house to see what was going on and I left before he told her what happened.

Floor jacks or stands tip over all too easily on dirt or gravel. Stands that don't have a flat base will also dig into hot asphalt and tip over.

I put some lengths of 2 inch flat bar across the ends of my ramps. They are reasonably stout ramps though and I still stick one of the firewood rounds that I saved to stick under cars for blocks They are about 15 inches in diameter and 15 or so inches tall. I've got a couple of rims welded together like the wrecking yards use that my buddy gave me to use when I need to have a rig raised up higher or use under the bigger trucks.

 

a week ago , saw a leak under the car...
took ramps to lift the car and go under it. to see where the leak come from..
put my hand all, over the gearbox , and unfortunately , my hand move the gearbox linkage;
the parking position slip into neutral , the car went down , and hurt my hip while i was under the car..
fortunately , my hip ,chest , and arm were injured , but i'm still alive....

 

My buddy was changing the clutch on his Mustang back in '76 on a hot as hell Saturday, on an asphalt driveway that was on an incline. I walk up just to see the car fall, the stands sunk into the hot driveway. I had him out in seconds... long seconds... luckily his injuries were minor. Since then I have a set of 3/4" thick plywood pieces that go under the stands.

 

I have a pair of NAPA extra tall (and very well made) jack stands which provide additional room under the vehicle. Good quality jack stands are inexpensive prevention and cost way less than the cure for risking serious injury.

 

Who makes good jack stands and ramps that you can trust? NAPA? Harbor Freight? Craftsman? I’ve seem the split pipe stands that have collapsed. I have metal ramps and plastic ramps and don’t really trust any of them.

 

In my young, stupid days....about 17-18, I was guilty of working under a car using only a bumper jack. The thought of that still scares me today. I have had cars fall before, luckily, I wasn't under them, so now I over-do it with multiple jack stands. I have left my car up on my floor jack over night and it was leaked down the next day so I do not trust them at all.
Always assume the worst and have good safety sense.

 

I like the heavy duty stands today over the old split tubing style. I use my dads old Walkers most of the time and have 2 sets.
Right now my car is up in the air for a ps cylinder weep driving me crazy. It's on 6x8 cribbing block under the front tires and Walker stands the rear axle. I really like the 6x8 wood cribbing under tires; it's the only way I really feel safe.

 

I had a little Sears floor jack twist and bent while lifting the rear of a 67 Merc wagon. The car went over a good 6 t0 8 inches to the left. I should have done one side at a time , rated at 2,000 lbs, (ya right).

 

In the old days we would make stands from old Ford axle housings, cut down to a useable height, and we welded a piece of either angle iron, or channel iron to the cut off end. We never had a failure using them.