"Things that go bump in the night"! Shop horror...

Friday as I was cleaning up the roadster for the Nats North, I heard what I thought was a car crashing in front of our house. My wife and I both hollered to each other, simultaneously, "What was that?!"

No car crash, it turns out the crash was in the shop. The Diamond T, on jackstands on the rear axle, with the floor jack under the center of the rear axle, front wheels setting on two 14" tall stands made from disks blades and pipe, fell off the stands.

The left front (junk) tire has a slow leak. Evidently it finally leaked down enough to throw weight off the front disk, which scooted out from under the tire. When that happened, the right followed suit, the truck rolled backwards, off the stands under the rear axle, which dropped down onto the (locked) floor jack which was about an inch away from the center section. Stands tipped over, floor jack rolled back, keeping the truck up off the fenders and running boards.

The crashing noises were the stainless grill halves, which had been on the roof, falling down onto the cowl, the engine, then the front fenders, before sliding down onto the floor.

Squashed a big Tupperware bin with misc. small parts I'd slid under the chassis, but otherwise, no damage to anything. No scratches, no dents, no nothing, just a lesson learned. It's been setting like that, with me working under it feeling safe, for two weeks. Yikes.

From now on, I'm blocking with stacked 4x4's, making sure the wheel stands are CENTERED under the tires, and being thankful it turned out the way it did.

Whew...

 

Sounds like you got lucky, post some pics so others can learn as well.

 

Had an old timer tell me when I was a kid, never get under a jacked up car without a backup, plan for the jack or first support. He said, "thats advice to live by". Luckily thats one of the few things I picked up as a kid. That was awhile back!

 

Wow! Lucky! I don't quite follow how the front was held up (hard to picture based on your description). I'm sure you have it secure now, but can't you just put stands under the frame in the front? That way there's no way it can go anywhere?

 

Glad you weren't the tupperware...Lesson learned?

 

And DON'T ever use those !#&*% sheet metal stands. EVER!

 

pics would help immensely so we know what to avoid! glad everything is ok

 

I've never heard of any type of jack stands that go under the tire. Seems like a recipe for disaster. Got any pics of this setup?

 

I was under the '63 Dodge just now...friends call me paranoid, I call me prepared...I had 1 jack stand holding the corner of the car up that I was working on, wheels blocked, another jack stand next to the other one set one notch lower, floor jack snug up against the engine crossmember and a small scissor jack within my reach under the car just in case...I'm not dead yet...

 

Glad you were not under it... that could have made a real mess then.
racinman Rick

 

i use my engine hoist to lift the car, then put the stands underneath, lower the car enough to take some of the weight, but still have it supported by the hoist... the hoist is mainly to keep my movements UNDER the car, from causing the car to move and rock on the stands...
i shove spare wheels with tires mounted under the floor where i'm not working as a third measure... i HATE getting under a car anyway.

i've had parts cars that i've been dismantling fall off stands in the middle of the night... i blame fat opposums looking for a place to bed down!

 

Here are some pics of my little shop of horrors. Went to the Nats on Friday, worked Sat., spent yesterday nursing a back spasm picking up our dog who'd been hit by a car and can't walk up stairs, so I'm late.

The first is the truck setting on the wheels in front, jack stands under the rear, the second is one of the stands which had been under the front wheels. There's enough "dish" to the disks that the tires won't roll off them, but when the left front went flat, it wasn't quite in the middle, and just settled off the disk, causing the whole thing to come crashing down. If it'd been up on all 4 of them, as I usually use them, it wouldn't have rolled off. The jack stands under the rear were the conventional ones with cast legs and jack post. The truck rolled right off them and fell onto the floor jack, which fortunately, was in the locked position just under the pig.

Lesson learned.

 

Man, you couldn't pay me to get under a car sitting on those wheel stand contraptions! Holy cow!

Consider yourself lucky, and go out and buy a decent pair of stands!

 

I,am no mechnic of a jack stand engineer , but aren't tires meant to roll on flat surfaces ?

 

LOL, yes they are! The disk blades aren't flat at all, but are concave with about a 3" dish from edge to center, so to roll, the tire(s) have to roll uphill sharply. Gravity being what it is, the tires want to roll to the center, not uphill off the edge, unless, as in this instance, the tire in question went slowly flat, and being not under the middle, and only on the two in the front, down she came.

 

Stupid Gravity!

 

^^there is no Gravity..the earth sucks

 

Its like when I'm working on my truck and the door is propped open. A gust of wind or something slams the door shut. I jump, usually smashing my head against something.

 

that disc thing you have is NOT a good idea.

 

Them disc things look like an invitation to a disaster.
Might as well set her on beer cans.

 

I second that! It doesn't look safe to me.

 

The disc things come from a plow and are very thick and about 24" in diameter with an eight inch diameter pipe welded between them. I have a friend who uses them all of the time and has never had any problem with them. He has a 32 Plymouth up on them at this time. I do not see any thing dangerous about them just holding the car up on its wheels. Any time I put a car up in the air I rock it as hard as I can to make sure it doesn't fall. I would never get under a car with just a floor jack holding it up. Back in the old days we used to use old Ford rear end housings with the wheel end cut and notched to fit the front and rear axle of an old Ford to hold the cars up to replace the transmission, the whole thing rocked when you jiggled the input shaft into place, now that was dangerous but I was young.

 

Yousa kinda crazy. What else you got going on that is gonna cause you pain?

 

SO, no problem with the car you took to the show, but still a car problem at showtime........

you've got some karma issues (or is it carma?)

 

you live dangerously my friend!!

these on a frame cannot be beat

 

and those wheels aren't traditional

 

That's life on the edge there!!

 

What he said, and remember - your truck weighs about 100 million pounds, so buy the heavy ones.

 

Another pair of good jack stands. They make those things for a reason. I had a young fellow working on his vehicle next door on the driveway. It was blocked up with 4x4's and other dimensions and looked tippie. Couldn't stand to watch so I went in my garage and pulled out my hd jack stands and told him to return them when he was done. He wasn't going to do his family any good squashed under his vehicle.

I know we all have done it, it just doesn't make it the right thing to do. Jack stands just don't cost that much. If you can spend money on tools you can afford two or more pair of quality jack stands. Momma won't chide you for that one.

 

that's a big ass truck. I got a big ass truck (motorhome) I really don't have to lift it to get underneath to work on things, but if I have to remove a wheel or something I got jacks and multiple jackstands as well as putting the tire under it that I just removed. I do all that even though I am not going to be underneath, just doing brakes or something on the outside. if for some reason I ever needed to work on it with no wheels on the ground I'd find something made for big rigs or dump trucks or something. no way I'd be underneath it with something like that