TECH Warning: 3 footed jackstands can kill you

Jack stands come in many varietys. Generally, the cheapest style is the round tube 3 footed jack stand. Save your family the cost of a funeral and spent the extra cash for the 4 footed ones. Because of their design, they aren't as stable as the 4 footers, and have an inherent design flaw that can cause them to suddenly collapse of they start to tip. Here's a pic I used to use to illustrate the point to my students.

 

YIKES!

 

I guess it's time to make the switch. The tube has a welded seam and the holes drilled in it. It isn't as strong as you would think. Thanks.

 

yea, i second that!!!

 

I can echo that one...ours didn't go over like that one but it did buckle (and scare the crap out of us in the process).

Olson

 

the sight of thatjust made my stomach churn, scary

 

..........glad you're around to post the warning! Thanks!!

 

They still sell those things????

 

Umm looks to me like you were exceeding the weight rating for the jackstand? and or had a weight imbalance on the stand?

Going roughly by the pic, the stand probably dosent have a rating much over 500kg-if that?
Jackstands that are not made to a standard or have a rating are NOT jackstands-they are door stops!

I have a couple of 3 footed stands that I made from far more heavy duty pipe than what those cheap "shop bought" stands and have never had any problem with them-in fact I find them more stable than the 4 footed ones I bought from the shop.

EXCEEDING THE RATINGS OF JACKSTANDS AND INCORRECT PLACEMENT/USE WILL RESULT IN AN ACCIDENT!!!-that could kill you!

 

Be careful with the four legged ratcheting type as well.
If you aren't careful setting the car down, you can actually break the head.
Yup....cheap ass casting, not forged.

 

There's a place near me that produces treated posts, and I got some three foot long scrap ends from them. They're rugged, square chunks of treated wood that would burn out a chain saw if you tried to cut them in half, and I feel a lot better lying under a car that's supported by them.

 

Have a fail-safe car stopper near you when underneath a raised car--best thing is a really big block of wood, thicker than your head and body and wide enough to be untippable. Two old tires on rims stacked will also do the job, and a single tire and rim would be a sort of minimum--it would probably allow only survivable damage. If you move around, keep your car stopper near you.
Nothing in the way of masonry, especially cement blocks, is at all acceptable. Concentrated load can cause sudden complete failure.

 

Wow... We had my nephews car on stand and it tipped off them. Scared the shit out of us, thank God we were not under it. had gotten out from underneth it 5 minutes or so earlier. Scary thread....

 

I have a bad habit of giving the car a good shove before going under...just to see if it's gonna move....

 

It's amazing that it's legal to sell that kind of junk anymore.

I have about a dozen jackstands, but the ones I use are Craftsman 3-ton units, they use four feet and have forged posts.

By design, three points is more steady than four. But not when it's built like that...

 

4 legs are more steady than 3...if you're comparing stands with the same distance between the legs.

I mostly use my 5 ton Snapon stands.

 

I hear you, and the failsafe of wood is something to LIVE by.... as a kid growing up in Orange, one of our neighbors, had the nicest 46-48 Fleetline I had seen. One weekend we were playing in the alley and heard the worst sound a kid could hear. The crash that preceded it was no big deal since we lived near the train tracks and heard stuff all the time, but the sound of a grown man squished is something I'll never get out of my head.

Turned out alcohol was involved, but I clearly remember those red three foot jackstands being involved and bent. Long and short, the car needed to be reworked so he could drive it with his hands. I think about that every time I put mine up on all 4 of the 4-footed kind and have to be under it. I give it a couple good bumps from every side and only have it up as far as I need it... heck I have a wife and three kids I need to live and function for.

 

One model a coupe + two of those stands = one cracked sternum.I was stuck under the rear end pumpkin unable to breathe but somehow pushed up on the car enough to escape.The pain was so intense I passed out and woke up in a puddle of sweat.I thought I'd be room temp soon 'cause of the pain and internal injury.Once the stand collapsed the other one got spit out the other side.Still get aches after four years.Buy heavy duty stands. -Strat

 

Nice pieces. I said what I did about three versus four points because of the angle required to tip - it takes less angle to tip a four point stand. That's why camera tripods are... tripods.

 

I had one of the 3 legged stands break and my truck landed on my hand, it broke 8 bones in it. those suckers are scary stuff. I wont use anything but 4 legged pin locking stands since then. Glad to see you missed tragedy with yours.

 

Actually a 3 leg stand has LESS stability, the distance from the center to each side is shorter, so it has to tip less of an angle before the load goes over the edge.

Camera tripods are tripods because the don't have to hold much weight, and you have to lug them around, and they often don't sit on flat surfaces.

Use 4 leg stands.

 

Tripods are tripods because you need 3 legs to provide a stable platform on uneven terrain. 4 legs can allow the platform to rock on two legs while the other two do basicly nothing to add stability.

I remember having some heavy loads on those 3 point tube jackstands. Don't know how I got away with it.
As I (luckily) got older I came to realize just how crappy they were and tossed them out.

I always use an additional form of support for a vehicle now as well. Leaving the floor jack in place if it isn't too high along with the big jackstands...or tossing a spare 10" offroad wheel under the car etc. I'd rather kill a good spare wheel than save the wheel for some other guy to use when I'm gone!!!

Good post. We'll never know that it might have saved a life, but the potential is there.

 

A basic point here is that many people have to work on surfaces that are soft/slanted/scary, have to use stands because there's no way they can afford a real lift, and often have to improvise beyond stands because they are doing things a lot more complicated than changing oil.
I think that if you have less than professional garage level car lfting, you must use a failsafe device. The best chunks of wood are found only along interstates--I have no idea where truckers get those mighty 12X12X18 pieces of wood they use for dunnage, but they are great! Barring such a find, stack up some pieces of something like landscape timbers and boltemtogether into something thicker than you and as wide as it is tall; the longer it is the better, too, because a 4 foot long device can not only hold a collapsed car off of you but secure a way you can crawl out.
Another thing: if you are not actually working on suspension or brakes, I think a car that is supported on its tires is oft safer than one propped up elsewhere--another big chunk of wood like that under two tires raises a car very solidly. And secure the car against rolling, too. I've heard of people killed by simple mistakes like unbolting the rear yoke on a car that was being held in place by the trans being in park...THINK!

 

Just thought I would chime in with one safety tip...

Always leave the jack underneath the car whenever possible. That way if something happens, emergency help is able to get the vehicle raised quickly.

I once read a story about a guy who had his chevelle land on him and he was lucky that his little girl was there and the jack was still under part of the car.

 

I used to take more risk's when i was younger but as you get older i guess you get a little wiser.......about some things!
These days i take more care with jacks & stands, i use axle stands every day, whether its a three or four legged stand i always throw a wheel under the car & pump the jack up enough to just ease the load as a double precaution.

Its good to be reminded about the safety issues though....thanks.

Kev.

 

I'm the Safety Coordinator at a Machine Shop and I try to help the guys even outside of our daily work routines and give them something to think about at home. This was posted on the 67-72chevytrucks.com website and I asked him for permission to read it to the guys. I still had it saved.

Safety Story by Ron Woodgeard
For use during the October 30, 2003 plant meeting.

This goes back many years ago. I was working on a 66 Chevelle convertible for a friend. We were putting in a new engine. He had asked if I could get it done by a certain day and it was coming down to the wire.

I was underneath the car hooking up the header collectors. They were really being a pain and they were way out of alignment. I grabbed the collector and gave it a big jerk to help bend it so I could put a bolt through it.

Well, It bent all right… and, the car came off of the railroad ties that I had it sitting on. My oldest daughter was about 9 or so, and all I could get out of my mouth was "go get Mom!!!" That was it. I was out of breath and the car was sitting on my chest. I was sideways underneath it. My wife came out to the garage and of course started to loose it. She caught herself and grabbed the jack and proceeded to jack the car off of me.

All I could think of was "when this thing gets to where I can get out, I'm out like a rocket." Yea right!!!! I could barely move to get out. I hurt like HELL... I hate doctors so of course I didn't go to one, Until later that night. Then it was to an emergency room. I figured from past experiences that I had no internal injuries, but I had these spots all over my face like Chicken Pocks. I'll make a long story shorter... The spots turned out to be blood. The force of the Car on my chest had pushed the blood from my heart to my head, and the only thing it could do was to bleed through the veins to the surface... I had broken every rib, some were broken in three places, and I parted the cartilage of my Sternum.
The next day I called my buddy. He worked in a parts store, I told him to bring me over the absolute best Car Ramps that were available.





Please feel free to use it. I CAN REMEMBER IT VIVIDLY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS LOTS OF YEARS AGO.

Here's a little addition that I don't remember if I wrote. I broke every (Yep I said every) Rib, and some in three places, It tore the cartilage away from the sternum, It took seven years before I could fully extend my Left arm over my head... The doc, gave me a "bra" thingy to wear for the sternum, but it hurt the ribs like hell, so I'd go back and forth, On and Off.

It's funny to look back at it now. but damned it hurt then.

The strange thing is... The Car did the same thing to the previous owner. Christine "reborn" ??

Take care. Tell them guys to be careful. I know I am any more. Sometimes overboard.

Ron

 

I have used the three legged stands to teach my son how to use a cutting torch on irregular surfaces and also as scrap to weld to other junk for his welding practice. When he was finished welding they were cut up in many pieces and hauled off in the next load of junk.
So there are some good uses for the blasted things after all.

Good Tech reminder for all of us on how dangerous these things are.

dave

 

I can only think of one thing more dangerous than 3-footed jacks... that's a ONE-footed jack stand:

I think this guy is welding on a gas tank while using a couple "one-footed" jack stands...

 

Your right about THOSE! I had TWO let go at the same time!
Watch for the "Made in China" label.
Fortunatly I wasn't underneath the truck.

The OTHER two now reside in the scrap box!

 

Another thing, for those with adjustable suspension, don't lock the car up and get under it to work on it! Saw a guy with his cassy on hydraulics raise lock up the back and crawl under it. This is a car that would lay frame. A simple o ring failure and he'd be squashed.