We've had discussions about safety while working under cars before, but I just saw a report of another incident where a guy got killed because his jack slipped, the car dropped and crushed him. So as a reminder ... Man dies in accident at Holyoke Mall at Ingleside Sunday You all know the drill. If you are going to be under the car, use good jack stands, not a jack. I don't want to read about any of you in news articles like the one linked above.
People think I'm paranoid when I insist on shoving something under the car, even the spare tire. A few inches can save a life. I've seen a few fatalities over the years.
safty is #1 ALL THE TIME WITH JACKS AND JACK STANDS. I MAKE ALL THE GUYS USE JACL STANDS AND IT IT IS GOING TO BE A LOT OF HEAVY DUTY WORK WERE WE WILL ROCK THE CAR. I MAKE THEM PUT RAILROAD TIE'S UNDER THE CAR JUST IN CASE THE CAR MOVES AND FALLS IT WONT HIT THE GROUND AND CRUSH SOMEONE
My dad has made me paranoid with that one. He always put a spare under there just in case the stands slipped.
You may be paranoid, but at least you're not alone. My 10 year old daughter is helping out on building my Chevy, so I figure I've got the opportunity to have her see everything done the safe way from the start. I have shown and taught her to always use a good jack stand, and to always back it up.
Badfun, thanks for the post about Ray. I don't know your connection, but it is nice to see a friend from far off pay notice. I think of him daily and can't believe this happened to him. Joe
I always try to knock the car off the stands, first thing after I evelate it. And now, I have someone around when I put the car up and show them how to use the floor jack, just in case. One neighbor of mine when I was a kid used to work in a wood mill and had some huge square blocks made up that were the ultimate jack stands, heavy as hell though. Bob
I was thinking of getting some old tractor trailer rims to go BEHIND the jack stands, I'm starting to reevaluate the ones I've got, since I now own a car more then twice as heavy as anything else I've owned. Does anyone still make a good set of non Chinese ones? mine are fine for everything else I own, but with the Lincoln I would prefer some ones made for trucks,vans, etc.
A grim reminder that we all tend to get a bit careless at times and most of us have been guilty of the "I'll just slide under there and tighten that and slide out in a few seconds" thing. I've got a pair of the wrecking yard style rim welded on rim stand that usually get stuck under one end or the other of what I am working under even when it is on stands or the ramps. Outside is a lot worse than inside or on concrete as those stamped steel ramps will roll over if the ground gets wet when the rig is sitting on them or the ground is a bit soft. and jacks and stands tend to roll over on dirt.
Think my ex-wife was trying to kill me a few times. One Xmas I asked for a pair of jack stands. I got ONE steel stamped jack stand.. which I threw out after I bought a real pair. Bob
I had a car roll off a jack and land on my chest in the mid-80s and learned my lesson! Fortunately the wheels were on the car. I have jackstands but usually use 8"x8"x16" wood blocks as the car can't roll off the blocks like regular jackstands. I always lower the car onto the blocks too!
that looks to be across the border there, I've seen a few people of a certain ethnic group that have done that here,
Ray was a very good friend of mine. We saw him most every Tues night and several other times during the week. I am very sorry for what happened. Prayers go out to his family & friends. He will be missed for a long long time.
Earlier this year a guy had a car fall on him and he had jack stands and the wheels blocked. From what I had heard he was beating on a drive shaft and the car slipped off the jack stands crushing him. Young guy...very sad. I think of that every time I go under a car and try to be extra carefull.
I check on my neighbor across the street every time I see him out in his driveway and remind him. He's got a terrible habit of getting under there with no stands. Drives me nuts.
Its a terrible thing when accidents like that happen. I keep telling my SIL hes betting his life on a 10 cent o-ring.
These guys have American made ones. I bought 2 sets from them. Real nice stuff. http://www.usjack.com/products.html
Even with good jack stands the bases are usually 2 edges on the legs.On a hot day and you are dealing with macadam like my and most driveways are. Use a base plate.I cut up some 3/16 plate and welded a piece of chain to them for easier handling.Just lay them down under the stands.Came out from lunch 1 day and the car that was on the stands had quite a list to it.Now I always use the plates,hot or cold.You are trusting asphalt to withstand a very high PSI. If I am going to have a car up for awhile in the shop I use 14 inch wood blocks under the tires with stops.Even my fat ass can get under easy.
Although I've posted this before on other threads it's worth repeating. When you are out in the garage alone working under a car at night, if the car was to fall on you no one would find you till the next morning because they have all gone to bed......like normal people do.
When I was a kid, my father was working on an Austin Healey MKIII. I have forgotten what the intended job was, but with a real jack and stands in the garage, he decided to use the OE car jack. Luckily for him, when the failure took place, his hand was on the bumper and his elbow was hanging down, making the perfect human jackstand. Amazingly enough, it held. His only injury was a patch of skin on his hand that adhered to the chrome bumper.
I live out in the boonies (alone I might add) so I have to take extra precautions when I crawl under a car. Along with jack stands and spare tires, alot of misc. stuff gets shoved under the car. There are times I don't here from someone for a week. Long time to be under a car.
A good friend of mine, and the one who introduced me to the HAMB, was killed a couple years ago in this fashion. We worked together for a while as heavy truck mechanics, so he was very aware of the importance of proper jacks and jack stands, using them on a daily basis. Well, his moms car was broke down in her drive way. He used the O/E jack to lift the car, without stands on it. I'm not sure what exactly he was trying to do to the car, but it fell on him, crushing his head and chest. His mother found him likely around 10-15 minutes after the fall took place. They took him to the hospital, giving him an adrenaline shot in the heart, which restarted his heart, but he lived on life support for over a week with no brain activity until he finally let go. I was always very careful with jack stands. However, NOW I am careful to the extent of paranoia. The heaviness of the situation hit me particularly hard, because the night it happened, I was laying under a friends car checking out the front end geometry when I was told of the accident. really put things into perspective. We get so comfortable with a car, thinking that it loves us as much as we love them, and forget that they only do the things we command them to. Not using jack stands or using them improperly is commanding them to hurt us, and not in the funny way like when you touch a dried out spark plug wire while the engine is running
..........Also.....I wonder how many of his friends it took to get the truck up to get the 4x4's under it?......Oh ya....there drinking beer across the street watching him weld........
the ones I have now look like their ten ton jacks, but I really like the double catch on theirs, my off topic poject is sitting on two heavy duty ramps I believe they were made in the 70's, definitly Ameican made, with solid wood blocks in the tire stops, under the sides of the chassis.
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