Terrible!

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Sad to hear. Thanks for the reminder. I know I have backed out from under a car more than once when I realized I did not have safety stands in place. Things can happen too fast. I know I have jacked it up 'for a quick look under', then not thinking, your halfway under with a wrench. Shake the car a little and something slips, or jack lets go...will not end well.
 
Absolutely! I like redundant systems. If 2 jack stands are good, I use 4. Even with the safety bars on my Quick-Lift, I always add jack stands JIK. I was much less safety conscious when I was young, stupid stuff like working under the car with just a floor jack was not uncommon. But I have grown my wiser!

Be safe folks,
Pat
 
Lost a very good friend 2 years ago to this. He crawled under his race car to adjust the 4 link and pulled it off the jack( Yea I know). His Wife got worried and went out to the shop and found him. Please use proper support when under a car even if it's only going to take a minute to fix something.
 
I have two cars fall off Jack stands. Both times people we very lucky to not get hurt or killed.

The second time was so close my buddy is very lucky to still be here. I use to have dreams about getting crushed under a car after that for a long while.
I do not mess around with cars on jacks, jack stands or the lifts!

Be safe folks!
 
an older fella in my town got killed by a black BMW a few years ago just the same way! creepy...
 
Loggato said:
an older fella in my town got killed by a black BMW a few years ago just the same way! creepy...
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I have mostly been using 4x6`s under the frame rails , pretty darn solid , most of the time also have the wheels setting on something for a little extra steadiness/opposite of where I`m working.
 
A couple of years ago I saw this so I stopped and offered to loan the guy some jack stands. He told me to go away and mind my own business. I grabbed these photos for a safety share at work.
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A guy in the county I live in was killed the same way yesterday, car fell off wooden blocks. You can never be too safe.
I have had a lift fail on me years ago, very close call, can’t say the same for the car.
 
I have drive on ramps. I still use jack stands on both sides and chock the wheels and make sure it's in gear. Last week I changed the oil in my car. When I'm done I usually roll the car off the ramps and then start it on level ground. This time I started the car on the ramps and checked the filter because the mounting O ring was a little bigger than the filter I removed. Shut the car down and checked for any leaks and there were none. I removed the jack stands and forgot that I put it in neutral when I started it. When I kicked out the chock the car rolled off the ramps and if the drivers door wasn't open it would have rolled down my driveway and into my car that was in the street. Luckily I was able to jump in and hit the brake before it went over the curb. Stupid mistake .. won't happen again..don't you do it.
 
Unfortunately it happens too often. I remember an incident back in the 80's when my neighbor narrowly escaped death. He was working under the back end of a Chevette with the wheels on blocks and I'm not sure exactly what happened but the car ended up on him. Danny was a real big and strong guy and was able to lift it up just enough and reached out and got some of the blocks that gave away and put them under the frame to hold some of the weight off. He still couldn't get out and had to lay there just barely being able to breath for almost an hour before his son came home to rescue him

Before that I was kind of lax about safety but after hearing about it I made sure to always use good safety stands
 
I always use jack stands. However, you know what I always think of? What if the jack failed while I am reaching underneath the car to pull the jack stands out.
 
I noticed that car was parked on the curb when the car slipped. That’s a recipe for disaster. Really, repairing a jacked up car on the street? That’s a shame, wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
 
I like to use wooden cribbing whenever I can. And work on single tires/suspension using one jack stand at a time.

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harrisonm said:
I always use jack stands. However, you know what I always think of? What if the jack failed while I am reaching underneath the car to pull the jack stands out.
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I had pretty much that exact thing happen 4 years ago. I had the car up in the air on stands but it wasn't quite high enough for what I was doing. I got out my trusty 3 ton hydraulic jack to raise the car a little more. To make a long story short, when I got the car high enough I was just about to reach under to adjust the stand and that's when the jack failed. The car dropped like a rock landed on the jack stands, bounced off of them, luckily to the other side and landed on the floor resting on the headers. Bent the headers and there is a good dent in my rocker but other than that there was no damage to the car or me. Other than my nerves that is. Just goes to show you, anything can happen at any time and most of the time it is not good. The jack in question is now in the landfill.

Jack
 
Several years ago a buddy of mine was jacking his road runner up. Had it up on the jack, was in the process of positioning the 2nd solid concrete block under the right fraim rail when his jack failed. Smash-pinched his left index finger off at the knuckle behind his fingernail. He was not stuck there, as it smashed it clean off.
 
ragtopfury said:
Several years ago a buddy of mine was jacking his road runner up. Had it up on the jack, was in the process of positioning the 2nd solid concrete block under the right fraim rail when his jack failed. Smash-pinched his left index finger off at the knuckle behind his fingernail. He was not stuck there, as it smashed it clean off.
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Ouch !
 
harrisonm said:
I always use jack stands. However, you know what I always think of? What if the jack failed while I am reaching underneath the car to pull the jack stands out.
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I've thought of that too and came up with a solution. I use my push broom to reach under the car to slide the stands out. Works like a charm
 
Im always concerned about these things. I think i have a dozen jack stands.
4 tall 4 short and a few extra short ones.
There is no excuse here.
I will jack a car to swap a wheel or install a set of brake pads. But i wont crawl under. At the very least i put the wheel under the car.
One of my past employer’s brother was killed. Car fell off bumper jack.
 
And this always rolls through my mind, i make sure air lines arent tangled around the stands.
Also a shake test to make sure car is set firmly on stands.
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When I worked in the Corvette Restoration/ Hot Rod Shop if you got caught getting under a car without doing a shake test you got one warning...Next time you were rolling your Box out of the door.
 
Too many of these stories.
A good friend of mine was killed a few years ago while wrenching on his car at home. It didn't fall directly on him, but fell to the side and pinned him against his motorhome.
His wife found him when she returned home after being out shopping.
 
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