Double Check your Jackstands!!!!

Brokenbrakes wrote: In reply so somebody... I was just going to change the oil... I jacked it up... chocked both rear tires pulled the e-brake, rolled it a bit... undid the rear brake to do it again... And then I TOOK IT FOR GRANTED... I was just working on the front middle motor mount on my neon (they are sealed in and it was rusted) and started to get out the breaker bar... Then I thought...how is the car sitting? Well it was 1/16 inch away from being off my jack stand!!!! I walked around the block a couple times and thanked the "Great Tap Dancing Jesus" for my life! I am so lucky...and will only do that once!!! I hope you all stay safe!

what style of stands do you have? all of my jack stands look pretty much like this:

i have 2 sets of the 6 ton, 3 sets of the smaller 3 ton versions, and a set of the middle version that came with my craptastic floor jack that i think are rated at 4 tons. one set of the small ones have a notch that fits around the pinchweld of a unibody car for extra super security, but they don't hold the car up high enough for me to get my big gut under it for anything more than a quickie oil change or something..

if you get any of my stands under the frame rail or axle, the car isn't going anywhere unless you lift it up and move it over- i've tried knocking cars off of them at full height, and they don't move.

i also have an old POS pin style 3 legger that is made out of sheetmetal that i only use for stuff like holding transmission tailshafts up while the crossmember is out or holding mufflers in place or weird things like that, but never to hold a car up while i'm under it.

And to think I get weird looks from my buddies when I start pitching wheels under the car...

Swank Force One wrote: My craftsman stands seem to be crush prone. I've blown out three of them. No issues yet with the HF heavy duty stands, but thats expected when i'm using less thab 1/3rd what theyre rated at.

dont tell me that, I just got a craftsman kit with a pair of 3 ton stands, a 3 ton floor jack, and a creeper. I was all excited because those stands are a zillion percent beefier than the advance-o-zone no name stands I had been using that were only rated at 2 ton...

This thread reminds me of the guy who was arguing with me saying it was unpossible that he could get hurt picking up a diesel excursion with an HF aluminum jack because X Y Z. Its never the stuff you EXPECT that kills you, or you'd have avoided it.

Ive knocked a car off 4 jackstands onto the 2 front tires and barely had time to get out. If it was one pair of jackstands, who knows. I dont even like being under the lifts at work all that much.

I think the single safest thing you can do when working under the weight of a car is believe that you CAN die.

carguy123 wrote: Gravity's not only a good idea - IT'S THE LAW!

Damn you, Newtooooooooon!

N Sperlo wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Gravity's not only a good idea - IT'S THE LAW!

Damn you, Newtooooooooon!

In addition, if you survive, there are always options.

At every single track event I spot atleast one guy under a car to his waist, tugging on stuff with it supported only by an aluminum "racing" jack. He is likely to be a guy with 10k of safety equipment in his car that will argue to the death that you can just never be safe enough. Hopefully he won't die for want of a $15 jack stand but if he does... dibs on the sweet halo seat!

I hate jack stands. I use ramps as much as possible. If the car is too low to drive onto the ramps, I jack the car up, place the ramps under the tires, and then lower the car onto the ramps.

< brokenrcord > 2 stands 1 jack < /brokenrecord >

Sky_Render wrote: I hate jack stands. I use ramps as much as possible. If the car is too low to drive onto the ramps, I jack the car up, place the ramps under the tires, and then lower the car onto the ramps.

Careful there too. Inspect them often. I borrowed a friend's before I lowered the car and it doesn't fit anymore, and apparently smacked one ramp into something taking them to the basement. Really just looked like a corner got cracked.

He used them later and it crushed. (I replaced them the next day.)

Vigo wrote: This thread reminds me of the guy who was arguing with me saying it was unpossible that he could get hurt picking up a diesel excursion with an HF aluminum jack because X Y Z. Its never the stuff you EXPECT that kills you, or you'd have avoided it.

yeah I think if you reread that thread that guy was saying he doesn't work under his truck when its solely supported by a jack, even a 7000 lb one with steel rails thats rated to lift the truck. He puts 12 ton jackstands under it when he works on it. He mentioned that in the thread. But somehow you argued that even sliding said jack under the frame rail, jacking it up from beside the truck, and putting said 12 ton jackstand under the frame is potentially fatal.

And if "freak things happen" so its totally unsafe to jack up an excursion with X brand of jack even though you don't have to get under the truck supproted by the jack at all, then freak things happen and its totally unsafe to jack up an excursion with any brand jack. All brands are susceptible to freak frailures. And if its unsafe to jack up an excursion because of the possibility of a freak accident, well, sure, it weighs 8000 lbs, but I'm pretty sure I'll die just the same if my 1600 lb festiva falls on me.
So I will take from you the lesson that its unsafe to jack up any car at any time using any equipment because there is a small possibility something might go wrong.

I told you guys of the time I dropped Dr.Linda's Europa body and frame on my chest. It was up on 4 jack stands and I was under it fitting something or other. The whole thing came down on me off the stands. Fortunately, a Europa body and frame together weigh about 200 lbs, so there was only about 10-15 lbs on me and I just pushed it up and off. Makes you think, though.

I toss the wheels under the car as well, but I've been thinking of building some wood blocks for extra measure. Maybe layer up some 2x12s just to toss under the car. I admit, one of my biggest fears is being trapped under a car. I don't want to go out trying to dig through concrete with my fingernails.

slefain wrote: I toss the wheels under the car as well, but I've been thinking of building some wood blocks for extra measure. Maybe layer up some 2x12s just to toss under the car. I admit, one of my biggest fears is being trapped under a car. I don't want to go out trying to dig through concrete with my fingernails.

It's been on my list too. Mike (Jensenman) has an awesome set that would withstand WWIII.

Dr. Hess wrote: I told you guys of the time I dropped Dr.Linda's Europa body and frame on my chest. It was up on 4 jack stands and I was under it fitting something or other. The whole thing came down on me off the stands. Fortunately, a Europa body and frame together weigh about 200 lbs, so there was only about 10-15 lbs on me and I just pushed it up and off. Makes you think, though.

That's one of the situations I find the most nervous-making; when the car is relatively light. E.g. when you're trying to slide an engine into place. You've got a car that missing several hundred pounds, so it takes less sideways force to tip the jackstands...

The empty shell (of non-Lotii, anyway) is still heavy enough to do plenty of damage, but a lot easier to knock over than a full-weight car...

I deliver stuff to a railcar repair facility and they have those big ass cars up on jackstands all the time. It's pretty damn crazy and I sometimes get nervous just walking around that place. They follow all safety regulations and are very cautious about everything but still.

So I will take from you the lesson that its unsafe to jack up any car at any time using any equipment because there is a small possibility something might go wrong.

That's basically correct. Thinking like that will lead you to the safest way to pick up anything.

My original point about your jack was lateral strength. Your point was that you dont even have to get under the excursion to put jackstands under it, but when a jack fails sideways you dont have to START under it to end up under it (pause for emphasis..) or to get hurt in some other way. In my previous example where my (light) car fell off four jackstands onto a pair of wheels, it moved sideways over 2 feet (you might call it an arm's length..). Luckily it moved sideways AWAY from my friend who was working in the wheelwell and only got a gash on his head. If it had fallen in his direction he would have been more injured in spite of the fact that the car did not go all the way to the ground and he was not 'under' it. My point here, as before, is that when a car is lifted any substantial height off the ground it can move more than an arm's length in any direction on the way down. Therefore, unless you place your jackstands with something other than a part of your body, you are in danger at some point. You just are. So yes, your summary of my viewpoint is correct.

remember when Top Gear built a kit car?

Jezza: "remember when i was underneath fastening the seat, and i specifically asked if it could fall of it's things?"

Capt. Slow :"yeah, and it's too bad it didn't"..

yeah, they did it wrong..

notice along the far wall, there are 2 sets of beefy ratcheting stands like the ones i posted earlier.. if they had used those instead of the cheap tripod ones they used, they couldn't have as easily staged the car falling off the stands with a slight nudge..

Dr. Hess wrote: My friend had HF jack stands collapse. Fortunately, he wasn't under it at the time. The vehicle wasn't huge either.

:O :O :O What's the story behind that? They don't seem to be poorly constructed...

N Sperlo wrote: < brokenrcord > 2 stands 1 jack < /brokenrecord >

Is that like that "2 girls 1 cup" video?

Cause if it is, I'm not interested.

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

I wouldnt worry about it much... They didnt explode or anything, but for whatever reason, each of them ended up with a leg that was starting to buckle, which kept them from standing perfectly level.

Still not sure what the issue was.

Swank Force One wrote: In reply to 4cylndrfury: I wouldnt worry about it much... They didnt explode or anything, but for whatever reason, each of them ended up with a leg that was starting to buckle, which kept them from standing perfectly level. Still not sure what the issue was.

which style of stands are they? are they the cheap craptastic 3 leggers that are made out of a piece of pipe that is split to form the 3 legs and with a pin to hold the pad at a certain height?

if so, those are junk.

I have a rule, if half inch drive is needed, the car is put on railroad ties or blocks of wood, so if it does decide to move, it has to slide a long way to fall off.

I typically use the Rhino HD plastic car ramps for any work that doesn't absolutely need jackstands. I use a set of 6 ton HF jackstands when I need them, and like others have mentioned, I usually throw a wheel/tire somewhere under the vehicle to give some buffer in case it goes off the jackstands. When on jackstands, I usually leave the jack under the car as well (but make sure the weight is on the jack stands. I've also been accumulating some lumber to build some blocks for additional safety.

There's nothing that's completely fool-proof, but making some smart decisions along the way can really help make things safer. At some point I'd like to buy some better 6T jackstands.