Yes, it was the split tube jack stands that collapsed. They only had three legs. Those are the kinds dumb teenagers could afford back then. I was pushing on a wrench or something on the top side of the car and the thing started rocking. Then the car just went over onto the ground. I was stripping the car and the wheels removed (it had been totalled by my brother's friend in the teacher's parking lot - another story). Scared the crap out of me. I just cannot get used to jack stands that could rock while I'm turning a wrench. I need something solid. Concrete often crumbles. Pressure treated wood blocks are solid.
In a nearby town here in MI a mail carrier was killed when the concrete slab she was standing on crumbled. She fell through the slab to a cellar door well and the slab fell on top of her. It was a slab she had walked on daily for years. One day it just gave in.
In our school Auto Shop our firm policy is that after hoisting a car, the lift is to be lowered onto a safety. This prevents the car from falling, and tests the safety locks on every use. We also have the lifts safety-checked every year by a Rotary dealer. It's cheap insurance - they charge about $35 per lift.
Back in the 60"s, I had a 54 Buick Stick shift. My friend and I put the car on concrete blocks at all 4 corners on level dry ground. We removed the transmisson. Just after we dragged the tranny out and stood up beside the car, the old Buick suddenly twisted and fell. We were stunned to think how close we came to disaster. I don't trust dirt or concrete blocks.
I always work 1 corner at a time and follow the same procedure every time. 1) Jack the corner up at a point where the frame is reinforced. 2) Place jackstand under the reinforced frame at a height slightly above where I need. 3) Lower the weight onto the jackstand while still leaving the jack firmly in contact with the frame (listen for the creeking of the stands as the weight setles on it) 4) Place the removed wheel/tire under the front crossmember as a bumpstop. I always figured this way if the jackstand fails the jack will catch the weight long enough for me to move. If both fail then the wheel will allow enough clearence to slide out My buddy just a few months ago did a trans removal (4l60e) while his car was on a 2 post lift. He figured he could unbolt it and then slide it off the crossmember all by hand. He ended up pretty banged up and then went out and bought an actual tranny lift ou: By the way guys, if you believe that Kobalt commercial then you must have never seen a real garage before. Putting a toolbox under a car on a lift violates about 5 safety principals (plus a few OSHA ones). Having a car on a lift then sitting that close to it with your back turned violates a handful more. It's called acting and the commercial is done completely through special effects. Next you'll say that Transformers must be real because someone in it looked scared when they started blowing stuff up :bla:
That is very sad indeed . There is some pretty good advise on this post , but since a picture worth a thousand word could someone post some pics of some secure instalation
Too bad I didn't snap a pic before they cleaned everything up, but I learned of an interesting junkyard method. It involves stacking small imports 3 high in 2 seperate piles about 10 feet apart. Then you place an 80's Suburban across the piles so that the top car of each pile is securely holding the bumper at that end of the truck. Then you proceed to drag an acetylene torch, canisters and all, under the truck and cut out the exhuast. When you're done remove the torch and leave the truck up there for about 8-9 days.
You reminded me of how one long gone yard I used to frequent had the cars setting on top of rims that were standing vertically. :shock: Never seemed too stable to me. Especially when you had the general public crawling all over and under the cars.
You wanna hear about sketchy junkyard setups I went to this one hobby yard (the guy just collects cars and sells parts to you if he likes you) and we needed to lift up a car to check for a driveshaft. So he tells my friend and I to go get some steel rims and tires. Meanwhile I see this ancient front end loader pull around with chains attached to the bucket. He lifts up this old rusted 69 Skylark and tells us to crawl under and place wheels under it. He lets it down and expects us to crawl under the car, supported by old rusty wheels, which is sitting on mud. I must have taken the quickest parts scan of my life because I was in and out before I could blink. This guy goes around all day lifting up cars with the loader and working on them supported by just a chain. If a hydraulic line failed or that chain snapped or even the frame of the car snapped in half he would be a goner. He works by himself in the middle of the woods. I could never do that, I enjoy living too mucho No:
Yes indeed. When I posted on another forum that I prefer a series of 12x14, 10x12, 8x8 and 6x6 blocks for supporting a car I was chastized for suggesting such an unsafe method. I've worked with machinery riggers moving heavy equipment as well as working on excavating equipment and the only thing used is large timbers otherwise known as cribbing to support it. The bottom line is this: No matter what you use, a level of common sense has to be applied based on variables that may exist in the equipment being supported, type of supoort, and the foundation the supports sit on. Any supporting method is subject to failure if not properly installed using the simplest laws of physics. It is wise to use an secondary safety whenever possible.
Here is my setup As you can see I have a hydraulic jack with slight pressure on the crossmember and two jackstands securely under the frame on either side. I also have chocks behind the rear wheels
Picture taken 20 minutes ago. Make sure you got good ground! Asphalt always sucks, but not usually this bad. As soon as I started lowering the jack, the whole rear of the car shifted my way (thus removing the jack from the point it was supporting). I just stepped back, twisting the jack handle to make sure the jack didn't go into the floor boards, and hoped the stand wouldn't either. Eventually the tire set down and I moved the jack and took this picture. This is the other side, safe to say it slid nearly 2ft.
Asphalt and jackstands by themselves is another no-no, evidenced by the pics above. The bikers are smart enough to put a steel plate under a kickstand when they park on asphalt. You can't have all those tiny pressure points on a soft surface and expect anything but problems. Devon
X3 I can't believe you tried that!!!! At least put some wood under there. The metal will dig in the wood a bit, but the weight will be spread over. Glad this wasn't a worse story!!!!!:TU:
Some times even when you do everything right things go wrong with painful results. Be careful out there.
Singing " I'm sorry that you got a boo-boo. I'm sorry that you feel so sad. I'm sorry that you got a boo-boo. Let J-Pop kiss it and make you feel alllllllllll glaaaaaaad.Feel all glaaaad." *kisses* It makes the ladies smile-feel free to try it!!:beer P.S. Rub some dirt on it...o No:
