Thread: Car crushed me today

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Really happy your ok, like everyone else has said, us old guys are all guilty of being under a car with only a bumper jack. I had a 65 GTO and while trying to get one of the rear tires off without having any success. I got under the car with both feet kicking the inside of the tire until it came off. Today if I’m under a car I have jack stands, the floor jack, and sometimes if I can get a block under it as an added safety. One thing I have heard recently that I wasn’t doing was chocking the wheels. I guess being use to rear wheel cars in park or the e- brake was ok but today it’s different. Matt don’t wait until you get older like some of us guys before you start working more safe.

Richard

Mat glad you are OK,things happen so quickly.I use four jack stands now that I have learned my lesson,and never never leave the weight of the car on the jack. Two jacks are not safe because of the angle of the car,a hydraulic jack with no car weight on it is an added safety device.

When I was building the coupe I needed to get the car higher than the jack would travel to get the maximum on the jack stands.I put a 2x12 piece of wood vertical on the hydraulic jack.As I was jacking that was causing the jack to move and the 2x12 kicked out .The jack was under the front and I mulated the front fender and grill shell A stupid costly mistake.

Think it through we only go thru here once.Wish I had a good lift as I really have it tough getting up and down.It's called getting old.

Matt, glad you are OK. I use jack stands with the floor jack but they can be shakey too at times.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

You never know, even with a hoist. My Uncle was a mechanic for years. He was working underneath a truck that was on a hoist. The truck was only a few feet off of the ground and he was sitting flat on the ground. Suddenly, the hoist lost hydraulic pressure and bend him over double. In was under there for an hour until someone came into the shop. In the meantime, he had suffered a heart attack. He recovered but had to retire.

like everyone else...i'm glad your ok...always think of your family before you get under a unsupported vehicle...my father never got under a car without floor jack and stands...but i guess there always that one time...he was changing the brakes on an old buick...finshed one side...moved to the other side...did not put the jack stand back under the car...my mother went to fix him a cup of coffee...when she came back he was crushed under the car...man i have to tell you...she had waited hand and foot on him for over 35years and when she found him under that car i didn't think she would live through it...she did age 10year that next one year...i was also devistated...how blessed you are...but always think of your family first...

PEACE

Glad you're ok. I hear scrap steel prices are up.....good place for a bumper jack.
Get yourself a GOOD jack and GOOD jack stands, this is not an area you want to go cheap. I knew someone who died when the stands he got a good deal on collapsed on him. Buy the best you can afford.....overkill is worth it.

I'm not in a position to lecture you, Matt.

When I got out of the Navy I knew everything and didn't need advice from anybody. I bought a really nice '51 Chevy and started making some changes that I felt would tell the world that I was eaten up with cool ideas. The first change was to install lowering blocks to get the back bumper as close dragging as possible.

That in itself was dumb, but not as dumb as what I did next, and you can see this coming.......

Two bumper jacks. That's all. No jack stands, no blocks, no nothing.

I crawled under and unhooked the springs. My father looked under there and said "Good Lord, boy! That's going to fall on you!". In my infinite wisdom I told him "Naw, Pop. It's solid". About one second later the jacks went over to the left and the spare tire wheel well came down in my gut and nailed me to the ground. I couldn't breathe so I couldn't have yelled for help.

Thank God for my good old Dad. Despite having a double hernia and not being exactly a kid, he lifted the car up high enough for me to squirm out and start gasping and bawling like a baby. Nothing a bruised mid-section and a shot-to-hell ego.

I still do stupid things regularly but I never did THAT again.


Jim

As a kid I remember seeing daddy slide out from under the truck, and a minute later it fell off the jack. He was real lucky. I don't leave anything to luck. The only time I will get under a vehicle is if it's on ramps, or on jack stands, with the jack touching the lift-point, so if something somehow gives way, maybe the jack will give me that extra second to get out. An extra minute of preparation is a helluva lot better than a lifetime of being crippled, or worse.

Matt, glad you injuries were minor. You are a lucky guy, could have been so much worse. I hate the thought of crawling under my car even with the equipment that I use (4 x 6 ton jack stands and a 6 ton jack). I don't own a lift, so I got to make do with the stuff I got. Even though the stuff is heavy duty, heavy duty stuff can fail as well.

Friend of mine uses steel wheels as support. He welds 2 wheels together and uses them instead of jack stands. He has seen jack stands fail also, but has never had a problem with the wheels.

As I said, I'm glad you escaped major injury.

Just an 'add on' to my previous - usually when I'm working under a car, I'll leave the jack in place, a set of 3-4 ton jack stands at each raised corner, and then slide a wheel and tire under the corner I'm working on along with some 2x8 planking to build the height up if needed. I'll also block the opposite end as I will seldom jack all four corners off the ground.

Originally Posted by IC2

Just an 'add on' to my previous - usually when I'm working under a car, I'll leave the jack in place, a set of 3-4 ton jack stands at each raised corner, and then slide a wheel and tire under the corner I'm working on along with some 2x8 planking to build the height up if needed. I'll also block the opposite end as I will seldom jack all four corners off the ground.

That's actually the same thing I did do also, on sunday.. had the 2 tires from the car tucked up under.