please read...everyone JACKSTANDS!

[boostaddictgsx]

My pops has been working on his camaro for a little over 6 months now, and it hasn't left jackstands. He is only working on the front end, but all four corners have jackstands. Only way to make the car fall is by hitting it with another car. He is extremely safe about doing things, and the only way he lets me work on my car is if he checks the jackstand/jack setup himself. I'm lucky to have him.

Being 16, that kinda puts things into perspective for me.

 

[fwdturbobov1996]

Damn shame.

All it takes is for the car to slip off that jack right in front of you one time and you realize that jack stands have always been a good idea.

Not to be a dick, here, but 1) Why was a 16 year allowed to be working on a turbo DSM by himself? And 2) Why wasn't he using stands? If you ask me, it's definitely sad, but it speaks to issues in our culture. I know that I won't be letting my 16 year old son have a fast car until he's proven himself capable of handling it (I think that would mean a year of autoX or similar experience), and furthermore, there's no way in hell a child should be doing anything under a car without an experienced adult or, at the very least, a buddy who's not an idiot.

Just me and my whitebread, old-fashioned ways. :shrug

im 16 and own a nicely modified dsm. Paid for by myself. With the work done by myself. Dont think that just b/c im young I cant do it. Yes i use stands everytime, tahts one of my biggest fears is to have my car fall on me.

 

[spyder97gs]

Very sad story. Now I appreciate all the times my grandpa comes and checks on me and makes sure I have jack stands under my car. We have a new Craftsman 3 ton jack, and it comes down little by little until it is all the way down. Needless to say, it's going back.

 

[Bostedquest]

have to chalk it up to darwinism at its finest.
Do not know how to do something DO NOT DO IT.
Do not do something CORRECTLY, yet get the consequences...

call it a hard ass line or whatever, it is certainly true.

Kinda like the sober passanger riding with a drunk driver... just what the hell are you thinking? if there is an accident, you will be hurt and or killed, and the driver will be fine.

Case in point a day before local HS graduation there was an accident.
Come to find out a 16 year old was riding with a friend. Friend was 20 and drunk.
Friend ran a stop sign. Guess what? they were hit by another drunk driver and the only one NOT drunk was killed.

 

[MybishiGSX]

That's terrible

I had my jack fail on me seconds after crawling out from under the car last year. It made a loud bang! My wife came running into the garage freaked out. I was just sitting there staring at the car. With over a 2" drop, I would have been in some serious trouble. I went and bought jackstands that same day.

I still ask my brother or a friend to come over and help me out when working on my car. Even if it's changing my oil. Freaked me out pretty bad

 

[crashed97tsi]

Hard ass line but true. There was a kid around here about two years ago who was woking on a neon with his factory jack. The car fell on him and supposedly splattered his head all over the garage floor. Its rough but some people just don't learn or take other's advice.

For example, my brother was just starting to get into cars and was working on his POS protege. Now me, my uncles (body shop guys with 20+ years experience), and many others would tell him how dangerous it was to lift and work on a car without a jackstand, let alone using two of the FACTORY jacks. I even went as far as to make him drop the thing so I could put a set of the 3 pairs of jack stands we own.

Well, one day I come home, and sure enough the kid has the car up again working on the exhaust with the two factory jacks. I curse him out and go inside, only to hear a crash in the garage. Run outside to see that the car had indeed fallen off the POS jacks and shifted a good 2 feet to the right. Luckily he was not underneath the car at the time, but the car still hit him and knocked him on his ass. Now, he always puts 4 stands under any car he works on and always tells people that your an idiot if you work on a car without stands.

The point of this story, no matter how many people with years of experience told him, he still thought he knew better and would not take anybody's advice until it happened to him. So the bit about it being our resposibility to pass on our knowledge to others is true, but it is the person's responsibility to take that advice to heart. Like somone here already said, driveway darwinism at its best.

 

[MrBentley]

All i have to say is, proper education is the best way to minimize the chance of mistakes that can cost you your life. If these people were properly taught the importance of the jackstands then there wouldn't be as many sob stories.

Driveway Darwinism.

Well put.

 

[boostedinaz]

Driveway Darwinism.

Indeed. Natural selection at its best.


I dont know why but having my car fall on me has always been my biggest fear. I hate going under my car for any reason. The weird part is that I have never known anyone that had car fall on them or have any kind of scare with it, including myself, it just freaks me out.

 

[psychlow]

The same type of people that work on cars without using jackstands are the same type of people who ignore all of the public education on safe sex and wind up with HIV because of their stupid "it'll never happen to me" attitudes. Another group of award winners that come to mind are the amazing number of folks who don't check the chamber or remove the magazine before they start cleaning their guns.

IT ONLY TAKES ONE STUPID MISTAKE TO END YOUR LIFE. If you always remember that, you might be around awhile.

 

[MyBlack94GST]

I'm a big fan of the yellow ramps - how's their track record?

 

[HighPsi92GST]

All i have to say is, proper education is the best way to minimize the chance of mistakes that can cost you your life. If these people were properly taught the importance of the jackstands then there wouldn't be as many sob stories.



Well put.

education only goes so far. I seen mechanics that have been working on cars/trucks for 10 or more years take short cuts like not using stands to just "take a quick look" under a car. And they definitly know better then that.

 

[Bostedquest]

I'm a big fan of the yellow ramps - how's their track record?

I have actually seen one collapse...
I was not working ont he car, it was a neighbor, and I even commented on how "antique" they looked... he said they were 40 some years old and were still good...
he had literally just gotten out from under the car and one gave way...

I said, so ya gonna buy a new set now? (kinda chuckled)

 

[Thomas91169]

Driveway Darwinism.

couldnt have said it better myself.

i always use jacks, and as a safety, keep the jack under it also. i was taught at a early age that safety comes first, and all through hs in auto shop we had that beaten into our skulls. i will never rely on just a jack for support of a 3000lb vehicle. thats just retarded. if you dont have jackstands, at least a cinder block or something, or take 20 bucks and go buy some jack stands.

 

[Bostedquest]

if you dont have jackstands, at least a cinder block or something, or take 20 bucks and go buy some jack stands.

Hell cut up 4X4 wood pillars do nicely, so do bricks and 2X4's and (yes I have done this myself) a rim/tire that you have removed from the car after using the factory jack to lift the car...(hey it was dark I was on the road and a caliper locked up) luckily I had the spare (I was going to actually replace them the next day)...

And do not even tell me you have not done that in a junk yard either... I KNOW you have...

Tools in a car yes.. but who carries jackstands in their car?

 

[Thomas91169]

And do not even tell me you have not done that in a junk yard either... I KNOW you have...

done what in a junkyard, lift up the car with just a jack? no junkyards have any dsm's(except M&S 2 freakin hours away) and if they did, i dont need anything from under the car anwyays. ill buy new parts if theyre under the car(like trannies, axles, etc).

 

[Bostedquest]

done what in a junkyard, lift up the car with just a jack? no junkyards have any dsm's(except M&S 2 freakin hours away) and if they did, i dont need anything from under the car anwyays. ill buy new parts if theyre under the car(like trannies, axles, etc).

no, lift with jack and stuff rims/tires under the car to hold it...

 

[karbon]

Driveway Darwinism.

I was going to say something to the effect of Darwinism. We're real sympathetic guys, eh?
There's no harm in stating that something that's clear and true is in fact true. Be careful, guys, and think things through. NEVER be in a hurry to do anything with something that you depend on preventing you from getting killed.

 

[4G63 For Me]

Well technically everyday we rely on the same concept to stop us from plowing into other cars (hydraulic fluid of a jack, brake fluid on a car). However, I'm not saying it isn't a good idea to use stands, but you don't ALWAYS need them. Changing a tire? Don't need them. Dropping a transmission? Of course you need them.

My father had a tire removed from his car, was trying to get the oil filter off (he was underneath it), and had the car up with a bumper jack. Guess what happened? Fell on him. He was under there quite awhile. He ended up living, but broke some ribs, collapsed lung, etc.

If I ever only use a jack, I'm not underneath the car, and I always give it some nice hard shoves before I start working to make sure it is stable.

To be honest, I just prefer to park two tires on the curb and leave the other two on the street, put it in gear, with the parking brake on, and put big blocks behind the wheels. Then I just crawl in under it. Works well, saves time and logically seems safer than balancing a car.

By the way, don't use wood or cinder blocks for jackstands. You ever see how easy a cinder block turns to dust? You might as well go to Vegas and gamble.

 

[Bostedquest]

By the way, don't use wood or cinder blocks for jackstands. You ever see how easy a cinder block turns to dust? You might as well go to Vegas and gamble.

depends on how you lay them.
You lay them sides up, they are fine, sides down... easier to collapse.

 

[EclpzLvr97]

depends on how you lay them.
You lay them sides up, they are fine, sides down... easier to collapse.

Still not a smart idea. Those things really aren't that strong.

 

[bigemrich]

Age aside I think the first thing I ever learned about cars aside from checking oil is stands stands stands... I can honestly say I have never been under ANY car properly jacked/on a lift, nor would I and I have been working on cars since I was 16...its merely common sense. The only thing I do w/o jackstands is checking brakes on trailers at work, but you wont see my hands under anything while it is only on a jack, only to spin the tires, it is down in 30 seconds...
Age/the car had nothing to do with this, just stupidity/lack of common sense... I mean tranny work w/o jackstands....kinda makes you wonder
--Kyle

 

[dremersvision]

Damn shame.

All it takes is for the car to slip off that jack right in front of you one time and you realize that jack stands have always been a good idea.

Not to be a dick, here, but 1) Why was a 16 year allowed to be working on a turbo DSM by himself? And 2) Why wasn't he using stands? If you ask me, it's definitely sad, but it speaks to issues in our culture. I know that I won't be letting my 16 year old son have a fast car until he's proven himself capable of handling it (I think that would mean a year of autoX or similar experience), and furthermore, there's no way in hell a child should be doing anything under a car without an experienced adult or, at the very least, a buddy who's not an idiot.

Just me and my whitebread, old-fashioned ways. :shrug

i sure do agree with you man.

 

[Redmachine]

I didn't read thru all of the posts but here is my .02. RAMPS..... ramps with wheels chocked. I'm sorry but stands are not the saving grace of shadetree mechanics, most of us can't afford lifts, but we can afford 100 dollar ramps, they are much more stable than jack stands. Pick up some ramps guys, get away from the stands and the jacks(other than jacking the car up to put the ramps under the wheels)

 

[Bostedquest]

I didn't read thru all of the posts but here is my .02. RAMPS..... ramps with wheels chocked. I'm sorry but stands are not the saving grace of shadetree mechanics, most of us can't afford lifts, but we can afford 100 dollar ramps, they are much more stable than jack stands. Pick up some ramps guys, get away from the stands and the jacks(other than jacking the car up to put the ramps under the wheels)

yes but how do you remove the wheels when on ramps?
Just giving a hard time...
Moral, use what is appropriate for the job you are doing...

 

[cait sith]

Having worked on trannies multiple times on a DSM, I don't even know how I'd keep the car up with just a jack.

This is just plain stupidity.