please read...everyone JACKSTANDS!

[K_Hill]

Thats very sad to hear. That is why i have a lift. You also have to be very careful with a lift to. I always lift the car just a inch off the ground and give it a little push just to make sure that if anything moves that the car will fall. USE JACKSTANDS!!!!!

 

[Turbo Talon DL]

Safety is PARAMOUNT!!! Do it safe, or not at all. Whats the point of putting yourself in danger while doing something if you wont live or function to enjoy the end results by being stupid and not having proper equipment? All of us should have at least a jack and 4 jack stands as standard tools and equipment as much as we do work on our cars. No point in doing something if it isnt done safely, you may not live to finish

 

[ZachM31]

now i'm scared, i just got done doing my t-belt change and everything, and spent alot of time under the car, makes me feel lucky i guess... i use jackstands though, i use a scissor jack to get the car up a ways, then use a floor jack to get it high enough, then put jackstands under it, and slowly let the jack down... it sucks having a car that is low to the ground, but it handles nicer than a truck with a 8" lift kit, i only use 2 jackstands though, both up front, and then have e-brake pulled and the transmission in 1st, i usually use ramps when working on a vehicle that has more ride height than my car, that's how i do things i guess, i need to invest in another set of jackstands though.

 

[Redmachine]

You should leave the jack under it, along with the jack stands. At least if a stand fails the jack will help save your life. Also guys make sure your jacks are in good condition... mine is starting to make creeks that it has never made before. I guess it's time for a new jack or a pump rebuild

 

[solomontomb]

thats very unfortunate to hear. my condolences goes out to his family.

 

[george5366]

thats just horrible.Makes me think twice even though i use jackstands

 

[mirkoelek]

i bought pair of the jack stands and they werent good enough. The bad thing about all is that you believe that you are safe but you are not .

i had factory jack and lifted my car but forgot to pull my brake or put it in a gear, and my car sliped. i ve been under car right before that happended in 10sec
i was fuc**g terified.

now i have my old reems and a lot of wood and takes me 10 min each time to put that under my car

 

[punishercb]

i bought pair of the jack stands and they werent good enough. The bad thing about all is that you believe that you are safe but you are not .

Are you sure they didn't work? If you bough a semi decent set they should work perfectly. I don't know if I would trust wood. I mean there's always a chance of it splitting or just rolling out and the car dropping.

 

[Lordpaxin]

IM suprised noone brought these pics back to life to call me stupid,

cinder blocks and ninja prowess.

I always have someting else under the car too, if it was too fall, it would land on it and not kill me as bad.

I grew up around a family that used tree stumps, logs, blocks of wood, ect ect.
I bought jackstands and someone stole them, never had any prob with the ol cement blocks.

they arent your average blocks tho, about 65 lbs apiece




my condolences to the family.

 

[JiveMasterT]

do you have the weight of the car sitting on the bumper supports? That doesnt look very good to me, then again, I could be wrong.

 

[Omega]

Are you sure they didn't work? If you bough a semi decent set they should work perfectly. I don't know if I would trust wood. I mean there's always a chance of it splitting or just rolling out and the car dropping.

You would really have to try in order to crush wood. You can hold a Mack truck up if you apply the load perpendicular to the grain. As far as the rolling... I don't use logs each piece is nice and square.

 

[Omega]

do you have the weight of the car sitting on the bumper supports? That doesnt look very good to me, then again, I could be wrong.

It doesn't matter where he is supporting the load, cinder blocks are the WORST form of support.

 

[slvrstingray]

As a suggestion....

When jacking up a car, always use the e-brake and some type of wheel chock. When using the jack stands, always check to make sure that the stands are set in a secure location, and that they have proper footing. I personally try to shake the car off the stands before I get underneath the it. "Better to fall off if I'm not under there!" On top of that, once a tire is removed, it is a good idea to put it underneath the car behind the jackstand on eitherside as a back up in the event of failure. It also gets the tire out of the way of your work area. Thats my 2 cents... its real horror to hear about things like that happening.

 

[Lordpaxin]

ive tried to break them with a car, and i cant, dropping a car 6 or so inches onto them, ect.
they arent your average "cinder" blocks, they are cement, with the gravel mixed in. i forget where they came from.

we hold bigass 4x4 tractors up with them, .

but like i stated before, there is alwyas someting else under there to catch the load.

 

[Omega]

Dunno about the rocking the car thing to make sure it is atable. A kid I know did that and the car shifted but he didn't realize. He was under the car and it slipped off the rest of the way. Broke a rib or two, and gave him some nasty scars.

 

[slvrstingray]

Dunno about the rocking the car thing to make sure it is atable. A kid I know did that and the car shifted but he didn't realize. He was under the car and it slipped off the rest of the way. Broke a rib or two, and gave him some nasty scars.

He obviously wasn't looking at the stands for movement! It is a good idea to rock the car and literally try and push it over with some good force, then check again for positioning before proceeding to getting under it. You shouldn't be able to push the car over! If so, i wouldn't want to be under it anyway!! Be carefull...

 

[SoCalGST]

Driveway Darwinism.

Wow, harsh words.... Defiant, you seem to be a little cold hearted here....
Imagine coming home to find your son dead....I feel so bad for his family.

 

[Lordpaxin]

harsh words from defiant? impossible.

thats like saying, "This site is nothing but dsm stuff"

 

[AW4G63]

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

When my buddy was 14 he put a 350 in a datsun. Not everyone is an idiot. Some people have mechanical abilities before others. You shouldn't judge why he was under the car. Just why he was under there without the right gear. I know a few older guys that will go under a car without jackstands. It's a bad idea.

 

[prophecy7115]

Dam very sad, i am 16 and my brother is 14 and he knows just as much as i do, and he was taking out the tranny with his friend (he is 14) and when i got home i saw the 2 jack stands and a jack under the car, man i felt very proud of him, he is really learing early, and he takes alot of precaution, so there really isn't an age limit to working on a car, having mechanic skills sometimes comes natural, its OK to practice them early, just be careful. Me and my brother put the tranny back in. I must say i really couldn't even imagine my brother being in that situation, i really need to get a lift.

 

[MNGSX]

My dad almost died when I was 5 when a set of stands failed.

I have never seen a set like those were on the market. I assume they were pulled.


I have 4 rather large ramps.

They are longer and taller than anything I see for sale anywhere.

An old street rodder my dad knows had them and gave me them..

He had them made for a lowered street rod he had. He was an engineer and they were welded by the same pro who made his chasis.

If I dont need to remove wheels I just use the ramps.. Otherwise I use stands on FLAT concrete. I will also use a 2nd set of stands depending on if I have room to work with 2 sets or not.

Anything major like clutch swaps, control arms etc... Like when I did the ES bushings..

I know a guy with a rotory lift at home less than 2 miles away... Just use that.

 

[Omega]

Personally at 16 even 18 and especially 14 years old you should never work on a car without adult supervision. That said I know there are parents that barely know where to put the key to start a car... who wouldn't be worth a damn to help work on a car.

 

[mikeydsm]

one time about 2 summers ago i was replacing a rim on my brothers grand am (aka the grand ma). Anyways I had a pretty nice 2-ton floor jack holding it up. while i was putting the new wheel in place i guess the e-brake must have failed because teh car started to roll back. it fell off the jack and the corner landed on the floor about 2 inches away from crushing my arm. i was so scared but so thankful at the same time that i was ok. now i use jackstands to hold up the cars. i also throw 2 old jeep rims under there so just incase the jackstands fail itll fall on the rim and hopefully ill be ok. still scares me getting under there to this day. on occasion im able to use my friends lift but i have to give alot of notice before i can use it and it only lifts the car about 2 feet off the ground.

 

[ZachM31]

Personally at 16 even 18 and especially 14 years old you should never work on a car without adult supervision. That said I know there are parents that barely know where to put the key to start a car... who wouldn't be worth a damn to help work on a car.

true that, i have had quite a few 40-50 year olds come into where i work and can't even fill their car up with gas... one was from oregon and said over there every station is full service... kinda weird, i mean hell, putting gas in a car is by far the easiest thing to do, besides rotating tires or changing engine oil (engine oil can be a PITA on some cars, they like to put the filter in spots where most people can't get their hands in) but yeah, i do kinda agree about young kids working on cars without supervision, my parents usually come out to my "shop" and check up on me every once in a while, and they tell me not to work under my car when they aren't home, it's nice having parents that care about you.

 

[MyBlack94GST]

Not for the squeamish, but not that bad, thankfully. I thank my lucky stars I didn't lose this finger. Nerve regrowth should be complete in a couple of months. This was caused by moving my hand for a split second through a really really really un-obvious spot while lowering a car onto some stands (the end of the tubular jack lever itself and the inner body). Obviously, my pinky got stuck. The car settled completely on the stands very slowly (panic mode ON), and I yanked my hand out. 4 very loose stitches as you can see, and a hairline fracture/bone chip.

I consider myself a pretty goddamn good mechanic. No one is invincible, so be careful. The worst part is that I play piano, and I hope this doesn't affect it. Cars and music should be mutually exclusive hobbies.

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