My old man had a pair of those when I was a kid. Don't know what happened to them, and wish I had them now.
Ya never think it will happen to you............ A 'local guy' was working under his car while his wife was at work (you can guess the rest)...nobody was home except him. She found him when she got home from work...... How MANY times have we been in that same senario ?! 6sally6
I've got a '60s Hein Werner jack, and a couple sets of the pin-type jackstands that were old 20 years ago. Big fan of railroad ties as stands when there is room. We're to the point with tools like we are with car parts. Find NOS or refurbish 50 year old chit otherwise you can just about guarantee failure.
Circa 1974, I used those heavy wire milk crates under the car. On DIRT... I'd lay down plywood, place the crates and use a 2" x 12" or more on top of the crate. I had a set of 4 of them... from the same dairy. I did brakes, pulled the transmission out of my '64 Olds 88 using that system.
Helps to bring home the message. As an industrial tradesman seeing the mangled body of a fellow worker who was working near you moments before is an image that will stay with you the rest of your days. Like it or not it’s part of the lesson.
Hello, We started to get involved with my brother’s first car, (51 Oldsmobile Sedan) then our Model A Coupe we bought to make into a street hot rod/gas coupe class racer. So, we supplied ourselves with the products we thought were necessary and would use all of the time. One of the items was a 4-legged secure jack stand we bought from Reath Automotive. Our local parts store had some, but were the three leg version and the 4 leg base was more secure. So, explained to us by Reath mechanics and Joe Reath himself. My brother instantly saw the differences and bought the 4 leg base version. We also originally started with the use of the jack from the trunk of all of the cars we had. Then secured the elevated position with the two secure 4 leg jack stands. We both felt secure rolling on our carts under any car we jacked up for service or repair. They were very secure along with a wooden block, wedged in for each front wheel to not move. Jnaki From the fall of 1957 to August of 1960, those secure jack stands were used almost daily and weekly. I was usually the guy under the car doing what needed to be done. The big thing every week of racing the 58 Impala was to get a compete third member with a Positraction 4:56 gearing in place for the Saturday- night racing. But, my brother also wanted the Positraction 4:56 gears in place just in case a Friday night activity was going to happen, too. So, my Thursday after school and into the night activity was always a planned event. I needed this job as I did not have my own car or driver’s license yet. My transportation no longer involved the local Bus service, but a chauffeured 58 Impala taking me where I needed to go for my social calendar. But, I had to do a bunch of hot rod jobs to secure the transportation to and from any event. So, on Thursday after school and into the late night, those jack stands created a little cave underneath the raised rear of the 58 Impala. Out goes the old 4:11Positraction 3rd member and in comes the new complete 4:56 Positraction unit. Axles, hubs and the jack stands all provided a safe working place to complete the job. Later, our hydraulic jack helped make the whole process easier with the lift unit. Late night? Yes, but that is what a teenager learns to do, cope with the working job to the finish. I felt safe under that Impala during the whole time of removal/install on a weekly basis... YRMV stay safe… Note: What seemed like a lot of work every week was good and bad. Good, in that since our cars were stock with factory supplied parts, we were all limited to a real "build." So, what worked for the top runners/winners was good enough for us. Then we worked on quickness at the starting line lights and that helped, too. But, as far as something to advance the "more horsepower" aspect, we were limited to spark plugs, tuning, adjusting and making sure everything was just right. Now, it was up to the driver to bring home the class trophy. Bad in that my school work and grades were taking a hit. late nights were normally spent listening to music and doing some homework/studying for tests. But, during the racing season, it was under the Impala from Thursday to the opposite install/removal on Sunday night. I was one tired teenager. It was necessary to keep up with the latest thing for the tight racing in our class. Did it work? Definitely. The E.T. times were lower on the average and we hit the best mark with the 4:56 gears. But, driving around our cruising grounds with the 4:56 gears was much different than cruising gears. We even started to bring home some class winner trophies.
I had one of those ratcheting jack stands fail on me. The release lever is attached to the cam thing that catches the vertical support by just a skinny roll pin which sheared. Smart people would probably just throw away the jack stand but I replaced the roll pin and kept on going. I am always short of jack stands. Can't understand that since I don't have that many cars. Have to be careful with that one though.
I found one in the shop today I had forgotten about. It was nearly new, had used it a couple of times. Sat the car down on it gently, and the cast pawn broke! I still use it and it’s mate, but without extending them. I just put a big thick wood block under them. Probably safer like that than extended anyway.
I bought the same jack about 10-12 years ago, is was still made in the USA. Since then I've been getting old Lincoln jacks and rebuilding them.
This is the reason I waited to change the oil on my daily last weekend until I could find a spotter. Wife was napping, I didn't crawl under the car until a neighbor could come over.
There is no way of knowing who bought the especially when buy with cash. The y posted photos on their website and-at stores with the numbers. I didn’t have any.
If I waited for a spotter I'd get even less done. I use ramps for oil changes and other stuff so that I know the vehicle won't fall, plus it's way faster.
I work alone. I don't get under a car without an extra source of support. I have blocks and ramps, but when I'm under there with jack stands, I have a large scissors jack I use as a safety backup. Don't wanna get squished
Sorry I missed this comment .BTDT . Also drove wrecker for a number of years ,helped extract bodies from wrecks ,really no need to embellish facts purely for shock value .
The Jalopy Journal
