They are great if you have enough room for you and it under the car, and oh yeah, NOTHING ELSE!!! I got so tired of trying to move around under a car and running into a tool or air hose and jamming the stupid thing that I finally stopped trying to use it, and just switched to a hunk of cardboard. A lot easier for me to just slide around on that!
Would that be a "rug" on your head, or a "rug" on the floor? Sorry, could't resist. But seriously, I have a wooden, wheeled creeper too, it sits behind a cabinet, and is NEVER used; takes up too much room under a car/truck, and it's just easier with cardboard. Cardboard gets dirty or wet, and gets thrown away, then replaced with "new" cardboard. I'll give away one of my little secrets. I have a spray can of silicone I use on the cardboard, sure makes sliding around easier. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I have the same one. HF. I like it, but there are some design flaws. I filled it with spray foam so it's really rigid, but my concrete isn't smooth, so it shreds the wheels. I attached a bigger cushion for the headrest. One advantage is that it's really low. I use it all of the time, I makes it easier to zip around, couldn't live without one.
I made sure I built my shop (1993) with a smooth floor with no big seams, so I could use a creeper in it. I've been using one ever since. Wore out a few of them, actually. I have a foam cushion "Jeepers' Creeper" in the trunk of my "race car" that I use at the drag strip.
I don't care for them when you are trying to leverage a bolt and you can't anchor to keep from rolling. I use a rubber mat or cardboard.
LOL on the floor. The rug on my head is the only thing my wife of 35 years said i ABSOLUTELY could not do , that and the "WRAP" hair style
Creepers would be okay if they came with an e-brake... I've been using the same piece of perforated peg board for 30 years. So old I can't tell which is the shiny side. The holes let fluids out in case you make a mess or spill your beverage.
I am a creeper user. I have 3, one is a snap on that I have had since the eighties, one is lisle jeepers creeper I got at a garage sale 10 yrs ago and the last one is a *****in tuck n roll job that was done by Fatluckys I bought it here on the Hamb back in the early 2000's. it is too nice to use so it stays in the house Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Last time I used a creeper I was about 18 years old and was in the process of installing a new clutch in my 63 Falcon Sprint. It was a late Friday afternoon at Shaw's Shell Station where I was allowed to use one of the bays when the station closed at 6 PM. Marvin was the owner of the station and a family friend told me to lock the door when I left drop the spare key in the mail slot like I had done a few times in the past. Marvin left and I locked the door behind him and gathered the tools I needed to preform the task at hand,I rolled under the car and got to work,several times over the next half hour or so I eased back and forth on the creeper. I was almost finished and had just rolled out from under the car to drag the transmission under the car,and then it happened... If you recall I said I was 18 at the time and like most teenagers at that time,1968 most young guys avoided the barber shop like the plague so my hair was a little long and as I rolled under the car that final time my hair got tangled up in one of the wheels. I remember yelling a string of 4 letter obscenity's as I tried to to the best of my ability to back out from under the car, that was externally painful and the opposite direction was just as bad. I remember thinking that I am by myself and I can't get out,I'm stuck! Within a few minutes it occurred to me that I was going to have to reach my pocket knife and cut my curly locks to escape from the creeper and that is what I did,thankfully my knife was sharp. I was able to finish the job and left the station about 9PM,the clutch worked great and I had a bald spot on the back of my head. I haven't used a creeper since that night. HRP
I've got one of the fold-up adjustable head rest types. Used more as a seat then a creeper. Usually card board or my self inflating sleeping bag pad.
The best creeper you'll ever have. $11.99 and you can make two 4'X4' if you wish. Not bad, 6 bucks a piece.
My brother-in-law had the carpeting in his home replaced several years ago and I just happened to stop by and see some of the s****s sitting out by the curb. There were two pieces of carpet about a foot and a half wide and eight feet long so I grabbed them. One is pretty filthy now so I'm thinking about retiring it and using the other unused one. No more cold concrete floors for me....
I fabricated my own creeeper back in the 70's, I used walnut for the rails with a piece of plywood down the center, many years later a friend of mine willed me his creeper (as well as other tools), he had wanted a creeper for years, hinted to his wife at the time that a creeper would be a great Christmas gift. He contracted terminal cancer, his wife left him, but, he did get the creeper he wanted even though he bought it himself. Everytime I use it I think of him. I am 72 years old and if the vehicle I am working on isn't high enough for me to use a creeper and don't even try.
About 25 years ago I had really long hair and had a situation like HRP had . I still have long hair, but I have a lift now . If I have get under a car I have 2x3x1/4plywood .
Guess it's what your use to. I've be using creepers my whole life, still do. Yeah, the long hair in the wheels, I remember that, must of been a 70's thing. I must have 5 or so around the shop, all of them old, I pick them up at swaps or garage sales. Got tired of the new ones falling apart or the plastic casters breaking.
I still use my old creeper most days....especially if I'm gonna be on the floor a while. I'm used to it by now, although I have replaced the wheels and head-rest with a bigger cushion....down side is I will never get used to it shooting out from under me as I'm twisting to get off....always happens! I've tried just lying on a carpet numerous times, but it hurts just too much body-wise with aches and pains to consider for more than a minute or two....my grandpa gave me my one-&-only creeper (snap-on) in the mid 70's....it's formed-to-fit by now I dare say
I probably have 4 creepers out in the garage. Dating back to the early 70s. I guess I'm just not a creeper kinda guy.... Every time I've got on one I end up cussin' before it's all over. Call me a knuckle dragger, I'll get along with my piece of backed insulation just fine thank you. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
I've never used one, hell, untill this thread, I never even knew they were called creepers. I'd seen em, but don't know anyone down here that has em. Interesting to read the various replies, for and against.
I've never really liked creepers. Always hit my head rolling in or out. I always use these rubber backed rugs. They keep you dry and you can pressure wash them when they get too grimy.
There is a product called a 'mechanic's creeper' or perhaps, a 'magic creeper'. It is a mat that rolls under you as you slide under a car much like a tractor tread rolls. They are absurdly expensive so I would not buy one but I'm curious if anyone has had experience with one and can offer an opinion on the functionality.
Another long haired hippie freak who tried one, got my ****gy head wrapped up in it, and gave it away. I too am a big fan of cardboard- use it till it's filthy, THEN throw it away.
Sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply" So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why He said "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do" So I took off my hat, I said "Imagine that. Huh! Me workin' for you!"
Me and the creeper never did see eye to eye.....so I bought a 4 post lift many years back and have never looked back. Beats the hell of laying under any car. I just set on my stool with wheels and roll around under it. Plus it is a lot simpler to get up off of a stool then it is from the floor. When ya get my age it is a long way down to the floor and a lot farther up.
get the new carpet cut offs from my local carpet place.....what the dog and I use....toss them out ever so often....great for oil spills too !
The Jalopy Journal
