I scared a kid today...

One of the kids that I worked with moved on a few years ago.He was working on his mid 70s Camaro without jackstands.The back end fell,with the edge of a brake backing-plate landing on the side of his head.He told me he layed there for 15 minutes before someone came along & lifted the car.He survived but not without some serious work done to his cranium.I saw him about a year ago,& he's got his own garage/grunge band.Scary stuff .

 

Something a lot of people don't know is that those scissor jacks can fail without warning. I've had two of them at different times strip out and drop flat. First time it left my S-10 on the ground while I was trying to change a flat. Dad always told me never put any part of your body under the car when changing a flat.

How about those of us who work on gravel drives at times? Jackstands are dangerous on gravel. I dropped my '96 SHO (supported by jackstands) onto my drive one time. What are you guys using in that situation?

 

I work in the gravel or on a small concrete pad. I put plywood under the jack stands, then set the jack under a corner as a back up. my 53 slid off the jack stands when i was changing rears. I had back ups for the backups, only skinned my back. The old wooden ramps saved me when the jack stands shifted and then the concrete blocks shifted. Overkill I guess. used to use cinder blocks only with the jack under the front crossmember. concrete broke once when i was getting it all set, now i have 4 sets of jack stands.

 

It’s bad enough when you see a kid working under a car with no jackstands, you assume he just doesn’t know any better and try to educate him. But I think some of these kids are taught not to use the jackstands by watching their fathers or grandfathers. We had an auto repair shop out here on Truman Rd. just east of Winner. (Da Pizza Place was in the same parking lot) I pull into the lot to make a phone call and these fools, adults mind you, have got the ass of a mid 80’s full size Chevy truck jacked up by two hi lift jacks on the rear bumper, tires dangling a foot off the ground… TESTING THE TRANSMISSION!!! I remember thinking these jackasses are gonna get someone killed, as they got in and out of the truck switching it from one gear to the next. About the time I told the person on the phone what I was watching there was a muffled *THUMP* and a whole lot of gear whine. Look back, and I see that truck, headed in reverse, right for my car. Pulled my legs in, grabbed the door, and got it closed just in time to see this truck brush past with no one behind the wheel. It passes my car, continued across the parking lot, and drove right through the front wall of the pizza place. Next thing I saw was the two middle aged shop owners that had been leaning on the Chevy’s hood, running with their hands stretched out… chasing the truck.

Genius’s …