I was wondering how many of you have seen some really crazy practises just begging the Grim Reaper to come calling. Here is one I found on the inter web....
Those "Handyman/Hylift" jacks would have no problem lifting that weight, but there might be a slight issue with lateral stability.
Holy crap. These guys are just waiting to get crushed. Job security for the fire department, cops, & morgue/funeral home. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
About 35 years ago I was driving down a street here in town and a guy had a rig jacked up with a regular bumper jack and was under it doing something. I stopped and hollered at him to get out from under it and put a block or something under it before it fell. He came out from under it and was standing in the middle of the street yelling at me to mind my own #$%ing business when the thing rolled back a bit and crashed to the street. About that time his wife came running out the front door and wanted to know what happened and he told her Nothin, the jack just slipped. Never said another word to me but when I drove back past an hour later he had it sitting on some big rounds of firewood. My best friend who a lot of PNW Hambers know was under his dad's Malibu wagon in town changing the starter with just the stock jack under it when it came down and pinned him. His dad was in his 80's but he lifted it enough so he could get out from under it.
When I was young and the way I would use bumper jacks to work under my car, the thought scares the HELL out of me
Flash back to about 1972, came home from my paper route, delivered by bicycle, to find my father on the couch, covered in blood and towels. He always told me to use jack stands, check them twice. On that day, he for what ever reason, he only used the bumper jack. It was just a quick inspection, but the old ford fell on him, broke some ribs. Very lucky he was not hurt much worse. forward to 1980's, a tech in our shop was repairing one of our service trucks, (against company policy) set it on concrete blocks, it fell, crushed his skull, he lived as a veg for years before they pulled the plug. I tell my son about these two incidents all the time. Recently, he was helping a friend on his car, I overheard him telling the stories.
When I was in high school I was working on the rear shocks of my '57 Lincoln (see avatar) that was supported by a bumper jack. I saw the jack start to move and was able to get out from under the car with only a couple of gouges in my back from the leaf spring bolts. I have taken that lesson to heart and have never gone under an unsupported vehicle since. They say what doesn't kill you makes you smarter, the problem is that sometimes it kills you.
That looks perfect to those who don't know any better. I'm curious, though it would be very stupid, would placing the blocks in there intended orientation be any safer for load distribution?
You would think this would be just plain common sense, but there is a shop across the street from me that the guys(cant call them techs)commonly use a floor jack or their fork lift to raise up and crawl under vehicles. My brother has even went over and explained to them the advantages of using jack stands. They just shrug their shoulders and walk away. when ever I hire someone new for the shop they are told my jack stand rule--- if I see you crawl under a car without safety stands you are fired. Yes we did stupid things when we were kids and lived to tell about it.
And this kind of crazy shit still goes on! Just in the pits last week, roundy racin'. Guy had a dirt modified jacked to the sky, tweeking something under it, not a jack stand in sight! Gawdamn man, thought we was supposed to be professionals!? Disclaimer: We were down in West-by-god Va. at the time...
That would be slightly better, still not safe. I used some cinder blocks under a car a few years ago in their proper orientation with 2x12's on them and put them under the tires to pull an engine, but I wasn't under the car. People don't realize how little it takes to fracture a cinder block or how fast the concrete deteriorates making them weaker than they already are.
A couple years ago I stopped yo see if a guy needed help on the side of the road. It was 2am, he was probably in his 60s, driving a 50 Ford Custom. Had an electrical problem he had to get underneath to fix. Jacked the car up with one of those small hacks that come in new cars and started underneath. I stopped him, made him wait while I looked around a construction site nearby and borrowed some heavy wood blocks. As soon as I put them under the car fell on them. He never said a word, no thanks, nothing. Seemed kind of annoyed I stopped.
yep, and does not only involve jacking/supporting a ride improperly. most of the car related Reality TV shows have some dummy "blink welding" ( not using a mask) grinding with no eye protection, etc etc - there have been plenty of threads here over the years on mistakes people of made bypassing safety - you ain't no damn cat, you only get one chance at living
I'm thinking he was probably a little pissed thinking that in the time you held him up he could have had the car fixed and been on his way before it all fell off his flimsy jack.
Don't get me started on PPE. 40 yrs in heavy industry, I've seen the effects of use & non-use. Some not pretty. If I catch one of my sons grinding, etc, in the garage w/o PPE, I don't say a word. Boot in the ass, they don't say a word either. They know better. Actually they're both very good about it, they're line of work demands it, and I got a pretty big foot..
the guy next door to me has a small forklift. he used to have an idiot employee. one day I show up and here is this guy with his Acura whatever it was up on the fork lift, and he is standing under it working on something as if it were a car lift. talk about stupid.
I have done some pretty stupid stuff jacking and holding a car up to work on it. I have also been pretty lucky. I have been wallered twice, once by a '55 Ford that I was using two bumper jacks to hold it up while changing a rear end. I learned to use jack stands ( mostly) after that, the second car that wallered me was an '84 3/4 ton Suburban, it had jack stands that we not up to the task. Neither was any fun. I personally try to work safe, but sometimes I do things still that most would think is too dangerous. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do I suppose.
I had a good friend that acquired a car collection the hard way from his dad. Same thing, the dad preached jack stands, jack stands, but one day he wanted to do this one little thing, under a 63 T-Bird,, had it up with a floor jack and was underneath and the jack slowly lowered and before he could get out it settled on him. And it wasn't quick.
I actually lost a good friend a few years back. He was changing shocks on his low rider in his driveway. used stacked up 4x4s to hold it up and they toppled over. Drove a screwdriver though his forehead. I guess he probably didn't hurt for very long, but dead is too far gone for me. What bothers me to this day is that he only lived a couple of blocks away and could have used my jack stands, and he knew it.
Was an EMT for a small town for ten years. Made two calls pulling dead bodies from under cars. That site teaches a valuable lesson.
When I was in HS we were changing the trans in my 65 Skylark, and had it up sitting on some wood blocks on the tires thinking it was OK as we had the park brake set.Well the brake cables were attached to the cross-member which we had removed. We had just struggled getting that old auto out from under in the dirt where we were working, and were resting when the car rolled off the wood blocks!!!
Luck is a wonderful thing isn't it. I have seen some things that could have been a real disaster and their only saving grace was how funny they were because they didn't turn out real bad. My old racing buddy's kid built himself a romper stomper truck. I was out to see them and rolled into the driveway just as he was pulling the rear drive shaft. He had it in Park ( oops ), he pulled the rear U joint loose and the truck started to roll away. It was pretty funny seeing him hanging on and trying to stab the drive shaft back into place. I was close enough that I could get the door open and mash the brake with my hand which stopped the truck. Only drug him about 10 feet. Could have been disastrous, but it wasn't, so it was funny as hell and he learned a valuable lesson.
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