Driving on I-40 one Saturday afternoon in heavy traffic with the windows down. Hear something somewhere behind me that sounds like it has no mufflers at all. Watch the mirror for a bit and see something darting back and forth between lanes like an idiot. Finally comes flying by me running an easy 80+. Chopped and channeled A model sedan looking rough as a cob with a 5 gallon gas can roped to the roof and a piece of rubber hose draped across the roof from the can and headed in the general direction of the fuel pump. The roof insert was mostly gone and the can was sitting on a couple remaining cross pieces of the insert frame. I really could give a damn if some fool like this wants to barbecue himself, but it pisses me off to see such crap because its just more ammunition for the activist types who'd like to see all of us limited to driving a Prius or riding a bicycle.
The above makes me smile. As teens we did some crazy and were lucky nothing came of it. Older friends on the street were always dragging home free derelicts or $50 cars to play with. A goofy memory was a 35ish Olds that was siezed. We put oil in the plug holes and the neighborhood kids ganged up to push it up the street that had a hill. (The good old days when there were 2-4 kids in every house up and down the street.) Then everyone would get behind it then give it a good a running push down hill and then dump the clutch, repeated many times until it came loose. Some black marks on the street as it skidded to a stop until it finally came loose. The fuel pump was shot so someone would hang onto a radiator support rod and trickle gas in the carb with a Javex bottle while another drove it up the back alley or in circles on a huge vacant lot. The car did the hurky jerky and the gas jockey on the fender had a wild ride.
Always got yelled at by dad if didn't have the safety glass on when going at it with the angle grinder. My brother now is a medic in accident and emergency, says he sees at least 2 a week with metal in the eyes from those small grinders. Off topic, but, I was working in a auto shop, there was a late model car that had been in the river, Nissan I think, battery was flat, the apprentice had pulled all the seats out, and middle console, trying to get the carpet out to dry. He unbolted a module behind the handbrake lever, yep, airbags went off, blew him out the rear window, with the glass, lost 25% hearing in his right ear. Battery was flat, but still had enough in it Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
I really don't see the concern voiced in this video. Who in the hell is going to pry up on the release lever when the load is suspended on the stand????? WTF, do they expect it to be idiot proof? Nothing is idiot proof, there will always be a bigger idiot....
I agree with Blue. That video doesn't scare me into thinking a jacket-stand is going to suddenly let go. I usually always stick a tire or large 8x8 under the car with me.
It doesn't just suddenly let go. It takes a thump or kick to disengage it. And the video shows how little it takes. I've kicked around under a car to maneuver around... Luckily never kick the lever though. (Knock on wood) Also hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. I just posted that video as food for thought.
Never use cinder blocks to hold a vehicle! While they're fine as retaining walls you have to remember they're part of a build that includes footings, rebar and the wall (blocks) being filled with concrete, so the cinders are actually concrete forms. Cinder blocks are kiln dried and brittle as hell. Set a car down on one and tap the block with a hammer and watch it shatter like glass. Many people have lost their lives using them and will continue to do so because they're convenient and people continue to state that they are safe. Here's a couple of quotes I pulled off threads of other forums. It's like someone telling you it's a perfectly safe practice to look down the barrel of a gun. The blind leading the blind. "and if you don't have 4 jack stands you can use 4 cinder blocks too. I would raise it up so that the wheels are off the ground and place either the jack stands or blocks under the frame" Question; "I picked up some harbor freight 6 ton jack stands and they aren't tall enough. Is it safe to put the jack stands on top of cinder blocks"? Answer; "that's what we used when working on Jon's truck and it seemed to be stable as hell. I shook the shit out of his truck while they were on the stands+cyinder blocks and it didn't budge".
Yes, placed the correct way those blocks wud support the load..... Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Then i guess i better change out all the ones holding my house up on the foundation, which are 6 ft high on the rear side.....[emoji41] [emoji41] Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Don't worry about the ones holding up your house. They, hopefully, were installed with steel rods (rebar) and the holes in the blocks filled with concrete. Also the loads on the blocks are not concentrated. The load on the bottom of the wall is spread out because it is on a cement foundation and the load on the top is probably spread out with a 2x6 piece of lumber. When blocks are used to support a car (which they shouldn't be) the load is probably concentrated in a small area which will potentially result in failure. Charlie Stephens
I'm sure it's not a unique name, but in the VW community those are simply called "widow makers" Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I won't use cinder blocks, but will use solid concrete blocks. I have 3 or 4 I use if I need more height or will set a wheel on them. They are 12x12x24 solid concrete and heavy as hell. Cinder blocks, even solid ones will break, I've dropped these, hit them with a hammer, put lots of weight on them and never broken one. I don't use them as a primary hold though, only for jacking or temporary setting a jack stands until I can get my laminated wood blocks in place holding another jackstand. I always have a backup support, even with stands.
One winter my locking gas cap froze up. Some guy tells me to warm it with a cigarette lighter. I said , you got one? I'll just go across the street and phone the fire department while you work on it.
You would have to smack the lever pretty hard with a pretty big hammer to get it to let go once its set. There are jobs ratings for jobs that have to do with safety and whether anyone wants to believe it or not auto mechanics does not get the same rating as Baptist preacher. There is a certain amount of danger involved in crawling under a 4,000 pound brick or operation of power tools. You do the best that you can to be as safe as you can and hope for the best.
Put the release handles on those jack stands facing to the outside of the car. Far less likely to accidentally kick or hit the handle while working under the car that way. Also makes it easier reach the handle after the work is done and you're ready to collapse down and retrieve them. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Old timer who ran a gas station across from where I lived for a while used to weld leaking gas tanks on cars by: Starting car, running a hose from exhaust into gas tank. Let it run a while (to fill tank with CO2) and then spot weld leak shut. You could hear the gas boiling in the tank !!!
Yep, that is crazy. Been there done that a time or two myself. Finally deciced to listen to the old saying "A gas tank is cheaper than a funeral."
I always used jack stands......to work on my OT Manx type dune buggy. The gas tank was held in by a 2x4 wedged between it and the glass body.No brake lights. VW hubs with Chevy wheels on spacers offset about 6 inches, bald f-70 Wide Oval Radials.tiny 10 diameter steering wheel. Can you say.....wander? Glass seats held on by 2 bolts, unbraced "roll bar bolted to chassis pan. Wiring held together by tape....and much, much more! Drove it all the time. Once drove another OT VW with bald Pirellis, heard a THUNK at 70mph, a fist size chunk had flown off clear down to the steel belt. No sweat, drove another 250 miles. Much more.
If the video makes you nervous about your jack stands, send me those death-traps and buy yourself some new ones with the safety pin in them.
I've done that with empty tanks..... never had the balls to do it to one with gas still in it...... LynnW
I spent 32 years in healthcare as an X-Ray/CAT Scan Tech. I could say I've seen it all, but I know I really have't; I have seen an awful lot of the results of stupid things people do. When I was in X-Ray School, I had to go to the E.R. with the portable X-Ray machine for a patient who had a car fall on him. Floor jack collapsed. He was an overweight, young guy, and I thought I'd never get done X-Raying him. Every time a different Dr. saw him, I had another round of X-Rays to do. Basically, his pelvis was crushed, but it also squeezed his rectum out (think squeezing a grape between your thumb and index finger-same result), and his urethral was torn from his bladder. I was a first year X-Ray student doing whatever the Drs. told me to do, and a lot of it should have only been done by a physician. The guy went to surgery to have everything repaired, although it had to be done in stages, over time. He was hospitalized for some time, and underwent several major surgeries, all at Texas taxpayers expense. That case has always stayed in the for-front of my mind when I'm working under a car. I recently bought a set of jackstands with a built in bottle jack; jack up the car with the jack, then place a pin in the jack stand; very sturdy, and well thought out. I have't had a chance to use them yet. Everyone gets in a hurry, this will only take a minute, what can go wrong, everyone is immortal in their own mind, no one believes anything bad can happen to them; until it does. I've had over 45 years now, with the knowledge of what not to do, first hand. I've seen thousands of minor injuries, thousands of major injuries, and hundreds of fatal ones. So far, I've only had a few minor ones myself; never going to have a major or fatal one. Fingers crossed! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Bottom line.....always use double protection when working under a load. Solid wood or steel blocks/ jackstands, AND some pressure from a floor jack or bottle jack to be a secondary safety device. Use the best quality jackstands you can buy, and use them OVER rated....like a 5 ton stand for a 1 ton load....increases safety factor significantly. I still have some 2 ton stands that i use on light loads and because they are usually shorter for use on smaller equipment.... Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
The Jalopy Journal
