OK, admit it. We've all done some stupid, dangerous, dumb things in the past, whether it's from ignorance or being in a hurry. I know I have. Maybe a kind of "reverse tech" could be helpful to others and let them avoid the same mistakes we made. If it helps one person avoid a catatrophe - big or little - it'll be woth it. OK, my biggest screw-up was several years ago, when I was re-installing the rear axle on my '55 Buick. I had it up in the air 6" on a ramp-style lift and decided I could lift it up in a hurry, by placing a 6' 2"x4" on a floor jack, with the other end under the axle. Worked pretty good, so with confidence, I jacked the axle up. I neglected to notice I had jacked it up too far and was actually lifting the whole car off the jack stands ! Rule #1: Floor jacks roll. Mine did. All of a sudden, here's 3500# of Buick coming back towards me. I backed up quickly. Or tried to. Rule #2: Always keep a path of escape clear when you're working, just in case. I didn't. I backed up a foot or so, right into my tool cart, which wasn't going to move because there was crap in the way. Luckily, the car only came back a foot or two (I was a little too busy to measure it) and then swung over to the left. Rule #3: Use a back-up for jack stands. I did. The car swung over to the left and started to fall, as it was off the jack stands by this time. Luckily, I had a couple of 12"x12" wooden blocks and the frame came down on them and stopped its' fall. Now I'm standing there, backed up against the tool cart, in shock, with slightly soiled shorts, with the post from the lift up inside the rear wheel well and the car half on and half off the lift. Rule #4: Buy a GOOD lift. I did and it held the car with no sweat. After I pulled myself together, I called a couple of pals, who dropped what they were doing and came to the rescue. It took a couple of hours to get the car back on the ramps and to this day, I have no recollect of how they did it. I WAS lucky that I didn't get killed and the damage to the car was minimal. Rule #5: If you're doing potentially dangerous work, don't work alone. I did. I won't again. I could have been pinned between the car and my cart for hours and slowly asphixiated or crushed to death. Nobody would have come looking for me for several hours. After working on cars for 45 years or so, I should have known better, but I got careless. OK, just like A.A......what's your experince been doing dumb repair tricks
NEVER.....NEVER wear polyester when working on or near heat/spark producing jobs. I have a pile of old uniform shirts from where I used to work that are going in the shitcan. I was using a ginder to remove what was left of a U-joint from a driveshaft (The one with the end of the cap broke off). Well, it got warm....real fast. The sparks from the grinder set my freakin shirt on fire. I have always sworn by cotton. Sure, the cotton shirt may have caught fire, but at least it wouldn't have melted to my hand when I put the fire out.
Never work on a raised car on an incline, or get under one even if its not on stands...I know thats pretty much common sense, but my driveway is sloped, and the only concrete pad I have. Going to start pulling the trans out of a Suburban, and its high enough to get under and start undoing stuff. In park...check. E brake on...check... What can go wrong...undo driveshaft, truck starts rolling...over 1 leg, stops on other. Start hollering, about 20 minutes later, someone comes by. I say PUT A BLOCK BEHIND THE TIRE...shoulda did that before...meanwhile my leg is the block.. I was OK, but sore. Just think if it rolled onto something more critical, or out the drive and down the hill. That thing woulda went through someones house, or car, or kids or.... I have lotsa blocks now.. The lesson, dont trust the ebrake, even the parking pawl in the trans...use a wheel chock.
Nah... he was probably just under there for a minute. Not really life threatening, or even in the shop... but... Leave yourself a way to pull forward when backing a trailer in mud or deep snow. It won't go where you want it, and next thing you know, you'll need a helicopter to lift you out of the mess you get yourself into. JOE
Here's another one. Never look down at the can of laquer thinner when you drop it. It tends to give you a wonderful burning sensation in your eyes when your eyes start burning. Also your friends find this funny and it takes longer to get water to flush them out.
[ QUOTE ] NEVER.....NEVER wear polyester when working on or near heat/spark producing jobs. I have a pile of old uniform shirts from where I used to work that are going in the shitcan. I was using a ginder to remove what was left of a U-joint from a driveshaft (The one with the end of the cap broke off). Well, it got warm....real fast. The sparks from the grinder set my freakin shirt on fire. I have always sworn by cotton. Sure, the coton shirt may have caught fire, but at least it wouldn't have melted to my hand when I put the fire out. [/ QUOTE ] haha i got a story like that too. i was workin with a grinder in the shop a while back (wearing my brand new jimmy shine shirt) and all of a sudden it started smellin real funny. i look down and the damn shirt is on fire. luckily i got it out and the fire was climbing up the shirt instead of goin in it. ruined a brand new shirt that cost me like 30 bucks.
Did'nt happen to me but do not weld with disposable Bic lighters in pockets. Read a safety bulletin of two incidents where railroad workers who had them in pockets while welding,one with it in his shirt pocket and the other in his pants pocket. Anyway somehow sparks or hot steel caused them to explode killing the first one instantly the second died later of his injuries. Something I would'nt thought of until I read it. joeycarpunk
A mistake I regularly allow to happen is not locking myself in the shop when I see my neighbor coming who always tells me how "I ought to do it"
Never use a standard drop light when you are working on or removing a gas tank. When the gas tank slips spilling gas all over the floor AND knocking the drop light off it's hanger, the drop light falls bursting the bulb and igniting the gas. Use a neon drop light or a battery powered lantern. You'll definately lose the car, your garage and quite possibly your life. Gas and incandescent bulbs never mix!
I had a friend burn his dads gas tation down with his pickup in it from dropping the troublelight into spilled gas. My buddy and I were working there to and had just gone on a beer run. The only thing they got out was my buddys 62 impala. And never, never wash parts in gas or other flamables.
Hey Hey yeah ,here I was upside down backwards in a roll cage and didn't remember if I had opened the gas on the TIG. So what to do ,I put the torch up to my ear and hit the pedal so I could hear if the gas was on. Never did figure it out,but I do know a good high-freq unit will try to start an arc on your ear.
Not that this is bad advice but the rairoad workers story is a big myth. That tale has been going around since bic lighters came out. I've heard it a thousand times if I heard it once and not one person ever had any first hand knowledge that it actually happened. I think it would be a good one for mythbusters.
Long, long ago I was running the valves on my '48 Ford in my dark little garage at college--set one, crank engine over with ratchet on crank snout, set another... I was engrossed enough in carefully finding the right rotation for the next valve not to notice increasing pressure on my legs...after about the first ten or so, I leaned way over to reach one far back and found I couldn't move that far...the car was in gear, and I had cranked it forward until the bumper guards touched the back wall, with my legs neatly captured in the maybe 4X18" space between the two guards. I spent a few moments composing the likely headlines for the Carlisle Sentinal article on my demise--"Mystery skeleton found in abandoned garage" was my favorite--before painfully dragging myself straight up the wall and into the engine compartment with my knees trying to bend backwards.
"I think it would be a good one for mythbusters..." Here:http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/lighters.htm And check out that site's pages and pages of automobile urban legends!
[ QUOTE ] <font color="purple"> Can you believe this guy? Welding in short sleeves! </font> [/ QUOTE ] Does anyone else think this photo might be a photoshop job? I don't think it's real. it makes no sense that this is real because in reality they would of kept whatever tool they used to jack it up so high. (why would they switch out the tool with the 2x4's.) it's fake
[ QUOTE ] Not that this is bad advice but the rairoad workers story is a big myth. That tale has been going around since bic lighters came out. I've heard it a thousand times if I heard it once and not one person ever had any first hand knowledge that it actually happened. I think it would be a good one for mythbusters. [/ QUOTE ] I agree. I don't think it's possible for a bic lighter to explode with enough force to kill someone, even right in their pocket. they don't hold enough fuel, or more importantly, not enough pressure. they're made safe so you can't sue them. forget myth buster show, just toss a bic lighter into a fire and see if it explodes, i bet you it won't.
May be fake. I think it is third world and the tool was switched out for the 2X4s because the tool was several of the guy's friends.
[ QUOTE ] forget myth buster show, just toss a bic lighter into a fire and see if it explodes, i bet you it won't. [/ QUOTE ] I've done it, quite alot when I was younger... What happens most of the time is a little hole will melt in it and the fluid will squirt out in a flaming jet stream and shoot the lighter across the ground. Its alot of fun. Sometimes it will explode, but its more of a big poofy cloud of flame. I doubt it would kill someone. Now the guy welding under the truck... that picture looks like a photoshop to me. Look right around his lower back/ass region, you can see its kind of semi-transparent and you can see the stuff behind it. Also, the bottom of the truck is not bright and lit up as it would be while welding. Its light, but you can tell by the soft shadows that its just the reflected sunlight off the ground, welding would make a much harsher light, with sharp edged shadows.
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Not that this is bad advice but the rairoad workers story is a big myth. That tale has been going around since bic lighters came out. I've heard it a thousand times if I heard it once and not one person ever had any first hand knowledge that it actually happened. I think it would be a good one for mythbusters. [/ QUOTE ] I agree. I don't think it's possible for a bic lighter to explode with enough force to kill someone, even right in their pocket. they don't hold enough fuel, or more importantly, not enough pressure. they're made safe so you can't sue them. forget myth buster show, just toss a bic lighter into a fire and see if it explodes, i bet you it won't. [/ QUOTE ] Back in my old smoking days I've lit off enough match books in my breast pocket to not want to test their theory. It may not explode like a bomb but the burn would be horrendous. IMHO
I think that pic is real, and as for picking it up, it's a little datsun 620. I had one, and even with the bed 3 guys could probably lift it like that.
Years ago was working on the hitch on the '51 Chevy truck I towed the stock car with. The plate the hitch ball screwed through was bent down slightly and I thought I would straighten it out and weld some reenforcement onto it. Picked up a 10lb hammer and started swinging it from down by my ankles and beating on the bottom of the hitch. About the third swing I missed the hitch and hit myself square in the center of my forehead. When I came to I was kneeling on the floor bleeding and my buddy was laughing his ass off.
A bic lighter exploding in your hand does less damage than a Black Cat fire cracker. Maybe this should be in the "Don't ask me how I know this" category...
[ QUOTE ] Long, long ago I was running the valves on my '48 Ford in my dark little garage at college--set one, crank engine over with ratchet on crank snout, set another... I was engrossed enough in carefully finding the right rotation for the next valve not to notice increasing pressure on my legs...after about the first ten or so, I leaned way over to reach one far back and found I couldn't move that far...the car was in gear, and I had cranked it forward until the bumper guards touched the back wall, with my legs neatly captured in the maybe 4X18" space between the two guards. I spent a few moments composing the likely headlines for the Carlisle Sentinal article on my demise--"Mystery skeleton found in abandoned garage" was my favorite--before painfully dragging myself straight up the wall and into the engine compartment with my knees trying to bend backwards. [/ QUOTE ] Instead of "painfully dragging myself straight up the wall" could you have reversed the snout cranking rotation? Just a thought. -stick
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] <font color="purple"> Can you believe this guy? Welding in short sleeves! </font> [/ QUOTE ] Does anyone else think this photo might be a photoshop job? I don't think it's real. it makes no sense that this is real because in reality they would of kept whatever tool they used to jack it up so high. (why would they switch out the tool with the 2x4's.) it's fake [/ QUOTE ] I lived in the Philippine for ten years. I guaran-fuckin-tee people DO do dumbass stuff like this. They'll borrow a fork lift truck, or use a bunch of guys to lift the truck up, then wedge the wood in. In fact that LOOKS like it might be the Philippines!!
And this one time in Band Camp..... No for real, As anyone who has TIG welded before will vouch, the tungsten stays very hot for a short period of time once you turn off the arc. I have actually laid the torch into my lap many times right after lifting the pedal only to realize that the needle sharp, red hot tungsten not only pierces all fabric know to man, but will punture and cartarize your johnson as well. On way to many occasions I have had to explain random sores on my tool to my wife.
All I know is, never drink a bunch of beer with your brother in law and try to figure out how to hook up all of those sparkplug wires that he just yanked out. I finally told him that I was going to take a nap and when I returned they would get hooked up in five minutes. That's exactly what happened. pigpen "And that's the way it was, movin' west." (Wagon Train)
The Jalopy Journal
