Take a pause for safety

This is a great thread. Too bad it was prompted by the death of this fellow.

I have often wondered wht so many repairs in a factory shop manual start with " DISCONNECT BATTERY" even for seemingly unrelated repairs. Here is the proof. Thanks for sharing this as unfortunate as it seems it will make me look at that battery terminal next time! Stu

 

I've gotta say that this is probably my biggest phobia, being crushed by the car I'm working on. Everytime I crawl under something I'm working on I take a deep breath and cringe at the idea of what "could" happen. Jack stands, jack stands, jack stands use em'.

 

And after cribbing and blocking...keep one extra object that you can move around with you under there, an object thicker than those parts of your body you would like to keep intact. A one-piece object that can't dis***emble or tip--that's what my 12X12X36 timber is for. A fat mounted tire and wheel is a lesser but possibly adequate subs***ute, a stout toolbox is better than nothing. Big timber can be made by fastening together a number of landscape timber pieces or even a lot of 2X4's, but this last-chance piece should be securely made as one piece, not something that could dis***emble under sliding car. Take the time every time you move under there to move your timber and make sure it is under a solid piece of the car.

 

Yup. two 4 ton jackstands, chocked wheels, backup jack or blocking and a disconnected battery...everytime I have to get under the car, no if, ands or buts. Then I push, shove and wiggle the car ALOT before I crawl under...and always on a low profile creeper for quick escapes. My caddy weighs 5,000 pounds and is slightly lowered, I can't get my torso under the car when it's sitting on the ground and I'm a skinny dude. Cell phone in the pocket is a good idea!

 

Or you can get a 2 x 12 from home depot and cut it up into 8 pieces and screw them together in a stack to make 12 inches. But make sure you chock the other wheels.