My condolences on your loss. Tell everyone you know how to properly support a car to help prevent any future accidents. It's an all too familiar story to me too. One of our friends back in the earlier 90's lost his life due to supporting his Nova with a stack of cinder blocks. I tell everyone I can in hopes of preventing more accidents like this. Take care man.
I am so sorry for your friend and his family. My condolences on your loss. FWIW and I hope this will help someone down the road, I keep a big ol' block of wood and toss it under the car as a back up in case the car falls off the stands for any reason. I saw a car fall once and that was enough for me, I want that couple extra inches of wiggle room just in case. Al in CT
I am very sorry. This is one of my biggest fears when I work on my cars. I try to be super attentive to it. I always use jack stands. "Oh I'm just gonna check this, take me 2 minutes" I don't care. I'll put the extra time and use jack stands. I also throw some spare tires under there as well for good measure. My driveway is at about a 20-25 degree angle and it's ALWAYS on my mind while I'm under there.
That's horrible. We've all done it at some point unfortunately in our youth. And when we should know better when we're in a hurry. Thanks for the reminder to stay safe first and foremost.
Add my condolences to the rest. You can never be too safe when working under a car, unless you can lift a couple tons. It happens fast. I pulled a 46 Dodge PU off the stands once while wrestling a torsion bar into place. I had the floor out and it kind of collapsed around me, but it took me about ten minutes to free myself because of the position I was in. Always spooked me after that to work under a car without someone else around. Again, sorry for you loss, and I hope others heed the warning.
My condolences on your loss. Let it be a lesson to all who try to do things the unsafe way. Take the time to block the back tires, jack it up safely and get those stands under a safe spot that will support the car. Also as a rule of thumb go ahead and give the car a good solid nudge or two to make sure it's solid.
Sorry for your loss. When I was in my stupider... I mean "developing" days I had a '71 Triumph TR6... There wasn't a good jack point on that whole damned car. As I was crawling under it the jack slipped off the frame and crushed the driver's side rocker. Hello wake up call. That car was lowered and only sat 3-4" off the ground. I'm 210 pounds. You do the math. The best thing i've found is to put jack stands under whatever i'm working on, and put a couple of junk rims under the lowest (sturdiest) parts of the car, such as the rear diff or the front axle. My german shepherd "Ranger", since he was a puppy, still lays under the truck or car with me while i'm working on it... he just stares at me. I think he thinks i'm dead or hurt or something lol. So I keep jackstands under there for him too lol...
I am sorry to hear about your loss. May he RIP. I am thankful that my Dad taught me to work safely when I was young. I have passed the same message along to my boys. Your message really gives me a chill because my youngest is 17 and is really into cars (he has a '70 Mustang) - I would be devastated if I lost him.
Sorry for your loss man I know thats tough..When we are young and ignorant we do dumb things.I remember being under an old Chevelle that a buddy of mine had on a bumper jack kicking on headers trying to get them in.Thank God we didn't get killed.Always have safety in mine.
Here's one I did from way insaner times. It was winter and had just dumped around 30" of snow on us. On a real cold night, the starter went on my '64 Ford and I had to change it but had nowhere to work. The garage was 100' back and snowed in. The shop at work was closed due to the blizzard (of '78). I got the car push started, drove it up on a snow bank. Dug out enough snow to do the starter, laid down on some cardboard and swapped it out. The whole deal took maybe all of 10 minutes. I figured since it was around 15 F out there I'd be safe. Looking back, I was 23 years old and probably nuts and wouldn't recommend doing it and I'd kill my kids for even thinking about it. Bob
Sorry to hear about your friend. I've been pounding it into my sons head for the last couple of years to try and push the car off the jack stands before you ever go under it. And he's only 9.
sorry man, i like railroad ties i cut an 8 footer into three pieces thy will hold up a 10 ton bus i own jack stands i still like for holding on the rear axel cause its round and what not
Sorry for your loss. I was luckier though, 20 years ago I had a 69 chevy truck , changing the rear end out, had the truck supported with cinder blocks by the rear frame rails. I was under it and heard the blocks spalling and cracking, very slight noise, but I snapped and rolled out from under the truck just as it slammed to the ground and the rear fender area caught the side of my arm and rashed it on its way down. From that day forward, I use heavy jackstands and leave the hyd. jack under it too. RIP
sorry to hear about your loss.hope this message gets through to people im guilty myself in my younger days of just using a jack. now i wouldnt think about getting under a car without stands under it may your mate rest in peace.
I always use jack stands and leave the floor jack in place as a secondary precaution. Or I kick a wheel under the car... I've had a few VW's fall/roll forward from not chocking the wheels. It only takes a second and that's where most of the problems come from...
Shop rule #1; You have to ask them if they are alright before you start laughing. Reminds me when I pulled my 40 Ford coupe down on my body,, 1956, skipped school to change the trans, jacked the 40 up on rear bumper with two bumper jacks, crawled under to kick the rearend forward into the u joint. As I grabbed the rear bumper to pull myself back out, the 40 moved forward and dropped pinning me to the rock driveway. I was there about 4 hours before my Dad showed up from work,, My Dad was scarred that I was hurt bad but I insisted that I was alright. He then laughed and said he should just leave me there till I realized how big a fool I was for not using the crib blocks he made as stands. I begged him to get me out from under the car. To this day, I will not get under a car without supports of some type in place. You can't be overly careful.
Man, that's probably the #1 safety mistake made working on vehicles. Happened to me about 40 years ago. I lived to tell about it. My significant other's husband wasn't so lucky, or young. He went to change the starter, in Dec., on a bumper jack. He left a widow w/2 kids to raise. He was 41, so it's not just young 'uns. 20 years later, she watches me like a hawk when I'm under a car.........
Jack knew what he was doing when he invented those stands . I'll bet most of us have fudged at times because we were in a rush or no stands were conveniently located . This is a good reminder to us all and a very unfortunate one .
Way too young! 30 years ago, I cut my left ring finger completely off and severed the left middle finger when I was in the process of putting jackstands under the front of a Dodge Dart, of all things. I had the bumper jack lifting the car up but is let loose (think banana) as I was putting a jack stand under the frame. Unfortunately, my 3 middle fingers were on the top of the jack stand as the bumper jack let go. Doc was able to attach everything back and most everything function normaly. To this day I feel luck that I wasn't under the car with only a bumper jack. Losing a friend at that young age is a reality check. My condolenses.
Definately too young!!! When I was in highschool, one of my close friends lost his dad the same way. He was working under the old stationwagon, when the jack slipped. His family came home from the grocer to find him in the garage. Sad stuff indeed.
Blue In answer to your question,,,,,,,, What are cinder blocks ,They are like cement blocks used in wall construction. They work very well cemented together like there supposed to be. But under a car they do not belong. Also my sympathy at the loss of a friend. Like everyone else before me way to young!!!!!!!! Take time to be safe guys. the car is not going anywhere till you fix it right anyways.
Condolences. We need to be reminded. Thanks. Being safe is a never ending endeavor. Last week one of my friends made fun of my fire extinguisher mounted beside the E-Brake handle. Tonight on another thread, somebody said he didn't even have an E-brake. When he parks, does he use wheel chocks instead? I hope he doesn't give his grandkids rides........ My wife insists I have my cell phone in my pocket when working alone. Well, the technology is available, so why not use it? When I'm welding I do this; Carry the lawn mower gas can outside and around the corner. Yes, sombody else said it here, I use ramps instead of jack stands if I can do the job with the wheels on. Tomorrow morning I'm going to do a safety inspection around the garage.
That is a terrible loss... my condolences. I threw away all my 2 ton jack stands away last summer and replaced them with four 6 ton and two 12 ton units... can't be too safe, ever.
Do you mean you put the cut RR ties under the tires?!! If that's the case put wheel stops on each end so the car can not roll off. I was under my '40 putting new rear springs on it last summer. Most of the time the car was on jack stands. I put 5" thick blocks of wood under each wheel to set the pinion angle. I pulled the drivshaft, like a dumbass, and the car rolled off the blocks as I was getting out. It pinned my chest under the running board with my head smashed between the frame and the creeper. I was alone, but lucky I left the jack close enough I could reach it with my foot. Neck hurt a long time after that. Close call!!! After that I screwed stops on each end of the blocks. Jeff
Yeah, although I think the Corvair was a pos, it really wasn't the car's fault that it fell. I think this has been a really great thread, as it shows us how common and prevalent a problem being under a car w/o safety devices is. I'm 62, been around cars all my life and was surprised. Be careful out there, guys. (gals too).......
The Jalopy Journal
