Not a serious injury, but not nice either.... I was replacing the oil pump in an old Hillman Husky I'd souped up. I was underneath it, on my own of course, and had the sump off. I was trying to get the pump drive to mesh with the gear on the cam, and it wouldn't go, so I grabbed the fan belt with my right hand and pulled it to turn the engine slightly. OK, the crank turned alright, but my left hand was holding the oil pump up, so it was partly inside the block. The crank caught the tips of all four fingers and jammed them against the side of the block. I was stuck fast. On my back, right hand up the front of the engine, left hand trapped above my head, and to free my fingers meant turning the crankshaft and the rest of the engine backwards. I finally managed it, after about an hour of straining and cursing. I lost the nails off three fingers on my left hand, but at least the oil pump drive had gone in when the engine turned. Cheers, Glen.
had the normal gas and brake cleaner, wire wheel on an angle grinder jumped got my arm, stuff like that...not wrenching...but one time my brother was parallel parking his 58 chevy in front of a friends 52 plymouth... both cars had nice chrome, parking spot was tight so i was directing him in the back, told him to stop he didnt stop so in order to protect the chrome i stuck my leg in between the cars...probably stupid but it wasnt too bad limped for about a week... another time i was working on my car doing something and it felt like a blister on my foot, didnt think anything of it after finished working on car went out to eat and stuff still there, later that day i took my shoe off and find a wire from either a wire wheel or wire brush stuck about 1 inch into my foot! got it out, felt much better.
Okay heres a couple: 1.) Dropped a Ford 4 speed toplaoder on my face, Not much for detail it just landed there while installing by hand! = One broken nose, Ouch 2.) Hand caught between trans crossmember and frame under weight of trans! buddy thought it was too funny, me being stuck there! 3.) While trying to reach / cut a fuel line on a 68 F100, second tank,the one between the tank and the frame, Ultimate wisdom overcame me and I decided a Vietnam machete was the proper tool to use to cut the line, you gueseed it! as I leveraged off of a frame part the Machete dropped to my elbow an went deep. Off to E med center where the funny man doctor brought in all his co doctors to hear my story, I said "Damn dude just stich me up!!" he told me it was common for them to do that with dumbass accidents so they didn't call bullshit! Dave
Heres a good one. I was sharpening a drill bit on a bench grinder. Some how the bit caught and sucked into the grinder. With it went my thumb, followed by the rest of my hand. In a moment I was standing there with my hand securely lodged in the grinder. It grabbed so hard it broke the shaft in the grinder.All of the skin was gone from my thumb, as was my nail and I managed to crack the bone. The worst part was that I was standing there 4 ft from my tool box having to get over the pain, gather my composure and disassemble the grinder to get free. For a moment I was sure I would bleed out before my wife would get home. Damn that hurt.
I've been in health care for 36 years; most of that time as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, AKA an X-Ray Tech,the last 15 years doing mostly C.T. Scanning. I've seen just about everything/anything people can do to themselves or one-another. I'm pretty careful as a result of that. However, one time my younger brother had to pull a rear axle on his 55' Chevy to replace a growling bearing and could'nt get it out. I gave him 15 feet of 2" link chain, told him to bolt one end to a lug nut stud, and to "whip" the chain. He tried for over an hour without any luck, so I thought I'd give it a try. Grabbed the end of the chain, gave it a whip, and turned away from the car as I did. Well, the chain came off the lug nut stud, hit me at the base of my skull, and down I went. Only time I've ever been knocked out, and it was all of about 20 seconds. Told him I was done helping. He goes back at it for another hour or so, and one of the neighbor kids, about 6 years old, grabs the chain, gives it a tug, and the axle pops out! I still have the chain almost 40 years later; they don't wear out you know. Another time, when I used to flat tow my 56' Chevy Bracket Car to the track, my girlfriend was helping me hitch the towbar up to my 74' Nova I towed with. I'm holding up the towbar, she's backing the Nova up as I give her directions, "back, right, left", only she stabs the accelerator pedal and pins my hand between the rear bumper of the Nova and the towbar. Only broke 3 fingers! X-Rayed them myself, splinted them up, and went racing. That was back in 80'; we're married now, and she still does'nt stand in the way of this hobby of mine.
I was doing gas welding without gloves and, as I got distracted, accidentaly swept the flame across my other hand. The outer layer of the skin peeled off. Ouch. Another time, I was just cutting a little piece of sheet metal with a jigsaw and didn't bother to wear any eye protection. A piece flew into my eye and I had to go to the emergency (on a bank holiday!! bummer). I had it removed but later that evening the pain got pretty hard to bear, as if someone was rubbing sandpaper on my eye. Hahaha taught me a lesson
I've never had it too bad - my Dad was a "safety first" practitioner, so for the most part I had that attitude ingrained in my head from the start. But when I did lapse, it nearly always bit me just enough to remind me. I'm still missing a little skin on one hand where one of those baby grinders with a wire wheel got loose and kept doing its job. I don't skip wearing heavy gloves any more. Also dropped a few blobs of slag (using the torch) right down my shoe where they always seem to nestle in between my toes. I don't skip wearing boots any more. Then this weekend, I skinned my back from my neck to my asshole while making a stupid desk. Not sure what I skipped there... common sense? heh Figures it would be a non-car item that would tear me up, though!
A few years ago, I was welding up the step notch in my 55 Olds. I had it up on jack stands and was hunched over under the wheel well welding on the outside of the frame rail. I was using an old arc welder so it was putting off some pretty good slag. Well, in the middle of a bead, one of those red hot little slag balls, hit the floor, rolled straight between my spread legs, burnt though my coveralls, my jeans, my boxer shorts, and nailed my right on the HOLE. Didn't even singe a cheek, it went straight for the money shot. I instantly couldn't breath, dropped the welding lead, just about kicked my car off the jack stands, and rolled around on the floor for a bit screaming like a little girl. The best part was that my brother was standing there and seemed very concerned until I told him what the problem was. Then he just about pissed his pants laughing at me. Needless to say, I sit on a 2x4 when welding on the floor now.
My nephew has several cars that always need wrenching on and his ol' Uncle gets volunteered to do the work. (Can any one here relate?) So my wife & I stop by to install a repaired rad that I picked up. I'm laying under his '67 Chevelle with my legs sticking out of the front. Every time I'm on that driveway - a certain hillbilly neighbour wanders over to tell me about all the cars he used to have back in the day. (Can any one here relate?) My wife sees him coming and takes off to pretend to look at the flowers. The hillbilly wants to talk to me so he SITS ON THE FENDER! All I see is the frame coming down and cracking me on the forehead with my skull already on the cement and my wife watched my knees smash into the bumper! The stupid part is he didn't see a problem with what he did
Dec. '97 I owned a '71 monte carlo, had a buddy help me and pops install the new motor and trans but his cherry picker wasn't strong enuf to get them both in together, so we split them apart long story short we set the motor in on the mounts and the hydrolic cylinder failed and the motor fell into the hole behind the crossmember like an idiot I had my fingers in the holes on the flexplate when we were lining it up. took the right index finger off at the first joint, middle finger peeled the skin off to the bone at the center joint . 36 stiches, 2 surgeries, eight months of braces I have both fingers and they still work. Lesson learned Brian
30 years ago, i worked in an old gas station in ny...after i pulled a car in on the drive-up lift, i got out and shut the 10' overhead door - the top wooden panel came off the roller track and swung down - the top edge caught the top of my head - one concussion, lots of blood, and 26 stitches later, i was back in business - a bit wobbly, but back just the same....scarry!!!!
While working on an old Pontiac, I took a starter to the forehead while laying on a gravel driveway. White flashes for a minute or two, a big bruise over my eye and gravel bites to the back of my head. I call myself lucky that that was as bad as it got.
Broke a piece of bone off my elbow falling off a creeper. Old wooden style, put my weight on one elbow to get up and the creeper shot out leaving me to land on the concrete with my elbow. Must have fallen all of 3".
Two stories here. I grew up in a body shop, and my uncle was a painter for my dad, at his shop. So my uncle is putting a builder he bought on the frame rack to straighten it out. He has one hand, all four fingers, in between the rocker and the clamp, on the backside. With his right hand, zipped one of the bolts down with an impact! Responding to his screams, My dad and I show up, and had to laugh a little before picking up the impact (thrown 3 feet away) to get his little paw out! Nothing broken, but, I will be damned if those weren't the flattest fingers I ever saw! You could pick locks with 'em! Personally, I have either been smart or lucky. The worst though was a burn while learning to do lead work. I would rather be cut than burnt anyday! I was following a skilled metal mans lead (Dutch), so since he wasn't wearing gloves, neither was I. It took half a second to pass the torch from my second to third knuckle on my thumb,right hand. Easy to do when you are focused on getting lead on a panel! I went home for the rest of the day! Ouch!
is it wrong that i am laughing so hard that i have tears in my eyes? At least though i have done some of this to myself. the only one that i havent seen is i was just walking through the shop took a shortcut under a car that was one the two post lift. next thing i know i am flat on my back wondering what the hell happened.... apparently i ran into the rack arm so hard that i knocked myself out!
I was swap`n the 2 speed out of my `57 Chevy wagon for a 350 one day while I home on leave. I`m think`n no big deal it`s just me and I have done tranny swaps before. My technique was to work the tranny loose and set it on my chest then onto the ground. Well I like to think that I`m a preety strong kid because I have done this a few times before right? WRONG! Man that ol` 2 speed nearly caved in my chest. My dad was laughin so hard beacuse all he could hear when he walked into the garage was "GET IT OFF...gasp GET IT OFF...gasp" When I crawled out from underneath the car my face was bright red from near death and embarassment because he had warned me that the it was gonna be heavy. I should have listened...
Was helping a buddy of mine change the front springs on his 64 Falcon and the coil spring cmae out and smaked me in the forehead leaving a nice huge lump.and i nearly snapped my ankle trying to pull the rear outta my 73 AMC Javelin.It came off the jack and pinned my ankle and luckily it only bruised pretty bad.
Not that these are too bad..but. 2nd and 3rd degree burns to my left hand..(fuckin fire is bad) and complete loss of the bottom side of my right hands pinky finger..owch! and a nice scar on the back of my head somewhere hidden by hair..or whats left of it. other than that ive tried to be as safe as possible, but shit happens.
I was working on a 48 Pontiac for a guy, fixing the wire harness, walked around the back of the car to see if the tail lights were working and walked into the corner of the trunk lid. closed my eyes, swore sat on the floor for a minute, got up opened my eyes and could only see out of the right one, too much blood running out of the 1 inch long 1/4 inch wide gash in my head. walked around the garage looking for a semi-clean rag... the blood trail looked like the dotted lines following the kids around on a family circus comic
After wrenching for over 30 years, with plenty of busted knuckles - I finally got bit by the grinder today. The cut-off wheel passed through my glove and into my finger like a hot knife through butter. 20% tendon cut (thankfully) and four stitches. Shedding blood is not what I wanted to do, but I feel more deserving of my hot rod now.
Old thread.. but what the hell. I was working under the dash of an old car, reached up to grab the dash to reposition myself. Something fell into my hand, I thought it was a socket or something. Wrong... it was the cigarette lighter which was pushed IN before it came out. I don't know if I felt the pain first, or was award of that flesh-burning smell. I swear it smelled like driving past Burger King...
July 3, 1990 I had wrecked my racecar the week before and was welding on the new front end/clip and radiator support using an old school stick welder. Just finished welding up the bay bars to the radiator support. I was standing on the frame horns (No fenders on the car yet) and leaned over to weld one of the bay bars to the firewall. A wasp stung me in the back of the leg and my knee buckled. I was about to fall onto about a 6" long weld that was still cherry red from heat. I knew it was going to hit my stomach, but it was also the only place I could grab to push myself off. So I grabbed it to keep from burning my stomach. 3rd degree burns on my left hand. Didn't have insurance so I put ointment on it and soaked it in ice water. Had to keep it on ice for almost a week and it didn't stop peeling until thanksgiving weekend 4 1/2 months later. owie.
I was installing new exhaust manifold gaskets and heat shields on a 390 Ford truck motor when the wrench slipped and I sliced my index finger on my left hand half way through the tendon. Got some stiches through the finger and tendon. Ouch!! Always ask yourself what is my hand going to hit when, not if but when the wrench slips and use the open palm method when pushing hard.
Ha way back in 1968 was installing the chrome wheel well trim in a Plymouth that came in the trunk and had to be installed as part of new car prep. Was squatting down by the front fender and screwing the philips screw upward to attach the stupid thing when the screwdriver slipped and went right into my eye. Lucky thing it just scratched the cornea a bit but it itched like crazy when healing and the doc said DO NOT scratch it. About drove me crazy for two weeks.
was a paramedic for near 20 years Guy helping stalled school bus, his truck rolled away, he tried to catch it, fell out, it rolled over him, killed him. Guy working on a car somehow it got in gear mashed him against a brick wall, killed him. Guy under a pickup, jack failed, killed him. Elderly man electrocuted and I mean fried,hooking up a battery charger. The battery exploded but that was the least of his worries. Big multi manufacturer/utility investigation on that one, we never found out why. Guy removing radiator cap, 2nd&3rd degree burns, skin was slothing off. Car running in basement, killed whole family, not mine but local. Guy changing tire on interstate median, both hands pinned when jack failed, not noticed by passers by until he was unconscious. A 18 y/o on his first week on the job was helping align the hinge pin on a big job box on the back of a big truck when a worker on the other side hit the pin with a sledge, sending it through the hinge, his right eye and out the back of his head, killing him. A fellow washing and detailing his truck one Saturday morning,had the doors open, his two year old son found the Glock .40 he kept under the seat...
The Jalopy Journal
