WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

Over Memorial Day weekend a tragedy occurred in my neighborhood. A 23 year old individual was doing brake work on his car when it slipped off the jacks. I don't know exactly how it was secured otherwise. He sustained massive crush injuries to his head and face and died three days later. I know at times we can be somewhat lax when working underneath a car on jacks so please be vigilant.

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

Very sad to hear Mark. Thanks for the reminder.

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

That sounds terrible, Mark...

Was the car on Jack stands or a floor jack?

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

Sad indeed. Many, many years ago I learned my lesson about working under the car...I used to work underneath occasionally with just a floor jack supporting it. I was about to do some work and jacked the car up, went to grab some tools and heard a loud crash. Car was back on the ground...a weld broke on the jack. I never again worked under a car without sturdy jack stands or other suitable support.

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MosportGreen66</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That sounds terrible, Mark...

Was the car on Jack stands or a floor jack?</div></div>

I do not know exactly how the car was secured. I was just told it slipped off the jacks

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

Thanks... Tragic story.. I know sometimes I get careless and too lazy to get the jackstands out... I put too much trust and faith in the hydraulic floor jack alone which is a very BAD HABIT....

Rich

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

I've had two cars come down off jacks in my 35 years of playing with this stuff. Fortunately I wasn't under either one and the cars did not sustain damage. I never get under a car now without jack-stands and a hydraulic jack.

Thanks for the reminder Mark. Unfortunately too often it takes a tragedy to remind us.

Phil Woj.

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

I always use the stands.. My dad was trapped under a car in the 60's. the hydrolic fluid leaked out of the jack. The car didn't fall, it put enough pressure on him that he couldn't get out. He yelled for help until a neighbor rescued him. He drilled a few things in my head, use stands, and clean and put the f#%~ing tools back in the right spot. Lol

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

I had a friend ask me years ago if I was using stands when I worked on my car.......I told him no. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img] He told me a story of when he had driven a car up on ramps then jacked the back of the car up to put jack stands under it. When he went to get them, the jack dropped, the car rolled down the ramps and through the garage door. THAT cured me of not using jack stands!!!! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/scholar.gif[/img]

I always leave the jack under the car plus jack stands. I also shake the car to make sure it's stable before getting under it.

Kurt

Re: WARNING: BE VIGILANT
 

I had a journeymen 30 years ago that was changing his clutch in his pickup, although it was on jack stands, as he grabbed the rockers to pull himself out he pulled the truck off the stands and on to his chest. He didn't survive. Probably wouldn't happen to most of us but he was 6-5 and 360 lbs. real sad. Ron...