Be careful under those cars

[Brybo86]

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20211004/palatine-man-killed-while-working-underneath-car

I haven't been injured working on my cars but it's easy to get careless while trying to be quick doing routine maintenance.

I keep thinking this could be me if I'm careless.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Similar thing happened a few blocks from my last house. One of my colleagues who lived nearby thought it odd to see a car was up on ramps with the engine running and somebody underneath when he was out for a walk. Coming back from his walk he saw the ambulance there with paramedics trying to get him out after the car rolled off the ramps.

 

[ripcord]

Be careful for sure.

When I was kid (probably 12 or 13) I heard my neighbor screaming for help. Turned out his Ford Fairmont had fallen on his shin. Unfortunately for him he had to wait for me to run home and lug my dad's floor jack a couple hundred yards.

Also a cousin of mine came home to find her husband crushed under a farm truck.

 

[AutoMechanic]

That’s a shame. I am assuming he wasn’t using Jack stands. Even those aren’t full proof but they will help some. I have only had a car fall off a Jack once and that was when I was 12 working with my brother in laws scissor Jack because that’s all we had at the time. Luckily we were next to it and not underneath of it. He kept cranking it up and it just fell.

 

[Rand]

if I'm using a jack and I dont feel safe I throw the wheel under the car but I only use a jack(jack only) if im working on something that doesnt require me to be under the car such as brakes.

 

[ripcord]

Also jack stands are only good on level concrete. I've seen one tip when one corner sink into soft asphalt. If you have an asphalt driveway, be sure to at least put some thick plywood pads under them.

 

[Infomercial]

I spent a few hours today under there adjusting the rear suspension. No jacks or stands with 22" wheels.

 

[Kestas]

Ever since I started wrenching 45 years ago I've always used short sections of log to rest the car on, with perhaps another one thrown under the car to keep me company. I also chock the wheels.

 

[blupupher]

Similar to others. I use some sturdy old metal ramps (on concrete), and still put a jack stand under the vehicle. If using a jack, jack stands are used and tire is put under vehicle as well just in case.

Also curious question, when I use a jack on a single side of the vehicle, I put the jack stand under the vehicle, then release the jack so all the weight is on the stand, but then jack up the jack till it is just touching the jack point.
Anyone else do this?

 

[Brybo86]

Similar to others. I use some sturdy old metal ramps (on concrete), and still put a jack stand under the vehicle. If using a jack, jack stands are used and tire is put under vehicle as well just in case.

Also curious question, when I use a jack on a single side of the vehicle, I put the jack stand under the vehicle, then release the jack so all the weight is on the stand, but then jack up the jack till it is just touching the jack point.
Anyone else do this?

Yes, I always leave a little pressure on the jack after the jack stand gets loaded.

 

[Addicted2jeepz]

curious question, when I use a jack on a single side of the vehicle, I put the jack stand under the vehicle, then release the jack so all the weight is on the stand, but then jack up the jack till it is just touching the jack point.
Anyone else do this?

That's exactly what I do. Don't know if it's necessarily the right thing to do, but it seems to me that this way you're holding with both things, and if the car did fall you want it to have no room to slam harder and knock the stand over...

 

[wdn]

I roll it up on Rhino ramps, set the emergency brake and chock the rear wheels. If I need to work on the rear I jack it up and use jack stands, or back the car onto the Rhino ramps and chock the front wheels. Please educate me if there is an even safer way.

 

[zray1]

Even if the entire vehicle doesn’t fall, working under a car can be deadly.

A welder pal of mine in Austin Texas lost his friend from an under car accident. He was removing a Ford Toploader 4 speed manual transmission when the 100 lb transmission slipped out of his hands and fell only a few inches striking him in the head.

It knocked him unconscious and within minutes he had bled to death.


It’s just common sense to make sure someone knows you are going under the car, and ask them to check on you often.


Z

 

[wings&wheels]

I always put an old rim with tire under the vehicle in addition to stands. I try to keep it close to where I will be under the vehicle with an eye towards any tipping.

Worse I heard was a guy in the city I grew up in being killed by working under a car with an incandescent work light somehow resulting in a fuel fire that took out the attached garage he was in.