FIL dropped car off of temp jack

[Number_35]

i can't say for sure as it fell right before I got there. But all signs point to uneven surface. The ground was level enough, but the asphalt badly broken and heaved in places where the car was. My best guess is that the jack wasn't sitting flat and it fell out away from the vehicle, judging by the way the jack was bent at the top (which happened because of the fall, not the cause of it). Definitely not a jack failure.

It's possible the jack was put a little too far to the rear, the correct point is far up front on the pinch weld indicated by two cutouts, most people just pick a random spot that looks "good enough", which would likely be back too far on this vehicle.

I keep a section of 2×10, about 18" long, in the van to set the jack on should we ever have to change a tire. Besides stability, It helps to give the jack that 1-1/2" head start.

Over a two or three year period, 2014 - c. 2016, my wife called me at work three times with flats.

Once she hit a bad pothole and blew both a rear tire and the shock, and twice she hit the curb and damaged the sidewall. No problem getting her going again.

No problems since then - it was just a bad run where we had a lot of stressful stuff going on, and she was probably distracted.

Her dad was long past doing that sort of thing by then, but I think she always would have called me first, even 25 years before that.

 

[dlundblad]

Am I the only one disturbed by the wife calling her dad after calling OP? (That’s the way it seems to me at least.)

I love me some BITOG Judge Judy.

 

[wpod]

\I would be more accurate for me to give medical or piloting a fighter jet which I know zero about over personal relationship stuff.

 

[john_pifer]

Or you just add the $12/car/year roadside assistance thru insurance and someone changes it. Changing tire is not always easy especially if hub is rusted to rim or a heavy tire on an SUV.

Unfortunately, you can’t always count on roadside assistance to take care of a problem, as my wife and I discovered a while back.

 

[ls1mike]

Unfortunately, you can’t always count on roadside assistance to take care of a problem, as my wife and I discovered a while back.

I agree. While not a car I have roadside and towing on my trailer. I lost a bearing once and they pretty much told me tough. We can't get anyone out there to fix it for days and we are not towing. Thanks goodness I could do the wheel bearing on the side of the road.

 

[Turbo Actual]

I’ve had a jack fall over while supporting my first car. It was a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder. It landed on its right rear suspension knuckle. I ran away and cringed at the sound. Jacked it back up and all was fine. I had 2 jacks and that were somewhat close together on the rear of the frame. They tipped, and the rest is history. I was not under the vehicle at the time thank goodness.

 

[SeaJay]

Get her a AAA card and have her wait for them to come and change is the safest advice. You will not always be 5 minutes away.

 

[LouC]

Had something similar happen with my relatives (through marriage) years ago, it seems that someone decided to use his daughter's car to jumpstart his, reversed the cables, resulted in a melted battery cable, several blown fusible links and fuses in the daughter's car. His car was cranking over just fine, it was a Ford igniton module failure. I just looked, checked, said nothing, came back from the Toyota dealer and told them how much the parts cost. Installed the parts, sis in law very happy.
Very appreciative and we laughed about it for years later every so often....remember the time....
Key to these situations:
Say little, do what's needed....and you come out a hero.....

 

[scrowley]

I agree. While not a car I have roadside and towing on my trailer. I lost a bearing once and they pretty much told me tough. We can't get anyone out there to fix it for days and we are not towing. Thanks goodness I could do the wheel bearing on the side of the road.

Reminds me of losing a front u-joint on an E-150 van in KY going north on I-75. I crawled under and removed the driveshaft ,came out from under the van with a smirk on my face and my small son started bawling, seeing me crawl out from under his protective van with broken parts I guess.The U-joint shake loosened the rear AOD trans bushing which somehow I reseated after being towed to the motel. New ujoints and down the road next morning.