UNREASONABLE: I fear getting under a car on a lift, or even on jack stands.

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It's not entirely irrational.

My BMW slipped off a "roll under jack" that was lifting a jack point. And a patient pulled out the drive shaft of a half ton truck on ramps, while he was under it, that then rolled off and crushed him a bit. He wasn't injured very much but it could have been bad.

So I use multiple supports. I jack up a vehicle and then put a wheel under it before I trust the jack. And I leave jack stands on the lowest point possible (where it can't go any lower, unless something breaks). And I put a chock behind a wheel as back up to the emergency brake and the vehicle being in gear.
 
Getting under a lifted vehicle is inherently dangerous. If it makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. I had a car roll forward off ramps when I was 16 and crash down on the ramps and me. The ramps held up, and I had only minor injuries. I haven't used a ramp since. I am super careful getting under a car on stands ( or a lift or anything else), and I will admit to not being 100% comfortable doing it.
 
Multiple supports are the key. Here is the front of a Chevy pickup on two jack stands with a 3 ton jack between them in the hydraulically locked position. See if you can find some large blocks of wood ( say 8 x 8 inches) to stack underneath as well. Good luck.

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I enjoyed working under my 4x4 Tacoma because no jack was needed for routine maintenance.
 
supton said:
Gotta know your limits. Personally I don't do roofs anymore. I don't care if they are flat.

I will climb up one story on a ladder, but I think i'm done doing two stories, thank you very much. Don't care if anyone laughs at me.
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I couldn't imagine falling off a ladder until it happened to me. I was on a step ladder and pretty high up, pruning a tree. Suddenly the whole thing went sideways (I must have leaned too far) and I ended up hanging off the tree. I was fine but the step ladder got bent a little.

Nowadays I have someone hold the ladder, or I tie it down if I'm going to be up there a while.
 
I'm still not the most comfortable with it, but I do it.

Here are my strategies:

1. If I can do it without lifting/jacking, I do it. As an example, my wife's Jeep would be easier to change the oil on if I jacked it, but I can do everything needed with it flat, so I do. Of course, brake, suspension, etc work on anything needs to be off the ground.

2. Redundancy-At a minimum, I will take a hydraulic jack and place it at a jacking point such that the saddle is touching but not bearing any weight. If the stand fails, the jack will "catch" it hopefully long enough for me to get out.

3. I'm mindful of just where my body is in relation to the car. If I can get to what I need with just an arm snaked up under the car, I'll do it. Otherwise, I'm mindful of what would fall where if it did fall. At the end of the day, this might not make a difference, but at the same time a brake backing plate slicing your chest isn't exactly the most pleasant thought.

Of course getting under a car, even on a sturdy lift, is still inherently dangerous but it's necessary sometimes if you want to do your own work.
 
ecotourist said:
I couldn't imagine falling off a ladder until it happened to me. I was on a step ladder and pretty high up, pruning a tree. Suddenly the whole thing went sideways (I must have leaned too far) and I ended up hanging off the tree. I was fine but the step ladder got bent a little.

Nowadays I have someone hold the ladder, or I tie it down if I'm going to be up there a while.
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I hate ladders...
 
Yes. Know your limits. Does something you did in an earlier life cause you now to question your risk tolerance or your ability to perform that task now. Guess what? It’s time to to re-evaluate. That’s your survival instinct kicking in. Ignore it at your own risk. I’ll bet Harrison Ford has cut back on his flying since he landed on that taxiway. Can you teach someone younger how to avoid your mistakes? Sure. But can you still do it yourself?
 
usually just do oil changes so it's ramps and jack stands , just in case
 
if youre scared, its reasonable. Use multiple forms of protection, even if it seems unecessary. Lift as few wheels as possible, use ramps if possible and even "backup" jack stands with the ramps, keep a jack in place as backup, shake the car to make sure it stable. I found the rubber caps from harbor freight on top of the posts of my jack stands to be a good buy. They add some grip to the metal on metal on the pinch welds.
 
Chalk the wheels. Use jack stands. Keep the hydraulic jack in place to back up the stands. It’ll be fine. Otherwise pay someone else.

It’s perfectly ok to not like doing things... I don’t like flying or public bathrooms. I tolerate them when I must and avoid them when I am able.
 
Miller88 said:
I have a set of the recalled HF stands but didn't quite understand the failure mode on them.
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I'm not defending HF or their jack stands (I have a set of non-recalled ones from them) but I think it relates to the center piece that the vehicle sits on. The whole piece is cast (not machined) and the "teeth" got rounder and rounder as the tooling aged. In reality, early models are fine but neither HF nor their manufacturer could determine when the wear exceeded when it was too much.
 
Yes. Timing is key. By that I mean age. I survived the DIY age. Now my standards remain high but I’m in the trusted Indy stage. “I’m bringing the car in for this and that, when will it be ready?”
 
I get quite sweaty when I have to get under the car that's supported by jacks & stands (never just jacks alone). It requires a bit more trust than I can put into components that may, or may not perform as they're designed.

This reminds me that it's time to replace everything. My plastic Rhino ramps are in great shape, but they're about 13 years old. The jack stands, which I believe I must've gotten at WalMart about the same number of years ago, don't always act right. I think they're experiencing 'tooth rounding', and don't seem to lock in place every time like they once did.

Keep in mind that just about the time you let your guard down and think "I'll be ok", you find a 4,000 lb. car sitting on your chest. It's just not worth 2 years of rehab (if you live) in exchange for the 2 minutes you save by doing it the quick way.
 
I'm not crazy about getting under vehicles either. One thing I did to ease my mind was replace my cheap 3 ton jack stands with double locking 6 ton jack stands.
 
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