What's the worst you've hurt yourself working on cars?

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ripcord

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I was under a pickup truck tonight, heating the u-joint bolts with a torch as I'm lazily working on pulling the transmission and got to thinking about all the ways I've hurt myself wrenching on cars. Two biggies were the stitches I had to get when I cut my thumb with a brand new (and razor sharp) pocket knife while trying to cut a zip tie. The other was when I was swapping transmissions in my roommate's girlfriend's Thunderbird and dropped the starter on my face. It sounds hilarious now, but wow that hurt.

What's the worst injury you've had from working on cars?
 
Many years ago, (over 50 years) I was removing the differential unit from a Triumph Spitfire. As I pulled out the last bolt, the entire unit fell onto my right index finger, putting in a big gash on the palm side. I still have a visible light scar from the gash.
 
I was cleaning the engine bay in my 1969 Chevelle after I had removed the engine. I was climbing out and got my foot stuck between the core support and the grill.

I basically tripped and ended up hanging by my now broken ankle with my head in the dirt.

About 2 weeks later while still on crutches I had my wisdom teeth pulled out. On the way home We stopped at a gas station and I got out to try to get more comfortable,stop the bleeding.... Whatever I don't remember.

Got out of the car and my crutches got into some spilled oil and down I went right on the concrete in front of the pumps.
 
Installing side steps on my 1996 Z71 me and my friend were drilling the frame for the bolt holes ( this is before they mounted to the body ) both pushing on the drill for double the force with the dull drill bit ......when the bit finally went thru it took off my thumb nail all the way back in one swoop clean to the cuticle and destroyed the meat 🍖 🙃

I was so young I pulled it the rest of the way off and grabbed the paper towels and electric tape waited a few days and got a new drill bit ....... now when a bit gets dull I don't even hesitate to pitch it and think about the pain 🤣
 
Braapdaddy said:
Installing side steps on my 1996 Z71 me and my friend were drilling the frame for the bolt holes ( this is before they mounted to the body ) both pushing on the drill for double the force with the dull drill bit ......when the bit finally went thru it took off my thumb nail all the way back in one swoop clean to the cuticle and destroyed the meat 🍖 🙃

I was so young I pulled it the rest of the way off and grabbed the paper towels and electric tape waited a few days and got a new drill bit ....... now when a bit gets dull I don't even hesitate to pitch it and think about the pain 🤣
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Ugh. Turns the stomach.
 
This should be a interesting thread for certian

Now as for the worst i have seen with my own eyes but not injured by the meatsack doing the damage here goes

2003 E350 single wheel 5.4 about 150k miles body was perfect but had a overfueling issue and ran horrible had a co worker try and get it up and running one morning just for fun to see if he could move up to a " newer " van

He was convinced it had clogged cats so he cut just behind them and bashed out the cats ( I laughing told him he just cut about 2 years off his life ) Next morning he gets under there to see why it's still running like crap and was banging on the gas tank now convinced it's a fuel pump 😳...... he has his apprentice crank it while he's under there

from about 30 feet away and a row of vans I hear the loudest backfire I have ever heard .....he blew out one ear drum and cut his scalp wide open

It was one of those situations where I wanted to say something about how batshit it was but would have started a soap opera but instead it turned out to be a clown 🤡 show
 
Wow. I wasn't really thinking about how gruesome this thread could get when I started it. Maybe we should try to keep the descriptions as tame as possible. (Not referring to what you wrote, Braapdaddy).
 
ripcord said:
I was under a pickup truck tonight, heating the u-joint bolts with a torch as I'm lazily working on pulling the transmission and got to thinking about all the ways I've hurt myself wrenching on cars. Two biggies were the stitches I had to get when I cut my thumb with a brand new (and razor sharp) pocket knife while trying to cut a zip tie. The other was when I was swapping transmissions in my roommate's girlfriend's Thunderbird and dropped the starter on my face. It sounds hilarious now, but wow that hurt.

What's the worst injury you've had from working on cars?
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fell into a grease pit, hit my right side torso on the opposite edge (steel I-beam). I was standing straddled over the pit, and moving to one leg or the other as I needed to be more left or right. Once I missed the I'beam and went down.

Didn't know bruises could look so black...
 
When the first front wheel drive Citations were released in 1979 they were absolutely junk. A dozen service bulletins issued before they hit the showroom. Had a manual transaxle that wouldn’t stay in high gear. This car didn’t have 25 miles on it. I was removing the bearing races from the transaxle case when one shattered and a large piece of the race went deep into my left palm. Lodged behind the bone that connects to my thumb. The doctor advised it would be more damaging to remove it. He chose to leave it in there. It’s still in my hand. Throbbed for a month… Then it was several burns, cuts, and muscle strains but that shrapnel in my hand taught me to ALWAYS wear safety glasses. If that were to have went in my eye it would have made it to my brain… Yes, young and dumb but it taught me a valuable lesson.
 
ripcord said:
Wow. I wasn't really thinking about how gruesome this thread could get when I started it. Maybe we should try to keep the descriptions as tame as possible. (Not referring to what you wrote, Braapdaddy).
Click to expand...
It's a rough world and you weren't ready. 😁

I was getting into mechanics professionally when my career in broadcast TV was obviously stagnating, so I worked weekends at a tire store, preparing to move over there full time. Had a Dodge Dakota I was doing rear brakes on and the chrome lugnuts were swollen so they kept sticking in the sockets. The shop had its lifts all in a row, with a nine inch gap between posts. I kept slithering between the posts, sucking my gut in, to get to my tool box to get a punch to liberate these offending nuts from the socket. Well I went through but my foot didn't so it twisted my ankle and broke it three times over. Didn't really like the retail side of my hobby so I took the opportunity to resign.

Early March of this year my son was going to be coming home from school for spring break and the Camry he drives was in a snowbank off to the side of my driveway. I went out there to plug in a battery charger but slipped as I was slamming the door and got my thumb in the gap. I can attest that Toyota really gets its panel gaps spot on, and not very wide. I could feel my heart beating in my thumb the rest of the evening, it was like something out of Looney Tunes. The nail turned black like I used goth nail polish on it. Just this week it separated from the new one enough that I could rinse the black stuff out and was even able to floss it, LOL.

Had some close calls too-- folded the legs up on my engine stand so it could fit in a corner and kicked the unit while I was hunched over; leg came swooshing/ crashing down and I felt the breeze as it ripped by my ear.
 
I once barked up my finger trying to remove a hose during coolant service. 30K miles later I'm doing the same service and bark up my finger in the same spot, right over the scar!
 
Removing a power window door regulator (mid 60s Chevy Impala parts car). I unbolted the electric motor from the regulator while it was partially in the down position. It quickly expanded and cut my finger, requiring stitches. From that point forward, I only removed complete power regulators, leaving motors intact.

Almost forgot this one, had a car battery explode in my face when trying to get a clamp off the post (battery was out of vehicle). Had some facial injuries, and came close to losing an eye. Moral of story, never bang on battery post with a hammer!
 
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On my brand new 1998 F150, I removed the driveshaft due to a cracked transmission tail shaft housing. Ford gave me a new one. Of course, it was in "Park" on an inclined driveway. Once I loosened U-Joint bolt #4 the truck rolled as the driveshaft rotated around the last bolt.

Of course my arm was above the driveshaft getting smashed but I could not let go, I was hanging on for life... The truck rolled 100 feet, dragging my dumb self down the concrete. Then the crash happened. My friend's truck was parked at the end of the driveway and the entire front end of his truck was destroyed.

I was pretty beat up from that stupid mistake.
 
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