Yikes! Safety first is an understatement!

[thethinginthewoods]

I was digging through some old pics I found on my cell and found these. I was rebuilding my front end after repairing the infamous crack in the "frame" at the steering box after NAXJA's NWFest and one of the legs on a jackstand gave out. I was in such a hurry to complete one of the phases of putting it back together and I didn't brace it with stone blocks or whatever.

Luckily I was on the passenger side under the fender and dove out of the way as soon as it started to tip. Surprisingly there was no damage, not even a scratch on the axle! Frame is straight, the only thing I had to fix was the rotor dust sheilds that bent in a little bit. Just goes to show, never take safety for granted, not even when in a hurry!

 

[Antichrist]

... I didn't brace it with stone blocks or whatever.

?huh?

 

[njjeepthing]

?huh?

I am guessing he meant, chock the wheels with cinder blocks???

 

[thethinginthewoods]

I am guessing he meant, chock the wheels with cinder blocks???

Yes, I should've supported the frame with cinder blocks or something solid that wouldn't have tipped. Chocking the wheels would've helped a little too. Two of the jack-stands I was using to support the frame were of poor design and one of the welds that held the bracing material between the legs on one broke, causing it to fan out. Needless to say, I got rid of them pronto.

 

[silvElise]

Looks like it was a close glad you walked away ok and the rig had little damage

 

[Antichrist]

Cinder blocks are extremely unsafe to use to support a vehicle. Worse than using crappy jack stands.

 

[Skylinerider]

Cinder blocks are extremely unsafe to use to support a vehicle. Worse than using crappy jack stands.

X2 Never use cinderblocks to support a vehicle. They can and will crumble.

 

[ccarm]

Just pay upfront for a good set of jackstands, and chocks. The little bits that we can save here are not worth the expense of your life, or one or more of your limbs. In my book it's a no brainer--just buy quality parts. Glad that you're okay.

 

[4xdog]

Any pix of the collapsed jackstand?

 

[thethinginthewoods]

Cinder blocks are extremely unsafe to use to support a vehicle. Worse than using crappy jack stands.

I normally use solid landscaping stones that i borrow out of the yard, so no worries there!

Any pix of the collapsed jackstand?

No, but you can see they base of one in the last photo, still holding up part of the frame. I think they were custom made by my grandpa who was a welder & machinist during the war. I'd say they were pretty good for holding up to 60+ years of use on full-size rigs, but time caught up with them. It was all I had at the time. They looked like they were made out of a heavy gauge pipe that was cut and fanned out to form legs, then bracing was added between each of the three legs. Since they had a triangular base, when one of the welds broke, a leg went flat and you get the rest...

 

[Funkicidal]

On a positive note...

Nice flex in the rear there.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

Last spring I was in a hurry to get out to the driveway and swap the winters on the Durango to the summers.
I rolled all the tires out to the 4 corners of the vehicle, threw the little jack under the frame and started jacking it up - fairly quickly and without much regard.
Well, I got about 3/4 of the way up with the rear just slightly off the ground and the whole truck rolled forward.
I didn't have my legs under it or anything, so I was fine.
My little trolley jack however, not so much...
The frame of it was bent pretty badly and I couldn't get the lifting pad to recess all the way down. I thought about how I could bend it back, and still use it, then figured for 50 bucks it wasn't risk trying to use a jack that had been compromised.

I've worked in garages in the past, I REALLY should have known better and chocked the wheels properly.

 

[96discoXD]

My routine is to use some really beefy jack stands and I will usually leave the jack in place as a backup and if I'm removing wheels/tires I will place them under the frame of the vehicle as close as possible to where I'm working. I like lots of reduncancies when I'm working under a vehicle. I also make it a point to shove and shake the vehicle pretty vigorously before crawling underneath just to make sure it's on the stands in a stable manner. I've heard too many stories of people being killed or permanently disabled by being in a hurry and or being too cavalier about safety.

 

[kjp1969]

I've never dropped a car, but remember a story by the columnist Peter Egan about a guy he worked who was under an MG on stands (drive wheels on the ground) when he accidentally bridged the starter solenoid with a tool- the starter motor caused the car to lurch off the stands- one of the stands fell sideways under the car and stopped it from squishing his melon.:Wow1:

I always think about that one when I'm under a car.

Homemade jackstands, eh? I always, always put two or three supports under there when I work under a car. Right now my Bronco is up on two stands under the frame, two under the trailer hitch, and the two rear tires/wheels are under there too.

 

[thethinginthewoods]

Reminds me of this unfortunate fellow: (fast forward to :51)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjw2gQEBSc0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjw2gQEBSc0[/ame]