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Learned a less the hard way Saturday

1K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  #1fordlover 
#1 ·
First, backstory: Last fall, being stupid in my car I curbed it and rashed the hell out of two of my wheels (and bent the lips) so I bought two "new" (used) wheels to replace them. I also got tires and had to get them mounted, and I wanted to get it done at Wal-Mart...AND, since they are a non-stock size I had to take two wheels off my car and then take those in along with the tires and two bare wheels.

So, I jacked the car up Friday evening and decided I'd take the wheels off the back since I was planning to also put some polyurethane bushings on the rear swaybar, and I wanted to go ahead and have everything loaded up for the morning.

Saturday morning we head up to wally world, get the tires mounted, do some shopping etc. Come home a couple hours later, I pull around back and this is the sight I'm greeted with:


Yep...my car FELL OFF THE FLIPPING JACK STANDS!
Also I think my Spohn relocation brackets are the only thing that saved the underside of my car, because those hit the ground and kept anything else from making contact. Thank God, because otherwise I'm pretty sure it would have been sitting on the gas tank.

From the looks of it...as it warmed up outside, the jackstands started to sink into the asphalt slightly, and because I was stupid enough to NOT block the front wheels, this combined to allow the jackstand to tip and finally just allow the car to fall off, and it slid about 3 feet on the brackets. Geesh. I just feel very fortunate that 1. there wasn't more damage and 2. I wasn't under the car!
 
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#2 ·
#2... Had a guy in town here who was well known and respected by the community die that way.. he was working on his son's car and no one else was home (changing oil I believe). The car came off the jack stands and crushed him underneath. They found him that way. Very sad...

I hate jack stands, dont' trust them and only use them when I have to.

But yes, ALWAYS chock the other set of wheels and I always leave my floor jack under the car somewhere supporting some weight with the jack stands just in case.

On a related note to the hot asphalt thing,

I used to have a Harley several years ago and made the mistake of parking it on a hot asphalt parking lot all day while I was at work.. I came out and the kick stand had sunk a good 2-3 inches into the asphalt! Luckily the bike hadn't fallen, but it wasn't very far from it.

At our local Auto-X events, they make everyone put plywood down under the floor jacks/jack stands if you're going to be jacking up the car to keep it from digging into the pavement. You could try that next time too.

Good luck with that and hope everything is OK under there.:bigthumbsup:bigthumbsup

-HD
 
G
#5 ·
I used to have a Harley several years ago and made the mistake of parking it on a hot asphalt parking lot all day while I was at work.. I came out and the kick stand had sunk a good 2-3 inches into the asphalt! Luckily the bike hadn't fallen, but it wasn't very far from it.
Been there...but I ended up having to pick my ZX-7 up off the asphalt. From there on out I kept a 4"X4" 1/4" think sheet of aluminum in my leathers!

Some things it only takes once and you either learn and never repeat or you just don't ever get a chance to repeat.
 
#4 ·
Holy cr@p dude! You might just be lucky to be alive! :eek:

How are you going to jack it back up again? What's the plan? :confused:
 
#8 ·
How are you going to jack it back up again? What's the plan? :confused:
I had to take the rear swaybar off, then slip my little dinky jack under the axle and raise it just enough to get my big jack under the diff, then raised it up. Not too fun.

I think I'm gonna weld some steel strip across the bottom of the jackstands to increase their surface area. I've had problems with these jackstands sinking into the asphalt before.
 
#7 ·
Ugh, sorry that happened. But, live and learn, right?! My pops (god rest his soul) would have put a nice think piece of plywood underneath the jacks.

I also never use jacks if I can avoid it. Last year or so, a man local to this area also died from his jacks failing while he was underneath. Sad. His wife came home to find him dead underneath. :(
 
#9 ·
*gasp* I've been under my car while using jacks in the past, doing oil changes and just looking around underneath for anything that may be wet or shiny or drooping, etc. I never gave any thought about the jacks slipping like they did with you. I think I will leave the underneath servicing to the local garage from now on. That was a close call for you!
 
#11 ·
Yea glad you wer'nt under it, that's all that matters. There was also a local Farmer that was loved dearly that had his Tractor fall on him when it slipped off the jack stands and he died from it in the corn field next to my house. And My brother in law has a friend who had the same thing happen and he's paralized and in a wheel chair for life.
ALWAYS BLOCK UP YOUR CAR, NEVER TRUST JACK STANDS!
 
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