JACK STAND FAILURE? Ever have one?

[67GTX440]

Using double the amount of jack stands you think you need is always cheap insurance. I remember doing my first clutch replacement and pulling the transmission lose and dropping it on my chest. My next thought was how am I going to get out from under this thing. Front wheels were on cinder blocks. I had a friend who was a VW dealership mechanic who dropped a car off a frame lift onto the car in the next bay. Another friend who was a VW dealership mechanic who blew his hand full of undercoating under the skin, undercoating a new VW.

 

[HawkRod]

But, my question would be what about the movable wheels that can bolt to the cars to make them mobile ? ? Do you still feel a bit creepy on a creeper under the car then ? Do you feel safer then the car being on jack stands ? Should you still put the jack under the car "just in case" ? ? ?

Curious - I'm about to get my car moved over to casters . . . curious about the groups thoughts on the topic . . . Thanks in advance.

I move my Corvette around the garage on the "car skates". They are basically a cradle for the tire with four casters - one at each corner. One goes under each wheel. Mine are solid and work well, but DO NOT get any ones with a welded rod that helps support the tire "cradle" section. These are stamped steel and that little spot weld at the end of each rod holds the weight of the car. Get quality USA made ones that have a thick steel cradle - these do not require any welded rod in between for support. I would get under the car with my "car skates" as they are really solid, but I would only do it on a flat surface (normally though, I am spoiled and use my lift). I also chalk the wheels with wood shims under several casters to keep the skates in place. These are only for very flat concrete - I don't think they are safe for rough surfaces or if you have to push hard on the car. Front wheels can roll off of them with too much force...

 

[Plucked Chicken]

Just ordered today a set of four 12 ton jack double locking stands. I want to be able to get up high enough and not be at the limit of the stand height.

Here are the stands in 6 ton and 12 ton models - Promo code 169800 will get you $20 off thru 11/28/13.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200305227_200305227

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330725_200330725

The stands came monday and went right under my truck holding it off the ground, over a foot from the bottom of the tires. And that's just on the 3rd notch in front, and 6th notch in back. With that much room under there I diagnosed two problems, broken tranny mount and leaky dipstick tube. Pretty sure I pulled the tranny pan when it was only the dipstick tube leaking last time. So I have to say they have already paid for themselves in making it easier to work under the rig, not just safer.

Not all that much physically larger than my 6 tons, so not that hard to move around. VERY glad I bought them.

Still time before the 28th to order a set of 4 with the discount.....

:icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:

 

[bink220]

Alot of good comments on jack stand safety, something that we did when I was still working was to place wood between the steel jack stands and the locomotive. The wood would smash down, naturally, but it also acted as a barrier between steel vs steel. I have seen locomotives slip by not using the wood, scarey.

Anyway, I use wood between my jack stands and frame rails when I'm under one of my cars. Think about it, some frame rails still have undercoating on them or even grease/oil. With that combination of greasy metal rubbing together has the potential for an accident to happen. The wood really bites in.

The wood I use is either 1x4's cut to 6 or 8 inch lengths or 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood cut to the same length. And the width of the wood blocking depends on the style of jack stands you have.

 

[tallhair]

I've done that too bink

 

[Photon440]

bink220 - same procedure for rail car jacking. We always had to have wood between the jacks and car body and block the wheels at the other end of the car.

Except for the in-ground 60 ton jacks that had rubber pads on top.

 

[HT413]

Alot of good comments on jack stand safety, something that we did when I was still working was to place wood between the steel jack stands and the locomotive. The wood would smash down, naturally, but it also acted as a barrier between steel vs steel. I have seen locomotives slip by not using the wood, scarey.

Anyway, I use wood between my jack stands and frame rails when I'm under one of my cars. Think about it, some frame rails still have undercoating on them or even grease/oil. With that combination of greasy metal rubbing together has the potential for an accident to happen. The wood really bites in.

The wood I use is either 1x4's cut to 6 or 8 inch lengths or 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood cut to the same length. And the width of the wood blocking depends on the style of jack stands you have.

That's a great idea. I've tried 2x4's and had them slip (thankfully it happened very early with the car still very low). But I like the plywood idea and would guess that some particle board sheathing would be even better because its more compressible. I just might try that.

 

[moparcanuck]

I was 14 and stupid. I had a 49 Ford V8 flathead pickup with I-beam front axle. I did all my own work. One day, I jacked the front end up with a scissor jack positioned in the middle of the I-beam and removed the two front wheels. I can't remember why. I crawled under the truck with the I beam positioned just above my chest. Then I remembered that I forgot a wrench. I crawled out to get the wrench. 5 seconds later, the truck fell. That was 50 years ago and I still get a chill down my back when I think of it.

 

[snakeyes]

some one had there eye on you that day

 

[HT413]

I was 14 and stupid. I had a 49 Ford V8 flathead pickup with I-beam front axle. I did all my own work. One day, I jacked the front end up with a scissor jack positioned in the middle of the I-beam and removed the two front wheels. I can't remember why. I crawled under the truck with the I beam positioned just above my chest. Then I remembered that I forgot a wrench. I crawled out to get the wrench. 5 seconds later, the truck fell. That was 50 years ago and I still get a chill down my back when I think of it.

That makes several of us just on this thread that got lucky / were blessed to still be here. An old buddy recently told me this - in high school he was under the car changing his oil when he had to run inside for something. When he came back out, his car was on the ground - scissor jack collapsed.

He never changed his own oil again.

 

[bink220]

Something else the members were talking about are car ramps. At times I have to use them for two cars we have because the car's set too low for my floor jack(s). And the darn ramps would scoot across the floor as soon as I started up the ramp with the front wheels. I started using pieces of plywood placed under the ramps and would extend approximately 12" out towards the incline part of the ramp. this way the front tires would stabilize or hold the plywood and then when the car started up the ramps the ramps dig into the plywood because of the weight of the car and they didn't scoot away from the front tires.

And thanks members for the reply's you gave me.

 

[daredevil]

I always have a back up plan. wheel under the tire or frame or 2 stands. I never trust a single option.

 

[Archie340]

Another tip, before getting under the car give it a firm shove (front or rear bumper depending). It should be rock steady, if you sense any movement at all correct it. This thread reminds me of an episode years ago when I jacked up the back of my father's 73 Charger SE to change out some rims. I had the back end of the car jacked up using two mopar bumper jacks on a gravel driveway. I think we were the only house on the block that didn't have blacktop. Anyway, I clearly remember the jacks starting to lean and give way. Luckily, I had a third jack handy and was able to support it till I got the car back down. It was a pretty hair raising experience even though I wasn't under the car. The last thing I wanted to do was to explain the my old man why he now has two matching crumpted quarter panels!

 

[tallhair]

Something else the members were talking about are car ramps. At times I have to use them for two cars we have because the car's set too low for my floor jack(s). And the darn ramps would scoot across the floor as soon as I started up the ramp with the front wheels. I started using pieces of plywood placed under the ramps and would extend approximately 12" out towards the incline part of the ramp. this way the front tires would stabilize or hold the plywood and then when the car started up the ramps the ramps dig into the plywood because of the weight of the car and they didn't scoot away from the front tires.

And thanks members for the reply's you gave me.

Yes they are bad about scooting on concrete ... some carpet works good also or heavy pieces of cardboard

 

[440ronnie67]

As a small business owner, I have a jack stand policy...If anyone catches you working on a truck without a jack stand you owe the whole shop lunch. So everyone at the shop (8 of us) is always on the look out for someone without proper safety equipment. Its amazing how well this works.

As for jack stand failures, we have never seen one fail.

Good thread!!!!

 

[Meep-Meep]

I had an eye opener of an episode when taking my orange 69 RR apart. Long story short, when the last bolt came out of the K member the car disappeared from view. I was lying under the front with a jack under the K and arm extended holding an impact and right as the bolt came out the K fell off the jack (expecting this, which was why I was mostly out of the way). But what I didn't expect was the Dana 60 acting as a counterweight. When I stood up and realized what I was looking at, the front end was well over my head and the rear spring shackles were touching the ground. Fortunately because they saved the rear quarters by about 1/2". And even more surprisingly the car didn't slip on the stands and come crashing down. The rear jack stands were where I normally put them - right at the front spring hanger - but I don't usually remove the K member and all that goes with.

I stood there for a bit wondering what to do and with one hand I grabbed the rad support and pulled it down onto the front stands. Problem was I had to hold it there and get a jack at the same time. I let it back up slowly, ran over and got something as a counterweight, and proceeded to move the rear stands as far to the rear as possible.

In my case this wasn't a jack stand failure but more of a jack stand placement failure. So my recommendation is to pay attention to HOW and WHERE the stands are placed for the job being done. Again, for 99.999% of my jobs the stands were fine where they were, but that .001% could have been my last job if the man upstairs wasn't looking out for me.

 

[Photon440]

Hey Meep-Meep, I'd love to see a picture of that!

 

[Meep-Meep]

I didn't get one! Too busy trying to unf**k the mess and wondering how it didn't slide off the stands.

 

[451Mopar]

I have had two issues with jack stands. The cheap 3-leg ones that are just a split tube, should never be used. I had a car slightly shift when on those and the leg totally collapsed (folded under.) Since then I have used the 4-leg welded type stands with the iron adjuster with the notches in it. These are way more stable, just make sure the adjuster is fully engaged in the notch. The vehicle I had partly fall off those was totally my fault, I had them under the frame of a truck I was scraping, and had taken the front and rear axles out of, but the ground was not level and the truck started shifting to one side when I was trying to lower it off the stands.

 

[tallhair]

I was scratching my head for the longest time trying to understand the physics of this one Meep. Then I realized the rear end was off the ground too! Man that must have been scary .. esp after you stopped and thought about it once you had everything stabilized