One extra safety precaution I sometimes take (depending on how much
"thrashing" I plan on doing beneath the car) is to stack a couple of
wheels w/tires under the car. Even if the car somehow falls off of the
stands, those wheels & tires will keep the thing from crushing me.
One other thing I'm always very careful about is making absolutely
certain that the floor is free of dirt/debris, which could prevent the
wheels of my floor jack from rolling, as I lower the car onto the
stands. This is necessary due to the arc which the jack arm has to
follow as it pivots from it's base on the jack frame. If it (the jack)
can't roll a few inches, it's very difficult to insure the "square"
placement of the load on the jack stand. If that load is off-center, on
the jack stands, it's much easier to upset things.
Also, I never use ramps (in combination with jack stands). Period.
When one end of the car has little to no resistance to rolling, those
jack stands become very marginal in the resistance they offer to
lateral/longitudinal movement. Anytime I'm working under one end of the
car, on jack stands, with the other end's wheels on the floor, I make
damn sure to block those wheels in both directions.
One final caution: If you find that you need to apply massive leverage,
from beneath the car, to get the job done; it may be time to take a
break and re-think your options for accomplishing that particular task.
When (relatively) massive force is used on a car up on jack stands, bad,
scary things can happen VERY rapidly. I'm in the "re-thinking options"
phase at this very moment, for the removal of the bolts from the rear
bumper mount castings, on my MGB-GT restoration. Thought I might be
able to shake/vibrate/cajole them loose (got them loose from the frame
rails easily enough), but, it looks like I'll need to bring the "fire
wrench" over from the other building. But, before I do, I'm going to
allow the Gibbs penetrant to work for another few days. Cut 'em off?
Not if I can help it. The OE fasteners on our cars are of far better
quality than what's available to us today.
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-spridgets@Autox.Team.Net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@Autox.Team.Net] On Behalf Of Brad Fornal
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 8:33 AM
To: Adrian Jones
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Jack stands or ramps? Surprise me.
When putting the 1098 out of the burned car into our blue 65 Sprite, I
had it up on ramps in the front, and stands under the rear axle.
Stereo blaring in the garage, while I am out in the drive, with the
cherry picker setting the drivetrain in place. It is almost lined up,
but the tranny mount won't quite go over the cross member, so under
the car I go. I see that the unit is hanging slightly off kilter, so I
proceed to twist on the transmission, in an effort to get it to go
into the tunnel. Quicker than you know it, everything has fallen, and
is an inch from my ribcage (suffocation area). I still don't know how
the car fell off the stands AND the ramps. Well, it didn't "fall" off
the ramps. One ramp on the left side was leaning, holding the wheel by
about a 1/4" on the tread. I had time to see all this, as the blaring
stereo, kept hollering for help impossible. After about 15 minutes,
there was a lull in the concert I was listening to, so that Martha
heard me and came out to see what I was so pissed about. Needless to
say, I hollered more loudly, because she kicked the leaning ramp, as
she was walking around the car assessing the situation.
It is always good to have someone out there with you, even if they are
just there to drink your beer.............
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