[The Boss]

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

And this thread is about faulty jack stands???? Duh!

The bottom line (as well as my point) is, you should never trust a vehicle in the air because s hit can and will happen.

The bottom line is everything is a calculated risk. Check, check & recheck your situation and then check it again. Don't be in a rush, don't take chances, spend the extra minute to implement a safety feature and don't do things alone.

I know what happened and why my truck dropped off the jack stands - hell I watched it happen! I was lucky the the back end of my truck was so far in the air that with the front on the ground I was only pinned with the creeper crushed under me. I was lucky I wasn't alone and was able to get out without anything more than some bruising & internal bleeding.

At the moment my favorite lift is my trailer with the open center - I know that's not going to drop.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

And this thread is about faulty jack stands???? Duh!

The bottom line (as well as my point) is, you should never trust a vehicle in the air because s hit can and will happen.

Doesn't change the facts.

[Greg Reid]

I spotted this one during an online, kill-some-time, photo-browse a few months ago. Turns out the cars belonged to a PY forum member...but I believe he subsequently passed away..?

[Formulajones]

What happened there doesn't need an explanation does it?

[PDC]

Can I ask what 'mechanically' happened with the lift in the pic with the Red GTO on it? Not sure how it slanted off to the side like that. Did the posts fail?

I've got a 4-post that I store the TA's with - I call it their bunk bed. I'm always careful to the point of being almost paranoid around it. One time when it was quite new - or should I say when I was quite new to it - one of the rear locks was not fully engaged and when I let the tension off the cable to ease her into the locks, the rear passenger corner (of course) sagged town too far too quickly. I frantically hit the button and lifter her back up and heard the lock clack into place. No harm no foul. But one helluva' adrenaline dump.

[Cliff R]

I have a 4 post lift, absolutely love it but still don't completely trust it. I poured the concrete extra thick and have it studded to the floor on all 4 corners, plus I bought the extra wide extra long version rated at 12,500 lbs.

Before I step under it I ALWAYS put the weight down on the stops even though they are supposed to catch if it looses pressure for any reason. It's a rock solid set-up otherwise, and light years ahead of using bumper jacks and cheap jack stands or big chunks of Oak blocking like I did back in my younger days!......Cliff

[Formulajones]

And I hope everyone does that. Not too smart to rely on the hydraulics alone. That's what the stops are for and why there are so many of them throughout it's range of motion.

[stags]

Originally Posted by PDC

Can I ask what 'mechanically' happened with the lift in the pic with the Red GTO on it? Not sure how it slanted off to the side like that. Did the posts fail?

I've got a 4-post that I store the TA's with - I call it their bunk bed. I'm always careful to the point of being almost paranoid around it. One time when it was quite new - or should I say when I was quite new to it - one of the rear locks was not fully engaged and when I let the tension off the cable to ease her into the locks, the rear passenger corner (of course) sagged town too far too quickly. I frantically hit the button and lifter her back up and heard the lock clack into place. No harm no foul. But one helluva' adrenaline dump.

I had same thing happen with mine early on. Got my attention in a hurry. I got it back up and found the far corner was out of adjustment just a bit. Checked all 4 and it never happened again. My guess on that pic is that the rod going right to left got caught on something and the lock tabs couldn't seat. Thinking it had to be something like that for front and rear to fail same time.

[64speed]

I use good heavy jackstands on a concrete pad (not asphalt) when I have to work at home and I leave the jack in place kind of a oh $&%T last catch to give me a chance to slide out. I have a 10,000 pound lift at my father in laws garage but I made the mistake of starting this restoration here in my two car garage plus I cant leave a bay of his shop tied up for months at a time so even if it is my lift I am stuck on an Ac Delco creeper out in my driveway.

[My442]

Car on jack-stands needs to have a Plan "B".

I always use 6x6 lengths as a back up, just in case.

Friend of mine was crushed to death when a trolley jack failed and the vehicle he was working on crushed him.

[i82much]

I always put my spare underneath the frame on whatever side of the car I am working on. I also leave the jack in place and drop it just enough to put tension on the jack stand. That way, should the jack stand fail, the jack should still catch the car, and should the jack fail, the wheel/tire should still catch the car. I figure if all three fail, it was just my time to go.

[Sirrotica]

In 45 years I have seen lifts fail (a Weaver twin post air over hydraulic, Rotary 2 post hydraulic) and I've seen most all of the other ways fail of holding a car up.

I've seen concrete blocks blow apart with a vehicle resting on them. I've seen way too many times a vehicle jacked up on asphalt where the jack stands sunk into the asphalt (summer and winter) dumping a car off the stands. Ive seen stacked wooden blocks topple over. Even a small incline is enough to throw the center of gravity off when a car is on stands where it can topple over on blocks too. The higher the car is lifted the more prone to going forward, backward, or to either side.

I'm never going to feel 100% safe as gravity and physics can bring down most anything used to hold a load in the air. Cables break on lifts hose break and of course there are failsafe devices engineered into each unit that don't always stop the load from falling.

Since 1988 I changed careers from automotive technician to aerial lift work platforms (scissor lifts and boom lifts) and forklift technician. I have seen instances where people have defeated safety devices so they could get the job done faster and ended up dead, or badly hurt. Now these aerial lift devices are engineered so that there is as little liability to the manufacturers as well as dealers as possible, same as automotive lifts, there are still failures as with any mechanical device. No matter how much engineering there is the million to one failure that no one has given much thought to.

Some people work under cars with a bumper jack holding them up and never have any problems. The guy that figures he's using a well made engineered lift thinks he's fairly safe, but I have seen it twice that I can think of where lifts have failed. One where a car was left on a twin post lift overnight and one end failed and dropped the front bumper right on the concrete (no one injured). Another time a Rotary lift arm failed and pinned the man under it doubled over so his feet were up by his head under the car.He actually recovered and as far as I know was fine after he healed up.

There is no 100% safe way to lift a car, common sense and standing back and looking at the setup before you climb under it, rock testing it, may help keep you safe. I still jack up cars all the time on stands and have no aversion to climbing under one as long as I'm the one who jacked it up and set the stands. If feasible I usually either leave the jack under it with stands or have some wood blocks under tires as well as jackstands.

I had a garage I designed in one of my houses that had a grease pit in it. Probably the safest way to work under a car, but you can stumble as I once did and break your rib on the edge of the floor.

One other warning, never use the stands that are made from round tubing split into 3 legs with a band welded to keep the legs from spreading. These stands actually look like they're made from exhaust tubing. Once while building the 69 GP dirt car in my signature pics I had the gutted frame and body sitting on 2 of these stands in the rear while I was installing the rollcage. Overnight the stand just folded up and the car was on the floor the next morning. I doubt each stand had 500 lbs. on it. They quit selling these cheap POS stands quite awhile ago, there are however still some people using them.

[Chief of the 60's]

Yep ^ ^ ^

Some just don't get it. That's called, "false sense of security"

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

I have a 4 post lift, absolutely love it but still don't completely trust it. I poured the concrete extra thick and have it studded to the floor on all 4 corners, plus I bought the extra wide extra long version rated at 12,500 lbs.

Before I step under it I ALWAYS put the weight down on the stops even though they are supposed to catch if it looses pressure for any reason. It's a rock solid set-up otherwise, and light years ahead of using bumper jacks and cheap jack stands or big chunks of Oak blocking like I did back in my younger days!......Cliff

I have been to Cliff's House, (actually He let me borrow a bed in his house one night as long as I cooked breakfast the next morning.
I was making a trip south to Cincinnati, (and then west to Randy Williams place). Nice Lift and a very well done installation. Maybe, at some point if I get out of my postage stamp garage, I can get a lift similar to his. Thanks again for the overnight hospitality. Tom V.

What was the Brand and model number of your lift Cliff?

[dataway]

I was once jacking up the front of a car with an air bumper jack .... you know, the big ones that kind of pick it up like a wrecker. I was leaning over the jack when it slipped off the bumper and the jack cylinder jumped up and hit me in the chin, knocked me out cold back against the shop wall.

I was fine, have no idea how, not even any blood. Should have knocked out my teeth at least.

[400 4spd.]

I grew tired of telling my mechanic to let the weight down to the locks. He always lifted a car and stopped it anywhere he liked, never lowering to a locked location. It hurt his feelings when I added this sign to the leg by the controls. 30 plus years, never had a lift fail, the locks will catch it, yada yada yada.

[Cliff R]

What was the Brand and model number of your lift Cliff?

Good question, can't remember but I'll take a look tomorrow. One thing folks must realize with 4 post lifts is that the cables will stretch out a bit with use, and it will require a few adjustments in all four corners to make sure the safety catches are engaging at apprx the same time. I've had to adjust mine twice in about 10 years, seem to have "set" and holding the correct adjustments fine now for several years.

I still listen closely to it when raising a vehicle for the audible "clicks" on all four safeties, and as mentioned lower it against the stops when I get the vehicle to the desired height....Cliff

[Tom Vaught]

Thanks Cliff.
Tom V.

[NBF823]

My nephew just lost a friend under a car. I don't know the specifics, just that the car fell on him.

Once when I was about 19, I was helping my brother in law(Aformentioned nephew's father) pull a motor out his family member's car. The motor was on the hoist, and some attachments were over looked. End result was the motor crashed on the crossmember right above me. Chrysler 318 in a deep red Dodge Diplomat. Clearly don't just grab any bolt and throw it at the most convenient location, and don't let your teens trust guys just because they're a few years older also. We haven't done anything together since - some 22 years.

Non safty related story;
I was attempting to drive my car up on ramps once. It was early on, maybe about 18. The tires were too fat, and ran right up on the edge of the ramps, over passing the curved arch that the tire is supposed to sit in when it's up there - needless to say, I ran over the ramps, and slammed them on my fenders. 70s trans am with the fattest tires I could fit. My dad chewed me out for atleast an hour.

A few months later, he was changing the brakes on his Caddy. The car was on a jack stand, with the wheel off. For some unknown reason, I observed him get in the car, start it, put it in drive and knock it right off the stand. I have no I dead what he was thinking - total brain fart. I just grabbed the jack and proceeded to correct the situation without saying a word. I think still to this day I never mentioned the event.

Also, I love it when cars are low enough to just push ramps forward with chin spoilers if one tries to use them. I make a point to build all mine like that now. Also had a few where I would have to pry up the car with an 8' bar to slip the jack under them - but I digress.

Be safe guys.

[Squidward]

I just keep my 2 cars outside like a real man.

I hate working under cars. I think I'd rather take a mild kick in the nuggets vs. doing stuff like trans swaps.

A couple of years ago I was at a yard getting a rear end out of a 71 Skylark wagon. Jackstands and jack were in use, but the ground was soft. It fell as the the car shifted backwards, and we had a second or two to roll out of the way. It still put a little bit of a hurt on my shoulder as it squeezed me out like a watermelon seed.

I built some 2x4 wheel blocks for all 4 wheels. I don't even trust jackstands very much.