Jacking Instructions

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

I recently got in a super solid 54 Super body and was anxious to get underneath and see just how solid it was. As usual, I was outside on relatively level bare ground. I scotched both front tires, put a 3 ton Craftsman SUV jack under the chuck and jacked the car up enough to get a jack stand under one side of the axle housing. The other side was about 1/2 inch too low for the jack stand to go under so I gently pushed up on the axle with one hand while sliding the jack under the axle with my other. I know, I know, I know...stupid, stupid, stupid. Well the front wheel of the jack unbeknownst to me was in a soft spot in the dirt and the whole jack moved and gravity did it's thing and the car shifted and came down with my left thumb ending up wedged between the Super's axle and the jack. With no one home nor within hollering distance I proceeded with re-arranging the jack again under the chuck and jacking the axle up off the jack stand and my already purple and swelling thumb.

Now lesson learned...

Don't relax safety practices. I never use to trust jacking a car up by the chuck and teetering the axle in order to get the stands under axle. I would typically jack from under the frame, one side of the car at a time. Also I use to always use a 2'x2' piece of 1 inch plywood under jacks when jacking on the ground. I wasn't plannig on working on the car so I thought it would be ok just this one time to just quickly get the car in the air so I could just crawl around under it a little without even touching it. Guess I was wrong. Doctor says it is just a fracture, fitted me with a splint and prescribed some Hydrocodone. I never realized I never use my left thumb while typing.

This is the first bad experience I've had with jacking. I jack up a lot of cars and most of the time they are in less than ideal situations, ie junkyards with slopes and soft ground or grass.

So has anybody else had any close calls and learning experiences with jacks. Got any good do's and don'ts re prober jacking.

[MCHinson]

Sorry, but just one... which you already know.... DON'T DO WHAT YOU DID! Hope you heal soon Lamar.

[Bhigdog]

Glad It's only your thumb, Lamar (but that's plenty). I don't have any personal horror stories but lots of people have been killed under rickety jacks. One piece of very good advice is "If it seems even remotely dangerous, it probably is". And Murphy's law being what it is, it's only a matter of time..........Bob

[JohnD1956]

Here's a rule I learned the hard way. Block the tires so the car can't roll.

It's not your ordinary rule but it comes into play if you are ever sitting the car on it's tires, up on blocks. I did this one year to store a car outdoors. The thought process was; if I sit it on the tires on blocks then there would be close to 14 inches of ground clearance and damage from wet conditions over the winter would be minimized.

Of course, the crushed gas tank when it rolled off those same blocks onto the jack I was using as I lowered the rear axle was more costly than the money saved. And I've been looking at the dent in the bottom of the front fender for almost 20 years now.

One day I hope to get it fixed.

[Guest ZondaC12]

I think I've talked about it before on these forums but always worth another repeat.

Make sure the garage door is OPEN. Oh and don't put one end of the car on ramps and jack up the other, especially when the garage floor has a downward grade!!!

[r0ckstarr]

Sorry to hear about your thumb.

A while back, I had just gotten a big floor jack. The kind with the long handle that raises the car and lowers it by turning the handle.

Driving back, I noticed a lady with a flat and nobody had stopped to help her. What better time to try out my new jack. So, I offered to help.

I jacked her truck up and was about to take off the flat tire. Maybe I didnt tighten the handle all of the way (which I am sure I did), or she just didnt know what she was doing. But somehow she managed to turn the handle and let the truck down with my arms still inside the wheel well between tire and fender arch.

Luckily, I saw the handle turn in the corner of my eye a split second before the truck dropped and was able to get my arms out of the way before having them broken by the truck.

The wheel arch landed on top of the tire and pushed the tire out at an angle.

I jumped up and asked her what she did! She said she didnt know. She just "leaned on it".

I've had the jack for a few years now and nothing like that has ever happened again, so I am pretty sure that the jack is not defective in any way.