Anyone one...ever.....

[26th-Z]

My car is up on stands now. I use the frame rails in the front and set the stands no further back than the bell housing. I set the rear stands on the front of the differential frame so that the diff hangs to the rear of the stands. The car is very steady and the stands are in an out-of-the-way position for most of my work underneath the car. General rulle of thumb is to set the stands further apart for lighter weight chassis support. Don't be afraid or too lazy to move the stands as the weight distribution changes. Be very mindfull that working underneath a car on jack stands is very hazardous and should be checked frequently. Nobody drop a car on themselves, Ok? :finger:

[Ed]

Originally posted by 2ManyZs

Worst, or silliest thing I've ever done, was taking a transmission out of a Z while lying on a creeper. I let the transmission down onto my chest and thought I'd just roll out from under the car and then lay it on the garage floor..only bad part with that idea was after I had it on my chest, I realized I didn't have the car high enough for the transmission to go under the floor of the car...:stupid: so that meant, I had to try to get it off my chest while making sure I could keep the trans in the tunnel so I had room enough to get it off me so I could get out.:cross-eye :stupid:

Boy this brings back a bad memory. Only differance was I had a Subaru 4X4 trans on my chest. Damn thing was heavy. I laid there for about 15 minutes trying to muster up the strength to move it.:stupid:

[2ManyZs]

Well, at least I'm not the only one that has done something like that....... :devious:

[SuDZ]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

Nobody drop a car on themselves, Ok? :finger:

Trust me, I will do my best to keep up my end of the deal.

SuDZ

[Zvoiture]

OK, I got a couple ones....

Brother-in-law parks Dodge Ramcharger on driveway. Driveway is about 25 foot long and garage is about 4 feet higher than street--so a bit of an angle. Puts in gear and goes under and disconnects the driveshaft. Luckily the neighbor saw the truck roll over his chest and called the ambulance. He got a free helicopter ride!

Last week my employee and myself were tearing out a tile shower in a bathroom off a garage. The homeowner had a really hot Malibu (66?) in the garage. GIGANTIC 383 stroker and 6-speed. Still in the building stage. Rear wheels on the ground, front wheels off and on stands. (some of you can finish this story right here...the rest of you, scroll down.).....

Some plumbers came by and begged the homeowner to fire up the car for them. We were taking out a load of tile--between the front of the car and the front wall--just as Mr. Malibu jumped int he seat. I was in front and my empoyee was JUUUUUUUUUUST exiting the 12" space between the wall and the front bumper as the guy fired it up IN GEAR. Needless to say, with 500+ HP, the thing came off the jacks and JUUUUUUUUST grazed my employees calf as his leg was coming out. Can you spell crushed custom headers, mangled fat oil pan, dented Wilwoods.

OK, here's the funny part. The guy's floor jacks could not get a grip on the car. I said, "Hey, I've got a couple jacks." See, I carry several old Datsun jacks with me for jacking up floors and shoring things up. Sure enough, the Datsun jack was skinny enough to go under the Malibu and lift it enough to get the floor jack under. He doesn't make fun of my Datsuns anymore.

I give the car a HUGE shake whenever I am near it. And you're right: A complete car on 4 jacks is bulletproof. A shell on 4 jacks is a bit shakey. And I have learned about Z balance too. If it's on jacks, don't take too much out of the interior if the motor is still in!!!!

Getting under a car still freaks me out. i don't do it when my wife is no upstairs and I usually keep my cel phone handy. Sorry, I'm a wimp.

steve77

[Z Kid]

My little brother holds the record on this one, a morris mini shell (all 150 odd kgs of it). Me and dad were outside the shed, and the first thing we heard was a clank followed by a loud profanity, followed by "get me out", we ran in, and there was my brothers mini shell, rolled over wedging him against the shed wall, he still wont tell us what he did.

[Rob]

A funny thing happened to me at a rally on the weekend that made me remember this thread...

Here's what happened:

I was navigating in a pretty competitive Ford Escort. We bent the LH steering arm on the first stage, did the second stage with wonky steering and went into the service park to fix it. We tried to adjust the wheel alignment around the bent arm but discovered there wasn't enough thread on the tie rods so we had to change it.

Due to some confusion and stress, we didn't realise we only had a spare for the RH side until the LH side was removed. At about this time, Gemma, a friend of mine, noticed that the Escort was supported on stands but the LH front wheel was sitting next to the car, instead of underneath it, so if the car fell off the stands it would not have stopped until it hit the ground.

So she put the wheel under the car.

About thirty seconds later, I was under the car trying to figure out how to fit a RH steering arm to a LH strut (with no success at all), when the jack stands sunk into the ground and tipped over.

I heard somebody shout "OOOHHHH" just before I saw the car drop and felt my head starting to be squashed between the radiator support panel of the Escort and the dirt with the amount of pressure you would expect from the weight of a car. It stopped squashing when it hit the wheel that Gemma put under the car moments before, which left just enough room for my head to be well and truly clamped down, but not squished.

About a tenth of a second later, a crowd of people lifted the car off me and I crawled out with nothing more than a few cuts and bruises, a headache, and a whole new attitude about jack stands and soft ground.

[Bambikiller240]

Oh, My God! What a close call. There's nothing like an example like this to drive the point home. Glad that you're OK.

[Zedrally]

That's one close shave, how did the rest of the rally go?