Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

[Christopher R.]

Talk about safety in a thread below re threaded rod compressing a front suspension spring has me thinking about safety. The more I learn about working on cars, the more I realize what I don't know. I just want to make sure I can live with that. Literally. I was under the car last weekend, and for one of the first times in my life, I was scared. I did what needed doing quickly, and got the heck out of there. Usually when I go to all the trouble of jacking up the car, I fiddle around with other things while I'm there. Not this time. I was uncomfortable there. I'm now wondering if some of my practices are safe.

For instance, I usually only jack up 1 side of my '62. I usually place the jack on the flat part of the frame towards the front. Place 3 jackstands on that side. 1 at the front crossmember. And 1 each on the front and rear portions of the horizontal portions of the frame rail. The other side is still on the ground. Both tires are chocked, both front and rear - 4 chocks. Is this safe?

I ask because it was only a few years ago that I omitted the jackstand at the front crossmember. Scared the heck out of me when the car started to come down in the front. Did you know that a C1 will balance on a single jackstand just a few inches aft of the point where the front portion of the frame rail goes horizontal. The second jackstand holding up the rear had very little weight on it. Dam* car nearly fell off the jackstands. I wonder how much more I don't know.

I've stopped being so cavalier about car batteries, gasoline, lacquer thinner, muriatic acid, acetone, and such. If you've ever had the experience of a car battery blowing up, you will respect them in the future. But working underneath a car now has me concerned. Wondering what other do for safety. I like "belt and suspenders" approaches.

[Joe L.]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

Chris-----

Working under a car is a dangerous proposition. Being paranoid about it is GOOD. Always use as many HIGH QUALITY jackstands as you can. Foreign ones are fine as long as they are ASA rated. I also like to use two things as a back-up: first, concrete blocks (ONLY with the holes facing up and down and ONLY solid blocks with no cracks) with stout wood blocking between the concrete block and the car). This system is much more "base-stable" than jackstands. The compressive strength of the concrete blocks set in the position I described is FAR more than enough to support a car (I checked). Wood blocking is VERY strong; housemovers use it to support HOUSES when they raise and move them.

The second thing I do is to place the mounted tires and wheels under the car as a further "back-up". If the car falls, it can't fall any further than the wheel and tire and the tire will "cushion" the fall (even if the tire is destroyed). You can move the wheels around easily to accomodate working at different points under the car while still providing you with "breathing room" if the car does fall.

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

Chris, I too am a little uncomfortable underneath a car on jack stands. If you use good quality stands, and they are properly positioned, it's probably ok. Cars CAN fall off jack stands, as well as 2 and 4 post lifts. The absolutely safest thing to do is crib the car on timbers and/or solid concrete blocks. If the car is properly cribbed on all four corners, it's going nowhere. I have used cribbing timbers to hold up industrial equipment weighing as much a 100,000 lb. It is a slow process, but it is quite safe.

[Chris H.]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

I also leave the jack in position with most of the load on the jack stands. That way if something happens, the old lady doesn't have to figure out how to operate the jack to get the car off of me. She just has to push down on the handle to jack the car up. It makes it harder to roll around under there, but it is safer.

[Mike McKown]

My wife has a safe hobby

She collects Beanie Babies and Longaberger Baskets.

God forbid. You could have an airplane fall out of the sky and land on your house while you are asleep.

[Mike M.]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

oak timber cribbing is the ultimate but you've got to be practical.
a good pair of good ole american jack stands, preferably manufactured in the pre-60's, would be good enough for me. I do allow the jack to stay in poition, but wonder if the little misses would pump down on the jack handle or turn the release counterclockwise if a vet frame was compressing my ribcage.mike

[John Fowler]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

Same here -

Even for changing a tire, I jack higher than necessary and lower onto wood blocks (6x6, 4x6, etc) before pulling the wheel. Only takes a minute or two.

If going under, I use redundant blocking and try my best to push the vehicle off before venturing underneath. Better safe than ...

[Kevin Whiteley]

Jacking/Cribbing Points

This has been an excellent thread. I've been lucky so far, but who knows how long luck lasts. So, what are the best/safest jacking points on the C3 frame? And once, it's jacked up, where should the cribbing go?

[Tom R.]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

A tip I picked up from a Busch series crew chief is to weld a plate to the bottom of the jackstand legs...avoids the possibiilty they may wish to do the splits while a load is displaced on its top support.

[Gary Bishop]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

Mike: Of course Lea would if there was "Chicken" under there with you.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Jacking -Disconnect Battery

Disconnect the battery as I had a friend who touched the starter wires and was run over by a 4X4 jeep while changing oil on ramps.It was not running but the starter was cranking and it was in first gear.

[Eric Fairclough]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

I have a 72 and for jaking the front i put two 6 ton jack stands between the front cross member and the lower control arm where it bolts to the frame and leave the jack supporting some of the car weight. The back i jack it up by the rear end differential then put the jack stands on both sides of the frame that goes across the car right near the differential. The jack stands i have are from the car swap meet that i bough years ago. I'll have to check to see if they are asa rated. Both floor jacks i have most of the time when i lower a car down the come down fast even if you turn it a little bit. Thanks Eric

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

If you have to weld a plate to hold them together, you have the wrong jackstands.

They weld a plate to keep them from sinking in the asphalt. Daytona and other tracks has specific rules about having jacks and stands sinking into their asphalt. In the garages, you are on concrete but much of the paddock area is asphalt, and on a hot summer day, you can sink a jack stand quickly.

If you have the jackstands that are stamped sheetmetal steel, throw them away. You want the heavy duty ones that look like the center is cast iron and the metal is thick on the stand area.

Let's put it this way, lay it on its side and drive a pickup over it. If it smashes, that design is no good.

[William V.]

Re: Request for Safety Tips - Working Under a Car

Chris

Above are excellent safety tips. You cannot be too safe. When I was 18 and knew it all, I jacked up my old Ford using a bumper jack, removed a front tire and went into the garage to get tools to work underneath. As I walked towards the car I watched it fall. That was 37 years ago and I still get the shakes when I think about it.

Bill

[Mike McKown]

If you blow a tire,

does this mean your tire was no good, even if the jackstand is?