PSA: Use All Available Safety Equipment

[JulianMorrow]

Co-worker found this earlier this year as he was taking the vehicle off the jack stands. As he raised the vehicle off the stands the top fell off. I’m especially vigilant checking the stands before I use them now

Ah ok, that's pretty scary. And no locking pin will fix that. I've never seen a ratchet bar suffer a clean break like that. Wow.

 

[bushmechanic]

The jack stand that failed for me actually broke at a weld.

It was the same one everyone with a lifted truck uses; chrome, blue, 6 ton, and with a random brand stuck on the side. Mine was Goodyear, but they're sold with anything on them.

 

[JulianMorrow]

The jack stand that failed for me actually broke at a weld. It was the same one everyone with a lifted truck uses; chrome, blue, 6 ton, and with a random brand stuck on the side. Mine was Goodyear, but they're sold with anything on them.

Understood, but a giant corporation like Goodyear (and at one time Sears) are big, rich targets for liability actions. You'd think that these corporations would verify the specs of the jackstands that they're rebranding.

 

[Jason280]

You'd think that these corporations would verify the specs of the jackstands that they're rebranding.

Specs are irrelevant in his situation. The stand didn't fail because it was over spec'd, it failed due to a faulty weld...

 

[crasher98]

I like these: https://esco.net/products/esco-3-ton-performance-jack-stand/. Not cheap, but cheap jack stands are truly a false economy.

 

[jgromada]

I have never had a jack stand fail, but i have had one tip over in soft driveway. Luckily i wasn't under it. I had actually walked away to go inside and when i returned the brake disc was on the ground.

But typically i have a jack stand + the original lifting jack under the car before i get under. I also ALWAYS use wheel chocks after my jack stand tipping incident.

I got really scared the one day when i was getting out of work and some guy in the parking lot had his car jacked way up in the air and was trying to do something with his muffer. It looked so precarious.

 

[KillNThrill24]

This thread is really making me hate jack stands that much more. I have 4 of these https://m.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/jack-stands/6-ton-steel-jack-stands-61197.html under my shelby right now. I really don't like the 2 ton style stands for anything other than holding up small items (I used those black and yellow craftsman with a 2x4 across them to hold up the tail shaft of my transmission the other day). I think I'm going to measure how high the car sits right now, and make some wooden "blocks" for use, with stands.

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[KillNThrill24]

Pics for reference.

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[ItsNemo]

When I was doing jack stands regularly back in the day before I had a lift...I never used 2 ton, always at least 3 ton (eventually started using 6 ton even on cars) and never lifted the stand all that high up if I could help it. Plus then tires under the frame and the jacks still in place, wheels chocked. If I was working solo, I'd also throw extra jack stands under the car (I owned about 10 of them) as further backup.

With the lift, I still throw a couple under hoist stands front/rear to help stabilize the car and provide some extra support.

 

[fasteddie]

I got really scared the one day when i was getting out of work and some guy in the parking lot had his car jacked way up in the air and was trying to do something with his muffer. It looked so precarious.

Are you old enough to remember when every car came with a bumper jack? Now those things were scary, always a disaster waiting to happen but you would still see people working under them all the time. I remember my Dodge van rolling off the jack sideways one day while changing a tire. Landed on the brake drum, no damage or injuries. Shortly after that I got my first floor jack.

 

[visionguru]

Unless we see the pictures, we don't know what happened.
Nothing is safe if the user is not meticulous about safety.

 

[Spacey_G]

Specs are irrelevant in his situation. The stand didn't fail because it was over spec'd, it failed due to a faulty weld...

Weld quality is absolutely something that can be specified, both in how the welds are created and how they're inspected.

 

[Skin]

Weld quality is absolutely something that can be specified, both in how the welds are created and how they're inspected.

Yes but then you factor in you're trying to manufacture, package, and ship a product for $20 so any inspection is going to be minimal.

 

[Empty Pockets]

At home, I have a pair of homemade ramps. They were made years ago out of railroad ties with a chain saw. They have never failed me, and I still check wheels.
If I am taking off a tire or tires, we're talking multiple jack stands.

Sent from my SM-J727V using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[zendriver]

This almost sound like a solution, in search of a problem. There are probably 10-of-millions of jack stands in use, few reported problems.

It would be interesting to see how many are damaged or fail due to improper use, such as being overloaded, used on a gravel/dirt surfaces or not positioned properly.

I often have to re-position jack stands because they are not positioned properly, after the vehicles is lowered, even a few inches. Maybe it will hold the vehicle fine, as is, maybe it won't. Maybe others are in a bigger hurry, to address such small details.

Agree if one does not trust the jack stands, they should certainly not use them.

 

[tez929rr]

Googled the name. Here is one quote from a local source:

“The 21-year-old died Friday after a BMW he was working on collapsed on him in the family garage. Fred Klorczyk said that a floor jack likely failed while his son was under the car changing the oil.”
https://www.theday.com/article/20110314/NWS01/303149938

 

[sweet victory]

Googled the name. Here is one quote from a local source:

“The 21-year-old died Friday after a BMW he was working on collapsed on him in the family garage. Fred Klorczyk said that a floor jack likely failed while his son was under the car changing the oil.”
https://www.theday.com/article/20110314/NWS01/303149938

The father left a comment on that site.

"The 21-year-old died Friday after a BMW he was working on collapsed on him in the family garage. Fred Klorczyk said that a floor jack likely failed while his son (Christian) was under the car changing the oil."

Jeff Johnson did a great job on the article on our son, brother and friend and I thank him for that. Jeff was a true gentleman who talked to us for hours in our darkest times to get an accurate depiction of our son and family. However, and unfortunately we do not have it on tape, nor is Jeff a "gearhead", nor do I recall saying, nor is it accurate to say "that a floor jack likely failed..."

Christian is an experienced mechanic who started working on cars and following Formula 1 when he was a small child. He and our whole family witnessed Ayrton "Magic" Senna die at Tamburello 15 years ago. Yes, Christian was only six at the time and we were up at 7AM to watch a race in Italy on satellite. He and his brothers would wake Lynne and Me up to watch the pre-race show at 6:30AM.

Christian is a true car guy as are his brothers and friends. My business is in the most safety conscious market in the world - nuclear boats, nuclear ships and nuclear power plants. That mentality is my life - ask any of my employees how I feel about safety. The job stops and they call me at anytime as no is to ever get injured. This naturally carried over to my homelife. No one would use the wrong tools - we have them all right quality ones. No one in my garage or driveway would ever go under a car with only a jack of any kind holding it up. The jack elevates the car, jackstands support it while working underneath and the jack is removed. Period. Block the wheels if necessary. Emergency brake on, car in gear. A lift would be better but we just were not at that point in our lives yet.

Christian had the right front tire off so that he could shine his double halogen lights on the work area and see clearly. He also had that tire/wheel under the right front rotor as an extra measure of safety as is a habit of ours for certain repairs. He had four ton Craftsman jackstands in use. Two were just bought at Christmas when I sent him to buy a new jack since ours is getting to be five years old. Hydraulic cylinders and seals degrade over time but didn't he buy the jack since he felt what they had were junk so he bought more stands. My son or any of his friends would have done the same thing.

Christian was using my father's creeper for the first time. He found the creeper when cleaning the garage over Christmas. When he applied torque to the ratchet handle to break the plug loose, he experienced the law of physics of "equal and opposite reaction". As the plug broke loose, the creeper did also in a direction opposite to the torque vector Christian applied. Some part of Christian's body, some part of the creeper, the mallet beside him, something - we have no video, just supposition... tripped the right front jackstand lever inadvertantly and a ton of the BMW E46 3 series xi crushed his chest and his right cheekbone. He never took, or could even even attempt to take a second breath. Death was immediate and painless. If I were beside him at the time this occurred I could have done nothing to save him. This has been verified by five friends who are doctors. I used the floorjack Christian used to get the car off of him. I had to engage the cylinder which tells me Christian removed it per proper procedure. I had the jack underneath and jackstands under before I crawled under with him. My wife, Lynne, had a pulse on his neck and I was doing chest compressions and trying to get a verbal response until the EMTs got there.

A critical factor, in my professional engineering opinion, is that the creeper raised his body 3.5" higher than it would have been if he would have been working on the concrete as he was used to. It also raised his head 4.5" higher as there is a foam pillow headrest. Both creeper caster wheels at the head position were sheared from the creeper. I can only wonder that if Christian did not use the creeper would he have had the jackstands that high, would the energy at 9.8 m/sec squared have been decreased so he would have been injured less, would the extra measure of the tire under the rotor have saved his life, would he be alive today? Only God knows.

Also, to my fellow "carguys" and "gearheads", please learn from this tragedy. Scrap your cheapo jackstands... do your research, find the best jackstands there are, use the secondary and tertiary safety factors, do not fall to the temptation of human nature and operator error - use the extra safety factors! It may save your life, or maybe the life of you son.

Lastly, if you want to drive fast please do not do it on the road. Racetracks are readily available for that adrenaline rush we all crave.

Godspeed Christian! May you be driving God's Veyron for him.

 

[Handyandy23]

That's pretty horrible. I just wonder though, how did the jack stand release by the lever with the weight of the car on it? Any jack stand I've ever used will not release the lever under load.

I guess they'll never know the whole story. But I'm also not sure the father's sequence of events is exactly possible/accurate.

 

[jd_1138]

Darwin Award. Sorry, but if you're working on your own cars, you are saving craploads of money -- plenty enough to park an extra set of $10 jack stands under the car. Heck, I leave the jacks under the car and at least 4 frame stands, chock the rear wheel, put it in gear and set the parking brake on.

Or drive it up on ramps and then park 2 frame stands under it. This stuff is dirt cheap. I have 3 sets of car ramps. I tried selling a set to free up some space and to give someone a great deal. $10 is all I was asking. No takers.

 

[Jazz1]

Even with jack stands and/or Rhino ramps, I still place wood blocks underneath the frame to catch the car in the event it falls. Not taking any chances.

I have always done the same. Jackstands are clearly labeled "do not work under vehicle when raised on stands"

Okay, so the label no longer legible

 

[Gmonkee]

I work on multiple cars a day and get under most of them for something. One good pair of stands holding up just one end with the other tires down has been safe. Leave the jack if it isn't in the way.

And I am not being all cowboy about safety. It's all we really need.

I used to go under 50 ton yellow machines pulling off belly plates twice my weight. That really makes one think on what is enough and when to add maybe a bit more dunnage.



When wood is wet it will compress some under multiple ton loads like bigger trucks and yellow machines. If you need 20" height give it 24" or more and a solid surface if not a slab. We carried out heavy steel plates as bases if working on dirt.

 

[upper_tanker]

I'm only 29 years old, but within the past 5 years or so, I've really started to become "overly-cautious" (no such thing in my book). I was pretty much raised in an automotive shop environment because of my dad. He now owns a lawn maintenance business and has three lifts in his shop to service his own equipment and make some money on the side.

I now find myself always resting the vehicle on the safeties on all of the hoists. When I have to use jack stands on the ground, I always use at least two per corner. I know this is just me being super paranoid, but when I'm under a car, I always make sure that I have a way out if anything happens to the integrity of the support of the vehicle. I think the most paranoid thing that I do is put two jack stands under the end of the vehicle that I'm working under, if I'm rolling under it on a creeper. I just can't help but think what would happen if, by some pretty much impossible (to me) scenario, a tire popped while I was under it.

This thread almost makes me chuckle at myself. when I was younger, I didn't put much thought into safety. Now that I realize that I'm not invincible, I definitely spend more time than I probably should, worrying about things and over-thinking scenarios. I've never told anybody this stuff before, so have a laugh at it!

 

[Garvdog]

What a sad ordeal, I always try to block and double block when working under loads.

 

[Strouty]

Whenever I put a vehicle on jack stands I lower the jack a bit, then shake the vehicle, if it doesn’t move, it is good, my stands are always on concrete, not tar, not dirt, not plywood on top of dirt.