DON'T DO THIS AT HOME! STUPID BUT LUCKY!
short story... from experience.. only jack stands or 4x4 or 6x6
wood blocks are safe. Don't use cinder blocks!
in the seventies... after spending 3-5 hours under a VW BUG
rebuilding the front end and steering...
I heard a crunching sound.... What the....!
As I scambled to get out from under the front end...one of my
SOLID CORE cinder block stands crumbled and collapsed.
The bottom edge of one of the shock uprights on the twin tube
front end landed in the middle of my back pinning me under the
car for nearly 45 minutes. Just by chance one of my house mates happen
to stop by the garage as he arrived home from work. (Only because the side door
was open.) They were use to me being out there till all hours
and would not have thought twice about seeing what I was up to.
All I could do was pray the rest of the cinder block didn't crumble.
(the angle of the car...still one block on one side is all that kept the
metal from drilling all the way through my spine!)
Now adays... at minimum, metal jack stands, wood blocks, and a hydralic
jack are all under the car befor I'll ever put my body under there.
No fear... just still a very vivid memory of that 45 minutes... alone!
Paul Tegler
Twin 73' MGB GTs YB and OB
YB born 8/72 (Primrose Yellow) Yellow BGT
OB born 1/73 (Blaze Red) Orange BGT
email: wizardz@maxinter.net
http://www.amdyne.net/~ptegler/mgmain.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: REwald9535@aol.com <REwald9535@aol.com>
To: dcouncil@imt.net <dcouncil@imt.net>; mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 9:50 PM
Subject: Re: B update and questions (long for most, usual for me)
I think at one time or another just about everybody that has worked on cars
much has either slid under a car on a jack or thought "Hey it's OK I'll only
be there for a second, what could go wrong?" In a word LOTS.
Picture your B (A, Midget, Rolls Canhardly, whatever) landing on your head.
When dropped from a jack the suspension will compress giving about 2" of
clearance before regaining normal ride height, and your head is how thick?
It WAS more than 2' is the answer. Please don't even think about doing this.
Good list members are hard to find.
The only safe way is put a good jack stand(s) under the car place the weight
on them and then wiggle, bounce, shove on the car to make sure that it is
secure. Then and only then go under the car.
Rick Ewald
67 MGB
In a message dated 4/20/99 8:42:04 PM SA Eastern Standard Time,
dcouncil@imt.net writes:
> Just as I was getting ready to crawl under the car to pull the starter, I
> heard a creaking sound. So I stopped to listen closer only to see the car
> come crashing down, the jack and bracket pulling away from the car.
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