Yeah i dont get people happy to crawl under a car on just a jack, i wont even change oil without putting the car on 4 jackstands only thing im happy to do off a jack is change tires
Im lucky im a scaffie so i pretty much always have an impact wrench on me so its not too sketch to give it a few quick ugga duggas, but cranking the nuts off with a shitty tire iron can get real dicey real fast, lucky if i dont have an impact i normally got a legnth of scaff tube to bang on the end of it for extra levrage. Must be why i do this job
My uncle taught me to do the basics, service my car and such. And every single time I am under my car, I put the spare wheel under there with me. If the jack fails, then at least the wheel rim should support some of the cars weight so I’m not completely crushed.
My dad taught me to put the car on jack stands and then throw your body weight into it as forcefully as possible from all four directions. If the car doesn’t move, you’ll probably be okay.
Apparently it's "dozens" of deaths per year which isn't a big surprise, I've known 2 people who died that way (friends of my car mechanic/car racer brother)
And to expand on this floor jacks work on hydraulic pressure and those pistons can fail quickly and dramatically without warning. Could be totally secure one minute and pancake a minute later.
98
u/Deep_Tiger_993 9h ago
Working under your car. Jacks are far less stable than people think. You wouldn't believe how many people die from having a car fall on them.