RatDog

I just got back from checking out the monthly downtown cruise-in sponsored by the local Corvette club. I found out that one of the club members who reached out and offered to help me out a few weeks ago when my '67 was delivered with a shifter problem was killed in a garage accident last Monday. I don't know any of the details, but you can use your imagination.

Looked like there were some nice cars on display but that news pretty much sucked the interest out of me so I came home.

Just a reminder to ALWAYS put safety first, not just when driving your cars, but when working on them as well.

-- Steve

5thvet

What a shame. Hate to hear that.

Nowhere Man

Always use jack stands

00fxd

Carbon monoxide can sneak up on you too... Happened to an experienced hot rodder in our area some years ago.

Willie'sVette

Wow...that is very sad to hear...please update w/ names & details when available.

Kerrmudgeon

Very sad news indeed.

When I was young I took some pretty stupid risks working under cars, and was lucky a couple of times. But now I always use stands, AND, as a backup to my backup, a couple of cinder blocks or an extra ramp shoved underneath the raised car just in case. A little older and a lot wiser.

Railroadman

I can't count how many guys I either knew, or knew through family or acquaintances who were killed by vehicles falling on them.

I always try to use two separate systems - usually jack stands and wood blocks. I have a whole bunch of 4x4 wood a foot long, and I alternate direction - 3 one way, three the other etc. And just in case anybody does not know it, do NOT rely on a hydraulic jack. They have been known to blow a seal. One minute they are steady as can be, the next the car comes down like a deflated balloon.

ricks327

Many moons ago, I got a run where a grandmother couldn't get her grandson to respond from under his Corvair for dinner. Upon arrival, I found the engine on his chest, the scissors jack failed while he was laying under the car, and as I recall he was working to remove the trans axle. He was 17 and the grandmother thought he fell asleep. That memory is still etched in my brain from over 30 years ago.

RatDog

I couldn't find out any details of the accident. His name was Dan Rich. He lived in Leesburg, FL and was 64 years old. The accident was last Monday. He was VP of the local "A Touch of Glass Corvette Club" and a member of some other car clubs. I didn't meet him in person but we exchanged some emails about my car problem a couple of weeks ago and he seemed like a very nice guy. He said we should get together and talk cars sometime. He either owns or used to own a '66 but I think he was into lots of different cars because email was "fordbucket23".

Here's his obituary:

http://www.hardenpauli.com/obituarie...ich/#/Obituary

-- Steve

6T7L71CPE

I bought one of the CO detectors that have a digital readout and mounted it in my one car garage. I was shocked how high it got just warming the car up enough to back out. Maybe 2-3 minutes, with a box fan running to air the garage out. I can't fathom how many times I've worked on it in these conditions.

Steve59

I was 17 and changing a tire on a 56 Plymouth. The jack was one of those that had a tab that you inserted in the front bumper and you had to jack the car WAY UP to get the tire off the ground. I didn't know to use chocks. Started on the first lug nut and rotated the car forward and off it came. Of all the lessons I've learned over my life, this stuck. I just watched the car go, couldn't stop it. Now I use ramps, stands, wood, everything I have. It's a double quadruple back up........

Frankie the Fink

I had my Harbor Freight roll around floor jack under the differential of the '61 a few months back and I evidently hyper-extended it and it just let go and dumped the car onto the rear tires in nothing flat. I bled it and it appears fine and I have no explanation for what happened.

Darn shame about this gentlemen though....safety short cuts in the garage are never a good idea.

toms silver 60

I once changed out a freeze plug on my 57 Olds one cold night using an incandescent trouble light. Don't know what hurt worse, getting shocked or banging my head on the frame each time I got zapped.....

salty_waders

A fire extinguisher in the garage is a good idea too.

mrg

Very insidious. .. Carbon monoxide can be absorbed into the bloodstream on the order of something like (IIRC) 200 times more readily than oxygen. If absorbed quickly enough, lack of oxygen will likely spell dire consequences.

Jack stands.........double up (both sides)!

out2kayak

OK, call me a little excessive but typically I have the jack stands supporting the car, with the hydraulic floor jack still in place, roll the tire(s) I take off (where appropriate) under the car and have chocks at the appropriate end of the car.

Just thinking about it almost justifies a nice post lift. Well, almost anything does.



-- Joe

Westlotorn

I have very good jack stands and had the front of the car properly sitting on the stands, I put the floor jack under the rear diff and started lifting the the car so I could put in the rear jack stands and have the vehicle level. I started pumping and half way up I got down and looked to see how the lift was going. The Jack stands were half way tipped over with the vehicle on them. The exposed aggregate driveway stopped the jack from rolling. As it was lifting it was pulling the car off the jack stands. With each pump of the jack the car was pulled forward slightly till it almost fell off the jack stands.
I think my floor jack has around a 20 inch lift capacity.
I lowered it down till the jacks were corrected, pumped it up again making sure to jiggle the handle and make sure the wheels actually rolled with each pump.
Made for a close call, the car was moving so gradually that I did not catch it right away.
Sorry about the loss.

Blk63Vette

Hello

Early spring of 1988 I was working on my Reanult Fuego at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio) mechanic garage...I didnt know much about working safely under cars always used a jack only...The guy (running the garage) yelled at me and called me a *ucking idiot....Get the jack stands out and USE them...You only have one LIFE!!!!!

He was upset...with good reason...Soldier was severly inuried when working on a Bronco had fallen on top him and crushed him badly..Jack apparently mis functioned and dropped a frame on top of his chest!!

Never go under a car without the jack and jackstand being used..

jeff batchelor

About 4 years ago 2 young boys (contractors) 18-21 years old died at the company I work for using a conctrete saw in a meeting room doing electrical work. One boy had been married for about 2 weeks.

63split63

Do yourself a BIG favor and get rid of that jack !

New ones are cheap

Bill