When jacking up an old car.....

[youngun]

I came to do a little bit of work on my other car today, a Rover 213.....known to be hideously rust prone. Anyway, like a fool i jacked it up on the jacking point, the result 5 minutes later involved me trapped under the car, and a wacking great rusty hole in the driver footwell. Remember, "just cos its mot'd dont mean it aint rusty". Find something solid to lift on.....ive learnt the hard way and now have very very sore ribs!


YG

[youngun]

Yeas i am, with my laptop handy.....great thing wireless internet!!

Luckily im not under there any more, but spent about half an hour under it with the sill slowly crushing my ribs!

[bmcecosse]

You were very lucky indeed that it didn't kill you. Learn the lesson - always put axle stands etc in place before going under. And yes - always jack under suspension components - even on 'new' cars. Anything else damages the floor paint/underseal and leads to rust in later life!

[alex_holden]

Oh dear.

I'm sure we've all done some stupid things and then later thought, "what if..."

Never rely on a jack alone - always put an axle stand under too.

[rayofleamington]

Axle stand is also a waste of time if the car is rotten.

g/f is paranoid about me going under cars as she watched her brothers friend die under his car when it fell off a jack (He was alive until they lifted the car off him).

I use a stack of spare wheels - this way the car has something to fall on that will distribute the weight (enough surface area), and leave me room to stay alive. Cars can fall off axle stands just as easily as jacks. Cars don't fall off a pile of 3 spare wheels.

I learnt my lesson when a Minor fell off axles stands (all running gear removed). I was standing at the side sweeping underneath the shell - where I'd been working earlier!

[ASL642]

We use a trolleyjack and axlestands and chocks - and then forget to remove the ....handle and trip over that instead!