Jack stand safety

[Abington Rally]

Somehow I don't think this fella has a jack stand under this car. At least the jack looks like a Craftsman and not some Harbor Freight junker.

http://www.fox61.com/media/photo/2009-07/23501112274500-11180353.jpg

The pic is from the 24 Hours of Lemons at Stafford Speedway in CT and was on the Hartford Courant website today.

[carl]

Somehow I don't think this fella has a jack stand under this car. At least the jack looks like a Craftsman and not some Harbor Freight junker.


The pic is from the 24 Hours of Lemons at Stafford Speedway in CT and was on the Hartford Courant website today.

I fail to see how this is any better :D

(i have gone through several aluminum jacks like that - including that very same craftsman. hurry for leaky seals! I even re-built one and it leaked again after a few uses)

[granthughes]

He still has the wheel on so he'll likely be fine, maybe bruised and sore if the jack were to fail.

My harbor freight tools last longer than my Craftsman ones and have been much cheaper in the long term cost of ownership. I can usually buy two or three HF ones for the price of Craftsman. My HF cordless impact has been going strong for five years despite being seriously abused and used in rally service areas, rained on, driven over, dropped, and more.

[nperkins]

Yeah, i have to butt in here... I have the Harbor Freight Jack (Well, same one, but bought it at autozone so it says duralast), paid $80 for it, and it has not failed me yet. (Knock on wood)... I max it out all the time, leave it out in the rain, throw it around, it takes a beating and keeps on going... :)

[Abington Rally]

Yeah, i have to butt in here... I have the Harbor Freight Jack (Well, same one, but bought it at autozone so it says duralast), paid $80 for it, and it has not failed me yet. (Knock on wood)... I max it out all the time, leave it out in the rain, throw it around, it takes a beating and keeps on going... :)

But you use jack stands, right, or do you trust the jack that much? ;) Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but even with only one wheel off the ground, wheel still on, with a Snap-On/Blue Point jack, I throw a stand under the car! I have also seen an Alfa Berlina fall/slip off of jack stands for no apparent and/or predictable reason, (well it was a rusty ol' Italian tub) right after my brother rolled out from under it, that could be where my safety concerns come from.

+1 for HF, but not for stuff that implicates safety. :)

[WorldHazard]

really, i had my bad experience with the car sliping of the jack.. and since then... i use jacks for all things car being lifted off the ground... just not worth random acts of sucky

[nperkins]

I pretty much always use a jack stand... I dont care if its a $5k jack, i'm not getting under the car without a jackstand if the wheel isn't on. If the wheel is still on, sometimes i'll go under if its something quick without a jackstand, but usually i try to just throw it under there even if i dont let the jack down...

[ajax]

It could be worse...

http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2009/06/doing_it_wrong_v4_jalopnik_13.jpg

[Don Kennedy]

No problem. When the gas tank blows, it should throw the truck towards the wall, until it bounces off of it and down on him. But that gives him 2 or 3 seconds to get out of the way.
Back on topic. If a wheel is off, I always throw a jack stand underneath some where.

[C_Eixen]

I always use jackstands.

Although, I've had the car fall off jackstands while jacking/lowering the other end more times than I can count.

[seagull]

I use jackstands, too. If I'm taking off a couple of wheels I'll also stack them and slide them under the car, if there's a spot where they won't be in my way, so they'll catch it if it falls off the stands.

I like to give the car a little shove or two once it's up on the stands. If it's precariously balanced and about to fall off I want it to do it before I get under there.

[nperkins]

I have to say... Our car has the jackstand pins on the side... And I had the car on them, and its a weird feeling when you jack up a car, and you KNOW that it is sturdy and not going anywhere, but it still has some sway to it...