Ok, this is a little saftey lesson, i hope ALL of you will follow... When you jack up your car, do it on LEVEL ground, and when u use jack stands, once you put the car down on them hit the bottom of them with a hammer and make sure there secure... Today i was droping my Y-Pipe, to replace a gasket, i did it in the grass, because i have a gravel driveway... Anyways i placed the jack stands under the car, and assumed it was ok... Well it was untill i got the Y-Pipe back in and as i was tightening a bolt, the car rolled forward, and fell... I dont know how it happened, i guess it was not my time to go, somehow the jackstand under the side i was under kinda got under that front tire, and held it up, mind you i was all the way under the car, and nobody was around then it fell, the oil pan missed my head by one inch, and the y-pipe landed on my chest, the car had me trapped, and it took like 10mins for me to wiggle myself loose and slide out from under it, cut up my knee a bit, and got a few other cuts from sliding out... Point is, SAFTEY FIRST... Im sure there are a few ppl out there like me, that think there jacks are good, and wont collapse, and you dont need jack stands because your going to leave the jack under the car... WRONG, go buy some jackstands, you dont want this to happen to you, Camaro dont sit very high, and if they fall all the way, they will crush you... SAFTEY FIRST... Heres a pic of the side i was under, look how the stand is.... I got lucky today, and it tought me a lesson....

I actually had a friend die from that. He was working on an old ford truck and
didnt have the jack stands under there properly. I usually use jack stands and then leave the floor jack in position for extra safety

wow man sorry to hear that couldve been very bad. glad you are mainly ok though you never know what can happen all of the sudden. even the smallest error can be fatal

Yea trust me, there is NO explaining the feeling of watching something that weights 3000lbs, slowly roll forward then fall right on you... Im thankfull, cause like i said i learned a good lesson... Im glad i was under the pass. side if i was under the drivers side it would have seriously hurt me... It rolled forward and shifted to the side thats y the stand got wedged under the tire

Mabey i was doing something wrong, and my Camaro was trying to let me know... LOL

Glad to know you're alright. Did ya need to change your shorts after?



You know, just the other day I just about crawled under mine to do something real quick and felt too lazy to throw a jack stand under there. But I remembered all the times I have told other people that if you get under a car without jack stands, you're asking to die. So I didnt do it. And I'm glad.


I also always leave the floor jack under there just in case. But I make sure the weight of the car is on the stands.

Well i didnt crap myself, but u was wearing kaki shorts, and all the grease and oil from under the body messed up my shorts, lol...

glad your ok. im always nervous when working underneat my cars, i actually prefer ramps over the jacks and stands usually. (changing oil etc) plus my driveway is a slight hill....always scares me...all the tlc you give her (the car) she decided to spare you your life this time...your the lucky one!

Man, dude you are lucky. Just imagine if she decided to roll over that jack.

I am glad you're alive, and next time under the car will be a different experience for you. Usually ramps are safer IMO, but you never know. I jack the car up a lot, but I only jack up one side just because the car has leverage when its up. I don't know man, get some ramps and be safe with it.

Glad you're ok. I always used jacks, but when I just needed to get under there for a few seconds, I wouldn't bother with jacks (stupid and young). Good thread, I hope this makes everyone else aware.

better a pair of shorts than your life. threads like this make me glad that i have access to lifts daily anytime i want. also at least the car wasnt just run before or else that exhaust wouldve burned like a mofo

Glad your ok.

If I read that right... you put jackstands under the car on GRASS???

+1

I jack the car up on level pavement or concrete, set the stands under it securely and when I lower the car onto the final stand (if using more than one) I let the jack down far enough so the stand is holding the weight of the car and lock the jack itself where it is so incase one of the stands falls the jack is there to stop it.

Yea, well i needed the jack to hold the Y-Pipe up for me, like i said no one was around... I was lucky theres no doubt about it... Expecially with a kid due in Sept. Wow..
I used to have access to lifts, and all the tools you could imagine, but i no longer work there, so now im like most other ppl, using a jack. LOL

Holy **** man I just read your thread. Really glad to hear you're ok. That **** scares the **** out of me every time i'm under the car. I always use stands and if I don't need the extra room I keep the jack under there too. Wow, man, I can't imagine how that must have felt. I hope you have ish to relax with after that.

i dont think the unlevel ground was the problem.. tryin to jack it up on the lawn might be something to look at tho

I agree with mike1986fyrbird.

Jackstands vs. ramps or lifts aside...

Doesn't everyone expect something like this to happen on a lawn?

I have a gravel driveway too. And it sucks. So what I do, is drive 5 minutes to a buddy's place who has a proper concrete driveway and garage. I help out with his car whenever he needs a hand and everyone wins.

Definately jackstands and I leave the jack supporting where I jacked it up from. Ramps are horrible because they pinch my tires and are kind of hard to get on.

Jackstands on grass, yeah. If you continue doing that, at least get some inch thick or more plywood squares made. Put the jackstand on them so they don't sink into the dirt as easy.

i would NEVER get under a car on grass using jackstands or not. that's just asking for trouble. Go get some 1/4" steel plates made up to put under the jackstands or work in the driveway/garage. Dirt collapses rather easily and can give way for whatever reason. Remember it's only the size of a few postage stamps of contact between the grass and the jackstand. When in doubt I like to use 6 jackstands under the car. Off the a-arms, off the "Frame" portion near the trans and for the back i'd use off the rear end and off the LCAs. 4 touching the car and 2 for either the front or back where i'm working just under those sections "just in case" Maybe I'm crazy for doing it, but the extra 2 minutes sure beats out my life ending due to a jackstand failling--which they can do.

I use jack stands or my take the car to my friend's shop and put it up on the drive on lift.

wow man, you are lucky.. something like this happened to me about a year ago.. not as drastic but close enough for me.. i was working on my friends MR2 and the crossmember i put the jackstand under was kinda curvy.. well i was taking off the muffler and the car suddenly slid to the side and my friends yanked me out from under the car.. another part of the crossmember caught the jackstand and held the car up.. if the jack completely slipped and my friends weren't there, i would have been dead.. after that, i fixed the flange on the muffler and we set the tires on blocks with the jackstands and the jack under the car.. a lesson learned.. place the jackstands where they will be secure and you know they will not slip.. also flat ground helps too..

Also, some thick wood beams to stand ready to catch the car should the worst happen. My dad almost got his head crushed from his tractors wheels one day when he was working on it. It was just a luck that there was something stopping the tractor from rolling further.

After we jack up cars, we give it a few nice shoves side to side to make sure the jack stands don't slip.
I also chock the wheels just in case.
Wel also use the jack as a secondary stand if we aren't using for anything else.

well, just be sure you know even a black top driveway can and do the same during hot days. the stands sink in and tip over just like in dirt (never had it happen to me as I have a cement garage and use a lift at work) I also drive by houses and see blocks of wood and cement blocks holding cars up

Good thing you are ok, I wouldnt advise the use of stands in the grass, even if your working on the car in a driveway you should put wedges under your tires, never know if theres a slight hill......

I too have a dirt/stone driveway and I bought a sheet of plywood to put the jack and stands on so everything doesnt sink into the ground. I wouldnt recommend a thin sheet though, I got 3/4"

I had your picture on my brain last night as I jacked my car up. Of course, this was in my garage with nice flat smooth concrete. And, as said above, I always give the car a shake after setting it on the stands before I put any of my body parts under it.

Just out of curiosity, what does that label on the jack stand say???

glad to hear you are ok.

one time i was working on a jeep and i had the rear end LCAs held with jack stands. the front was held with only a floor jack (i know, now). i figured this would not be a problem as i did not need the front up. it was just easy thios way .if the front fell i would be safe under the rear. WRONG.

so about 20 minutes after i was done for the day i come back out to get my tools (had eaten lunch) and was greated by the jack about halfway lowered (it just sank) and the jacks leaning at about a 40* angle toward the front of the car. as the jack lowered the car drifted forward. had i beed under it i may never have noticed and been crushed by a rear differential.

now in this perticular instrance i was never under the car as i was doing drum brakes, but STILL. anyway lesson learned.

buy a lottery ticket today, you are a lucky person!

When i was a kid(2-3 years ago), always id jack a car up and never use stands, well ive got a little smarter about that and i always use stands if any part of my body rest under the car. I live at the bottom of a street and its a hill anyway you do it. I have to make use with what i got. Once my car fell...the stands completely went sideways and the jack fell over. I was not under it so no harm(that part of the street was just too much of an incline). Ive pretty much learned the ways of my jack/jack stands/car/street. The jackstands almost always sink 1/4-1/2" everytime i use them in the asphalt, it sucks. I wish i had a flat concrete pad id feel a lot more safe. Whenever im done putting the car on stands. I do liek said and then raise the jack till it touchs the frame or crossmember so that if the stands fail i have the jack as a backup. And always like said i push/shove/shake with my body to make sure my car is secure. I learned that from using lifts at my auto tech class and i always do it now to check.

Be safe guys

Use blocks on the wheels that are still touching the ground! Then it wont roll!

If you are jacking on grass. Use a 1sq ft peice of wood under each jack so the weight is distributed so a corner of the jack wont sink in causing the car to tip off the stands.

your making me scared to work underneath my car again. i guess the best way would be double check everything and then triple check again.

I still check over stuff a couple times even though I have one of these.

I use a rack ( sort of like a lift, only you drive up on it, and you can work down below) I never have problems with that.
When I work on the race car, it's usually on a concrete floor and at the race track, we try to pit on a concrete pad. Perfect example.... a couple of weeks ago at the race track, one of our crew members was under the front of the car. The car was supported by four jack stands and the jack. It was also parked on ashpalt instead of the usual concrete pad. The jack stands on the driver side were actually sinking into the asphalt ( Our race car weighs about 3000 lbs without the driver) while the crew guy was under the car. No one noticed it until we started to lower the car. When we pulled the jack stands on the passenger side and lowered the jack, the rest of the jacks tipped over and dropped the car. We looked and the jack stands on the drivers side were embedded into the ground.
Just a remider to work safe, and always find some one to help out it it's possible.

sorry but I do hope you actually had something UNDER those stands besides grass... If not, it does not surprise me at all it slid. If you did have something, my I suggest a better stand point? front sub frame, not the a arms (it looks like they were there so if not I retract accusation) but still keep the suggestion for other stand points.
The a arms are made to bend and flex... inherantly unstable.

When I need to jack and have nothing but grass/soft ground/gravel I get one of those padio stepping stone things (flat concrete 3" thick 14" around) or as an absolute LAST resort a GOOD 2X8 or 2X10 that spans the width of the car so both stands are on same support.

Why a 2X(8)10? it is both wide and thick enough to cover the stand base's with room to spare.
Why have the length to have both stands on same board, if the car is slightly moved by wide or whatever BOTH stands can compensate each other. If they are allowed to move seperately... there is no stability at all.

And yes I have had similar incidents when I was younger (and stupider)...
I had a 76 camaro front frame bounce off my chest leaving a nice c shaped scar.

Even if I had a lift I couldn't get any of my cars onto them...too low.

Jack, Jackstands, and Wheel Chocks. Shake the car when on stands, shake again.

....especially because my jack likes to lower on me :::buy a new jack:::

Wow, I cant imagine how that must have felt!! I always leave the jack under too just incase!! Jack stands just dont look sturdy enough for me to fully trust them

Ever heard of 2x6 lumber? Instantly raises car 2 inchs or more when driven on (depending on how many are stacked)

You're a very lucky man. NEVER use jackstands on ANYTHING but a solid (concrete, asphalt, whatever) surface that's LEVEL.

As a mechanic I usually leave the jack under there too unless I need it for something or it's in my way. Make sure to give it a small nudge after you put it on the stands.

Concrete is the only thing thats really strong enough for the high loads of a jackstand. My brother almost died when he had his car jacked up on an asphault driveway. Barely managed to pull him out in time before the car rolled over the jack and down the driveway.

back in highschool my friend's boyfriend was killed in autoshop class when the jack gave out. very tragic

Glad you made it. Ya, I usually use the jack stands and try and keep the car jack up in posiotion underthere somewhere as well. And also, I block the wheels with wood, even though its in park, and even though u have a e brake on. Once again, glad ur ok.

Same here. I dont trust either 100%

I normally use my big heavy duty jackstands and leave the snag snuggly against the jacking surface but not supporting it.

I chock ANY wheel on the ground....Ive had a jack fail on me before and scare me ****less.

Usually I end up putting my whole car on 4 jackstands and work on the underside/exhaust that way...makes tranny jobs EASY

WOW, i had the same thing happen to me when i was 16. Was working on my buddies 78 camaro in the street, and they recently laid down new black top. Since it was so hot oustide the jack stands slowly imprinted them selves into teh black top and eventuly one side of the stand imprinted its self further into the ground and the car rolled foward.

Luckly i already had the oil pan off or that would have smoked my head.

Noone has mentioned to make sure care is in PARK(duh) and that your EMERGENCY BRAKE(hint hint emergency) is PULLED BACK AS FAR AS IT WILL GO. Also put some kind of stoppers behind/infront of your wheels on the ground.

Man you were totally lucky. I will think twice now before going under my car. A good lesson for all of us.

anyway, i have a nice new background now!

Luckily, I know my jack is a piece of crap and don't trust it further than I can throw it.


Jack stands

After reading a thread similar to this one I stopped jaking my car up in the driveway b/c its a slope and I always do it in the garage now with jack stands and blocks behind the tires. You are really lucky that your ok and im glad you didn't get hurt.

After reading this today and putting my car up on stands in my garage I was wondering did I put the stands in the right place. Please be kind I am a noob. Anyway, I jacked up the car and put the stands under the "frame" or what I think is the frame. It is the part right under the doors and runs the full length of the car from inside the front wheels to the inside of of the back tires. Is this the best place to put the stands. I will take some pics and you guys tell me if this is the safest place. I don't want to expierience my car falling. Especially if I am under it working. Thanks.

This is where I put them. Is this safe?