Larry, you may have saved my life yesterday - literally.
Since I started working on my own cars last August you have posted MANY times , not only in my threads, but other threads as well to always think SAFETY first and think thru everyting before and during whatever action you are doing.
i've seen you post it so much that honestly, even though being new at all this stuff I naturally by my own nature tend to be cautious I can't help but think of all your warnings whenever I'm doing something to the car . i'm always thinking safety first, safety first.
Well, yesterday morning that actually and in reality is probably what saved my life.
There is NO way I would ever consider getting under a car only supported by my floor jack. To me the jack is ONLY to lift the car to get jackstands under it and set it down on the jackstands. Even if I think I may be under there for only 30 seconds to do something fast I'll put the jackstands in place. Once or twice I was tempted to just slide under there to do something quick but than would remember your warnings and grab the stands first.
Yersterday morning I had to get under the car so I got the jackstands ready, got the jack in position and started jacking the car up. When it was about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up somehow it slipped. I don't know how or why, maybe I didn't have it centered correctly on the frame rail, but whatever the reason the jack slipped with the car mostly fully up and it came flying out and the car came crashing down to the ground.
I wasn't close to being hurt, I wasn't under it, I was still just jacking it up when it happened but it made me seriously consider the possibilities of what could have happened if it made it all the way up, I (or anyone) went under the car without the jackstands in place and the jack slipped than!
I know there isn't nearly enough clearance for me to slide under the car from the side with it down which means if I or anyone was under the car when it happened it would have been crushed....
Talking about safety is one thing, but having something even as simple as this little incident happen really demonstrats that you need to think everything thru before and what the possible consequences can be no matter how small the percentage of it actually happening to you is.
As I mentioned, I tend to be a bit cautious by nature but I also tend, at times, to shortcut myself. Your constant warnings about safety were enough to not allow myself to shortcut myself when working on my cars and for that I thank you!
Since I started working on my own cars last August you have posted MANY times , not only in my threads, but other threads as well to always think SAFETY first and think thru everyting before and during whatever action you are doing.
i've seen you post it so much that honestly, even though being new at all this stuff I naturally by my own nature tend to be cautious I can't help but think of all your warnings whenever I'm doing something to the car . i'm always thinking safety first, safety first.
Well, yesterday morning that actually and in reality is probably what saved my life.
There is NO way I would ever consider getting under a car only supported by my floor jack. To me the jack is ONLY to lift the car to get jackstands under it and set it down on the jackstands. Even if I think I may be under there for only 30 seconds to do something fast I'll put the jackstands in place. Once or twice I was tempted to just slide under there to do something quick but than would remember your warnings and grab the stands first.
Yersterday morning I had to get under the car so I got the jackstands ready, got the jack in position and started jacking the car up. When it was about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up somehow it slipped. I don't know how or why, maybe I didn't have it centered correctly on the frame rail, but whatever the reason the jack slipped with the car mostly fully up and it came flying out and the car came crashing down to the ground.
I wasn't close to being hurt, I wasn't under it, I was still just jacking it up when it happened but it made me seriously consider the possibilities of what could have happened if it made it all the way up, I (or anyone) went under the car without the jackstands in place and the jack slipped than!
I know there isn't nearly enough clearance for me to slide under the car from the side with it down which means if I or anyone was under the car when it happened it would have been crushed....
Talking about safety is one thing, but having something even as simple as this little incident happen really demonstrats that you need to think everything thru before and what the possible consequences can be no matter how small the percentage of it actually happening to you is.
As I mentioned, I tend to be a bit cautious by nature but I also tend, at times, to shortcut myself. Your constant warnings about safety were enough to not allow myself to shortcut myself when working on my cars and for that I thank you!
