DIY Death

Hotwheels

Another man has lost his life under a car after a jack slipped, folks if you are servicing your car, spend money on safety & get the best possible equipment you can...Saving your life is more important than saving a few Bob...Very sad, and only 32yrs old

From the Indo

A MAN was crushed to death when a car jack slipped and the vehicle he was working on collapsed on top of him.

The 32-year-old Lithuanian was working on the underside of the vehicle outside his home at Inniscrone Mews, off Avenue Road in Dundalk, when the accident happened at about 12.30pm yesterday.

Its only about a year or so since a similar accident claimed a mans life in Cork I think it was...

Belts and braces

Plug

Lots of Eastern Europeans up my way doing the exact same thing. Under the car with a sh!tty little jack. Some will never learn. An accident waiting to happen.

CiniO

I took my car once to some Polish mechanic which was doing some work at his home.
I wanted to change wishbone.
I was really frightened when I saw a guy on a really poor jack shaking all car while trying to take the old wishbone off the car, and putting his head underneath to see. The jack was bending and squaking, and he had his head right under the car.
I couldn't believe what I saw.

DublinDilbert

I've seen even worse, an engine + gear box being changed in a deawo matiz, by dropping the sub frame and jacking the car up over the engine. The two front tires were on thier side with a small trolly jack on top of them raising the car up...

unkel

Terrible tragedy, RIP

I was under the car myself last week but I made sure 2 axle stands were very secure and I had the trolley jack right beside one of the axle stands just in case...

Plug

DublinDilbert wrote: »

I've seen even worse, an engine + gear box being changed in a deawo matiz, by dropping the sub frame and jacking the car up over the engine. The two front tires were on thier side with a small trolly jack on top of them raising the car up...

How did they get it up far enough to remove the gearbox and engine?

unkel

DublinDilbert wrote: »

The two front tires were on thier side with a small trolly jack on top of them raising the car up...

Do I get this right? The two wheels were piled on top of each other and sitting on top of the two wheels was the trolley jack raising the car up? :eek:

DublinDilbert

The guy had the jack combo under the floor close to the centre, near where the gear stick is. The front suspension was fully taken out. He had it raised up enough (say 3 ft at the very front) to man handle the engine out. I guess the front end of it was light with no suspension, engine or gear box.

DublinDilbert

unkel wrote: »

Do I get this right? The two wheels were piled on top of each other and sitting on top of the two wheels was the trolley jack raising the car up? :eek:

Exactly. Apparently this type of work by the side of the road is quite comon in the developing world...

Owen

It's terrible to still hear of this happening, especially after the similar death of a man in Cork. It's huge in Eastern Europe to do this too, herself's father was at it one day when I was visiting, and he couldn't understand what my problem was with it.

robtri

such a preventable accident, terrible.. RIP to the guy....

n97 mini

unkel wrote: »

Terrible tragedy, RIP

I was under the car myself last week but I made sure 2 axle stands were very secure and I had the trolley jack right beside one of the axle stands just in case...

Confused. You were under the car but you won't fix the door handle or whatever that small problem is (can't rem)?

teednab-el

n97 mini wrote: »

Confused. You were under the car but you won't fix the door handle or whatever that small problem is (can't rem)?

There is a market for an inventor to come up with a safety mechanism for lifting cars. Jacks are simply not safe enough for this procedure as has been found out time and time again.

Guy:Incognito

teednab-el wrote: »

There is a market for an inventor to come up with a safety mechanism for lifting cars. Jacks are simply not safe enough for this procedure as has been found out time and time again.

A trolleyjack and axle stands are fine and perfectly safe. I'd hazard a guess that the guy killed was using the cars own jack which is lunacy. Those things are for changing wheels when you get a flat, nothing more.

I'd not get under a car supported only by a jack. Axle stand(s) and a jack and I'm happy enough but still a tad nervous (no need to be still nervous but I just am)

n97 mini

teednab-el wrote: »

There is a market for an inventor to come up with a safety mechanism for lifting cars. Jacks are simply not safe enough for this procedure as has been found out time and time again.

Nothing to do with unkel being defeating by his brain over the broken door handle on his car!

unkel

n97 mini wrote: »

Confused. You were under the car but you won't fix the door handle or whatever that small problem is (can't rem)?

The door handle was a tricky job. Qualified mechanics refused to do it. I was under the car for an oil service. But let's not get off topic here.

Voodoomelon

Can't believe that, that poor chap is only about 4 miles away from me.

The most nerve wracking job i've had to do was have the front of my car up on two axle stands and the rear up on two ramps and then with the engine running, slide in underneath, right under the gearbox and fill it up to spec with a handpump.

Even with the 3 tonne trolley jack at the rear ready to catch, and two spare axle stands at the front doing the same, I was crappin myself. The noise, the heat, the lack of daylight, scary stuff! Why someone would climb under with just a jack is absolute madness, the family must be in some shock...

teednab-el

n97 mini wrote: »

Nothing to do with unkel being defeating by his brain over the broken door handle on his car!

Sorry n97, i didnt mean to quote your piece. I meant to reply to the thread. My apologies.

keithclancy

I was only doing some work on the wheel bearings last week, had the car on a 2 tonne axle stand, the jack and the tyre under it as well for good measure.

Felt so much safer with a lift though, not that I don't trust the axle stands, just that someone driving past for whatever reason could tip off the car when parking or something.

SilverBell

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Exactly. Apparently this type of work by the side of the road is quite comon in the developing world...

Yep, I've seen that a lot in Nepal, India and Pakistan, all on the roadside. Its common to see the vehicle on the stacked wheels, and the back axle removed. Not very stable.


When I'm under my car, I usually have 4 stands under the chassis, say two on the chassis jacking points to take the weight, and 2 in another location (front chassis legs) "just incase". It only takes 2 minutes to put them in. Then give the car a bit of a shake to see is it stable.

no1beemerfan

unkel wrote: »

The door handle was a tricky job. Qualified mechanics refused to do it. I was under the car for an oil service. But let's not get off topic here.

Lets just say I'd do an oil change (easiest thing to do!) in about the 1/4 the time it took to change the door handle.

And also I can confirm Unkel's hand's would have been too big to change the door lock!

Mar4ix

For serious work under car, i used to use 3 ton jack, and at least 2 stands ... rise car, put stands under jack point and chassy , and slightly get car down with jack, make even pressure on stands, and same time on 3.t jack ... car then very stable, not shaking.

TigerTim

Mar4ix wrote: »

For serious work under car, i used to use 3 ton jack, and at least 2 stands ... rise car, put stands under jack point and chassy , and slightly get car down with jack, make even pressure on stands, and same time on 3.t jack ... car then very stable, not shaking.

I also put a couple of spare wheels with tyres underneath as well. I've seen how quickly a car can come crashing down. Luckily no one was under it when the jask slipped.

T.

Voodoomelon

Mar4ix wrote: »

For serious work under car, i used to use 3 ton jack, and at least 2 stands ... rise car, put stands under jack point and chassy , and slightly get car down with jack, make even pressure on stands, and same time on 3.t jack ... car then very stable, not shaking.

Yeh, I do the same, stick her on stands then jack the jack up until I feel pressure, without lifting it off the stands again.

biko

Very sad to hear, this is a real danger when doing driveway mechanics.
Can't be too careful. Axle stands and give the car a few pushes to make sure it's sitting nicely and won't move about suddenly.
Maybe a block or two around the back wheels.