Safety under the car

[Gar]

I stumbled upon this tonight on bmw5 and thought it only right to share, i as im sure many here have been under there car many a time with the ratchet belting away its part of the passion just be extra carefull under your car as it can all end in an instant

90% of the time i will have a spare wheel under the sill the jack still in position but under no load, an axle stand in place the wheels chocked and the car in gear but sometimes risks are taken and you need space so something has to be moved in future if i need to take a risk like this its best to just give the car to a proper mechanic with a lift as its really not worth the risk


Post 16 very sobering
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1619552-OT-But-always-on-topic

This thread highlights the fact that just because that jack stand is in place does not mean you are good to go i have pin stands i will be never touch a ratchet stand an personally i will now be investing in a much higher quality pair of pin stands

[satumashirt611]

seen it too,never thought them stands would be that dangerous.

[Gar]

Me neither i didnt think they would lower like that under load but with a flick of the foot they come right down scary stuff

This lookss like a revised version of the original design and now includes the safety pin

[John_D]

That's a very sad read indeed, as a father it really hit home. I for one will most likely be ditching the cheap pin stands we have and use the bigger older heavy duty ones we have in the garage. +1 Gar, those ratchet stands sound lethal.

[dorgasm]

I've only got ratchet jack stands myself. Think I'll only be using them at the lowest position, off the ratchet from now on...

[Mikeecho]

You can't be too careful.

Jack + Axel stand + 2 spare wheels.

Ppl looking at me might think I'm mad, but fůçķ then.



I aM māđ

[SmokyMo]

Jesus reading that post put a fear of god into me now... I was always a bit paro getting under the car

[Smokey Bear]

I honestly think the ratchet was not properly engaged. As long as the ratchet is engaged and the full weight of that corner is on the stand the design of the stand means that you only have 40-50mm of a lever to lift in around 250kg.

I really think its a case of operator error in this story or else some sort of failure in the stand. I have tried a coule of times to shift the lever on my stands and I never have been able to with the car on the stand.

Its a very sad story and it should motivate people to be aware of the dangers when working under a car.

[KevinF]

I honestly think the ratchet was not properly engaged. As long as the ratchet is engaged and the full weight of that corner is on the stand the design of the stand means that you only have 40-50mm of a lever to lift in around 250kg.

I really think its a case of operator error in this story or else some sort of failure in the stand. I have tried a coule of times to shift the lever on my stands and I never have been able to with the car on the stand.

Its a very sad story and it should motivate people to be aware of the dangers when working under a car.

I agree fully with that, I had a car up on these type stands after I read this and it took a lot of effort to get it to drop.
Basically needing to lever the weight of the car up past the ratchet point, not something you'd be able to do from under the car

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