What's the worst story lifting or jacking a vehicle

[33 IMP]

This wasn't a tragedy, but it could have been.
My company was part of a small industrial complex that had a very unlevel parking lot that backed up against a chainlink fence, a small dirt berm and a commuter railroad tracks. Blueline trains came by at around every 15 minutes, at around 50mph.
One of the companies in our complex did lane striping and asphalt repair. Their dumptruck had lost a clutch, and they tried to fix it themselves, and completely failed. The truck was sitting with the trans half out and hanging, when the company moved, and we thought it was abandoned.
One day, a towtruck driver showed up with a hook, to pick up the dump and take it to the new location of the company. He was pissed however when he realized the dump was half full of solidified asphalt, several tons worth, and a trans about ready to fall out. He cussed, told us he would be back with a rollback.
When he got back he started to winch this extremely heavy dump onto his rollback, when somehow his chain came loose as the dump was about halfway up.
The dump rockets off the rollback, gains speed rolling down hill, cleanly snaps a two foot thick power pole, goes through the chainlink fence and partway up the berm, killing power to the industrial complex for a half mile in every direction.
If it hadn't hit the power pole, there would have been a multiple ton dump on the railroad tracks, if it hadn't been for the chainlink fence, the power pole would have been across the tracks.
Who do you call, and how do you convince them to stop a commuter train?

 

[Kern Dog]

Wow, that is a mess!
I've often wondered about what a pisser it would be to have some type of failure in a fully loaded truck or van....all that weight.

 

[kiwigtx]

Actually, I just recalled a memory from my high school days. My friend's brother (Mark) is a mechanic....and like all mechanics, was always working on stuff at home. Their driveway was a gentle slope, and he didn't have any spare jack-stands....wait for it....

he was working on his V8 re=powered 4-cyl Ford Zephyr (similar to one pictured below - because posts are worthless without pics), and he relied solely upon his 2-ton hydraulic jack. This time he was under the car working on the rear end....approached on his back (directly on the concrete) from the rear, and facing up towards the front of the diff. While working away alone at home, the hydraulic jack let go reasonably fast. Although not crushing or pinning Mark to the ground, he was trapped all the same - unable to wriggle out from under the car.

Remember how I said earlier that the driveway had a slope? Well, the car started rolling towards the house...about 5 metres away, and kept going until it hit the house...making a good hole in the exterior cladding. Mark was also dragged by the car by his chin, and hung on for the ride with the little amount he could grab in a panic. Scraped his back up pretty good, and bruised his chin...but not as much as his bruised ego.

Needless to say, I am sure he always used jack-stands after that day. It also impressed upon me the value of them.

Mark was also known for driving that car with a pair of vice-grips in place of the steering wheel.....on gravel at that time.

 

[33 IMP]

@kiwigtx, my repowered english ford

 

[kiwigtx]

@kiwigtx, my repowered english ford

View attachment 682656

Cool Cortina....I had 3 Mk1 Escorts over the years. ....'68 and '69 models.

 

[33 IMP]

Kerndog, a man trying to commit suicide a few years back left his jeep Cherokee on the tracks in glendale, then chickened out and abandoned the jeep.
The ensuing crash involved three trains, killed at least ten, with two hundred injured.
The dumptruck I spoke of weighed at least 20 times that jeep.

 

[Kern Dog]

I think that I remember that story but for some reason I seem to recall that the offender was driving a GMC Envoy SUV. Maybe I have a fuzzy memory of it.
It is a tragedy nonetheless.

 

[moparsaver]

1989 Framingham Chrysler Plymouth. The mechanic working next to me brings in a Plymouth voyager to replace the failing A604 transmission with a remanufactured unit under warranty. It was noontime and the car was supposed to be ready to roll at the end of the day. He pulled the car in (in a rush) and it was a little off center of the lift. On the way up... It slides and falls to the right. The only thing holding it up was the 1 inch square tube of the side of the roof rack on his toolbox. Thankfully, there were no injuries. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

 

[Carmine]

Ok here we go... I was working on my 68 Charger R/T when I was 17 or 18 in my parents garage, I was installing new Crager S/S wheels & tires on the car & doing a shift kit in the transmission while I had it in the air, on some cheap a$$ Grand Auto pin style stamped steel jack stands, I was under the car I kept hearing a pop noise every once in a while, I got out from under the car to see what's up, I saw the punk 11-12 year old kid across the street he had shot my car with his Be Be gun in the past so I was suspected he was the cause of the noise I went over tore into him told him I was going to kick his butt, he swore it wasn't him & that his father beat his a$$ for doing it the last time, so he wasn't ever going to do it again.... I walked back to the garage & went back to work under the car, I heard the noise a couple of times again, jumped out ran over & threatened the kid again, he again swore it wasn't him, so I knocked on the door his dad took him inside & beat his butt yet once again... I walked back to the car got under & was messing with the trans when all of a sudden the car rocked backwards & fell off the stands with me under the car 3800lbs of Charger on my chest & only 1) of the 15"x10" with N50-15 wheel tire combo on the back, the others still sitting on the floor beside the car, my head luckily was in the tunnel area, but my arm was under the Transmission cross member, no one was home to hear me scream to help me out from under the car... I was laying on an old wood creeper it was basically split in two, I was able to crawl out the back of the car under the 1) side were the wheel was on luckily the car was kind of propped up by the broken cheap a$$ Grand Auto jack stands {the weld popped on or at the spot welds}, luckily it didn't completely crush me... I put the wheels & tires on 1 at a time, then buttoned up the trans & went to the Emergency room at the hospital... Well I told the nurse my arm hurt, she said they will have to X-ray it, I sat down in the waiting room my chest was hurting a little I put my fingers on my sternum area & they went way in between my ribs, I freaked out & yelled for the nurse, they took me into a room instantly.... I woke up 3 days later with a in a drug induced stupper with a split/fractured sternum & a broken left arm & 7 cracked ribs, multiple scraps & stiches... It was like 10 months to a year or so before I could play Football or Baseball, let alone work on my car etc... After I got home from the hospital 16 days latter, I had to go across the street & tell my neighbors kid & parents I'm sorry for accusing his kid of shooting my car with the Be Be gun again.... The thing is, he ended up helping me with a bunch of my future projects & even went racing with me... Well that's my Funny "NOT" story of jacking up or working on a jacked up car.....

Well, things were slow on the C body site so I came here and read this thread... The guy I quoted wins.

 

[Pops1967GTX]

 

[chargervert]

I had one of those Mopar bumper jacks that have the separate hook separate from the hook and crack me in the head! I saw stars! I had cuts in my head that matched the teeth on the back of the jack post!

 

[Fran Blacker]

I had one of those Mopar bumper jacks that have the separate hook separate from the hook and crack me in the head! I saw stars! I had cuts in my head that matched the teeth on the back of the jack post!

That crack on the head give you the idea to make a Charger vert? Hell'a of an idea!

 

[chargervert]

It's how I got the dain bramage! I remember back in high school auto shop,a kid flipped a van onto the car in the next stall,when he lowered the van on the lift with the drivers side door open and the door caught a handrail on the side of the wheel alignment pit. Another kid got into a teacher's truck that was up on a 5ton floor jack,and turned the key without pushing the clutch pedal down, it started and crashed into the workbenches in front of it,cracking the wall.

 

[Nate S]

A guy I worked with had previously been an engineer at a company that made railroad equipment. The company I worked for had a rail line that went directly behind it. One day a huge railroad brush cutter goes chugging by and this guy states' "I designed that thing! It can cut a phone pole off without even slowing down!" about 3 minutes later the power went out. The thing had cut an electric pole.

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[chargervert]

Those TuRDS were known for frame rot issues!

 

[moparedtn]

This is one of the reasons I like FBBO so much - these older threads that pop back up make
for good reading for sure.
The joint is an archive, whether that was the original intent or whatnot...

As for the subject of the thread....well, y'all give me enough grief over jack stands as it is.

 

[Nate S]

Those TuRDS were known for frame rot issues!

Yeah, everyone who owned one got a free frame replacement. Quite the deal if you picked one up for cheap.

 

[Ron H]

Imagine how many more posts could a been posted here...if only the guys had survived their jack failure encounters...

 

[dadsbee]

^^^^^ Yep, 12 years old riding my bike past the BP station and there's the mechanic squashed under the car after it fell off the air assist bumper lift onto him while fixing someone's exhaust. Dead...