That was scary!

ObiHann · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:26 am

I'm going to summarize a long story here. I just the other week got my vehicle under coated, and its not 100% dry, still wet in most places, probably cause they put excess on or something. Either way, I got a early bday present the other day, 3 1/2 ton jack. Big, great height, beautiful. So I did what I always do and start lifting the front end from the skid plate. I get it very high up (my mistake) and gave it one more pump and.... BANG! the lift slips out cause of the f'n undercoat and my bumper crashes down on it. Now, there was already a good crack in the bumper (videos of how it happened to lol) so it just made that worse. And there is no visible crack from the front, you have to bend over. It looks like nothing was damaged, lights and all work but still. That scared me. Now, I never work on it with just the lift, always use my axle stands, and the next time I lifted it, I made sure to raise the stands under the a-arms at the same time as the lift, so if it slipped again, it wont drop far. This is more my stupid fault, thankfully I wasn't stupid to work without stands. Either way, reminded me of safety for sure haha. I even kept the lift under it at half incase the stands broke this time, and got nervous when I had to move it do change the filter :S :oops:

GeoJeeper · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:18 am

Glad you weren't under it! Definitely nothing to mess around with. I'm a little paranoid in that way. I always use my stands when I'm going under the vehicle.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:50 am

For some under vehicle work, Ramps are better. Nice thing about the KJ w/ a little lift on it, is that you don't need to go to high to work under it.

Glad you were being safe and not under there when it slipped off.

ObiHann · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:57 am

I haven't seen many ramps locally that are very high, and by that I mean not even as high as the bottle jack that comes with it :S Your right though, its pretty easy to get under, especially since I got rid of my step bars.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:59 am

I always use a jack AND stands too. Something about getting crushed makes me nervous.

Terry

DryBones · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:41 am

I use ramps and also ALWAYS use tire chucks on the back wheels to make sure nothing is moving at all.

Oh, and stop jacking up on the front skid plate! there are places where that jack is suppose to go! :lol:

ObiHann · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:43 am

Ramps might not be a bad idea to do a additional saftey measure. They if my stands break, if falls on the ramps.

Inc · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:04 pm

Fulltimer wrote:

Something about getting crushed makes me nervous.

Terry

Me too.

David Jr · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:34 pm

Fulltimer wrote:

I always use a jack AND stands too. Something about getting crushed makes me nervous.

Terry

AMEN!!!!! And wheel chucks on the rear wheels too.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:43 pm

jackstands and wheel ramps and keep the jack under there, and weld an eyelet to the roof and build a winch in your garage and hook the winch to the eyelet and then support it by the winch

AYYYYY!!! *thumbs up*

jeepskate · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:04 pm

I love the ramps. Drive it up, slide the jackstands under, chock the back wheels and it's going NOwhere.

ObiHann · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:07 pm

Well I'm not going to get ramps to repalce the jack cause I frigging love my floor jack, but the stands sound like a good safety idea..

jeepskate · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:08 pm

ObiHann wrote:

I haven't seen many ramps locally that are very high, and by that I mean not even as high as the bottle jack that comes with it :S Your right though, its pretty easy to get under, especially since I got rid of my step bars.

Obi, the ramps don't need to be all that high. Since they go under the tires, they'll lift it pretty high. With the bottle jack, youre starting at the frame or the axle.

ObiHann · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:22 pm

jeepskate wrote:

ObiHann wrote:

I haven't seen many ramps locally that are very high, and by that I mean not even as high as the bottle jack that comes with it :S Your right though, its pretty easy to get under, especially since I got rid of my step bars.

Obi, the ramps don't need to be all that high. Since they go under the tires, they'll lift it pretty high. With the bottle jack, youre starting at the frame or the axle.

True enough. I want to make sure how I jack it is correct so please correct me if I am wrong here. I put my jack under my engine skid than put my axle stands on my a-arms. I can't find any other place to do it.... I really like the idea of some ramps for extra saftey though, since I can't always use both jack and stands (ie if I need to get to the filter)....

DryBones · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:29 pm

jack stands go under the frame below the front doors where you see the notch.(check your owners manual for jack location). Ramps can be driven up onto them. don't jack or support on your A arms or your front skid, there is no reason for that other than asking for trouble. If all you want to do is get the front up to change the oil and filter than ramps are just fine. Here are some shots of mine.

JACK OR JACK STANDS GO HERE (SEE THE NOTCH?)

Oh and Obi? Keep the jack for doing 5 tire rotations and get ramps for under carriage work. your garage will look better too with all that stuff in there. :wink:

Craftsman 4 ton floor jack, and matching stands(not pictured). Craftsman shop vac, craftsman toolchest and tools,Craftsman lawn mower...can you tell Sears gets a lot of my paycheck? :lol:

ObiHann · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:10 am

Though I will be looking for ramps for added saftey, I'm going to keep using my new jack to lift it up for a while. Also, I don't have my own garage to start storing all this, I use my parents (my house doesn't have one lol). Glad to find out I was screwing up on the stand positions, but, where should I jut the jack? Should I jack each side on the frame, then put the stands on the correct spots, lower that side, jack the other side?

DryBones · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:46 am

yes, exactly. jack a side and put in the stand then go jack the other side. some guys will jack on the front skid plate and do both stands at the same time but you already saw what happens if you get the jack too high and the pressure point angles get too steep.

tomsjeep · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:40 pm

Could always be worse...
there was a 'darwin award' winner some years back that was working under his vehicle, had it propped up using spare vehicle batteries. Batteries collapsed, casings broke open spilling acid on the guy, who was pinned/crushed underneath the vehicle. Slow, painful death ensued.
Good info on the jack notches. Thanks, I'd have done it wrong too.

ObiHann · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:58 am

DryBones wrote:

yes, exactly. jack a side and put in the stand then go jack the other side. some guys will jack on the front skid plate and do both stands at the same time but you already saw what happens if you get the jack too high and the pressure point angles get too steep.

So is there any problem with only using a jack stand1 on each side (ie jacking up the front only) or will this cause suspension damage?

ObiHann · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:58 am

DryBones wrote:

yes, exactly. jack a side and put in the stand then go jack the other side. some guys will jack on the front skid plate and do both stands at the same time but you already saw what happens if you get the jack too high and the pressure point angles get too steep.

So is there any problem with only using a jack 1 stand on each side (ie jacking up the front only) or will this cause suspension damage?

That was scary!

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