I know that none of you guys know him, and I only spoke with him online once or twice, but when things like this happen it opens your eyes a bit. From the OP’s thread:
“Well I’m sad to inform everyone that a great friend was killed suddenly last night. Ben Towle just purchased a 2003 cobra and put a lot of time and work into it to get it set up right. After all his hard work it put down 704hp to the wheels. Cars were a big part of his life. He was working on his Cobra last night putting the new clutch in his car when the vehicle shifted and it fell on top of him crushing him. He yelled for help but those around were unable to get the car off of him and when paramedics arrived he was pronounced dead.”
Remember to use jack stands when working on your cars, I know that its “common knowledge”, but sometimes we skimp on safety when we are in a hurry…
I hate reading about things like this. It takes a couple extra minutes and is a MUST, also good to put bricks in front of the wheels that are on the ground. I’ve seen cars roll leading the jack stand to tip over
I never understand how one can even think of crawling under a jacked vehicle without stands. And I don’t even mess around with shitty K-mart type stands. 6 ton minimum burly son of a bitches are what I prefer. Even some of the lowest cars I work on take an hour to get on stands properly, and that includes dropping undertrays and jockeying up but it’s TIME WELL SPENT in doing so.
Be safe kids.
Oh and for those that’ll jump in and say this is where lifts rule…that’s for the fucking birds because I’ve seen/heard of just as many people injured or killed by an improperly loaded lift as those crawling under a car supported by a stupid hydro-jack.
+1 this too. Harbor Frieght, wheel chocks, ~$10 for a pair if you insist on using just two stands. Though if you plan to be under it, leveling the car on four stands is the better way to be.
Apparently it was on jack stands, but the car shifted and fell on him crushing him… I always think what would I do, or COULD I even do if my car fell on me when Im working on it. Because if you guys are anything like me, 9/10 I work on my car alone at night time in the garage.
4 6-ton stands and the jack with a little pressure on it is typically what I use. Totally agree with Boxersix on the jackstands, I’ll never use those rinky-dink ones. Quality 6 ton stands are cheap at Harbor Freight
RIP to him man. I dont even want to think about it.
I am done working on my car on jack stands. I pulled the trans 3 times on it, and the 4th will be done on the lift at ASS. Even changing oil I get all paranoid about sticking my arms under it. Fuck that, I quit working on cars that I need to get under neeth, until I build my garage and lift.
best thing to do when you work on a car is have your 4 jack stands but take all 4 wheels off and stick them under the 4 corners of the car. If the car shifts or falls its not going to miss a big assed wheel with a tire and that may be that 7-8" that give you enough room to breathe
i usually like to keep the jack in place on some point of the car, even with jackstands. and if ive got a wheel off the car i put it under the car so if it were to fall it would atleast land on the wheel, giving me that 6-7inch safety net. might be the difference between a bruise and a crushed skeleton.
