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Modify Jack?
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Why would you be under the car when changing a wheel?
My thoughts exactly. Those types of jack should only really be used for emergency wheel changes anyway. If they should fail, the worst that's going to happen is that the car will come crashing down, damaging the hub and / or a bit of bodywork - and even this can be mitigated by putting the spare wheel under the car to act as a bit of a cushion. Sure, it'd be a right pain in the rear end, but to call them "widow-makers" seems a bit melodramatic to me.
And it goes without saying, any time you're doing planned work that involves crawling about underneath the car, you never ever EVER rely on just a jack.0 -
"the tire easily slid on the slick concrete floor" Would a scissor jack have fared any better?0 -
He did that to himself, that wasn't the jack. Hand between arch and tyre while supported only on a jack? Why would you do that? I'm only a hobby mechanic and I certainly wouldn't.
That said, I've never had a garage floor that was sufficiently smooth to allow me to push the car sideways at 90 degrees to the direction of the tyres while one side is up in the air, even if supported with a trolley jack with the jack wheels pointed in the direction I'm pushing.
Do they grind their garage floors smooth and polish them in the US or something?Proud member of the wokerati, though I don't eat tofu.Home is where my books are.Solar PV 5.2kWp system, SE facing, >1% shading, installed March 2019.Mortgage free July 20230 -
A gently squished hand (nothing broken) does not a widow make.0
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Why would you be under the car when changing a wheel?
you dont have to be under the car for a jack failure to be potentially fatal. If a jack fails while you have one wheel up with the wheel bolts undone, then the car would drop down to the floor and if you are crouching on the floor directectly in front of the wheel then the wheel could drop on you with the weight of the car on the wheel.
A lot of people do brake service with just the jack supporting the car. Seen lots of experts do this. If the jack fails and you have your head in the wheel arch to get a closer look behind the caliper then at the very least you have a sore neck after a 1 tonne (albeit a quarter of it) smacks you at the back of the head. Or at worst you have your ratchetpointing at your face while the jack crumples and yout head gets squashed with the wheel arch pushing down behind yur head and your ratchet poking into the front of your face.
Although the risk is low, I still dont fancy my chances.0 -
londonTiger wrote: »you dont have to be under the car for a jack failure to be potentially fatal. If a jack fails while you have one wheel up with the wheel bolts undone, then the car would drop down to the floor and if you are crouching on the floor directectly in front of the wheel then the wheel could drop on you with the weight of the car on the wheel.
I can't quite figure out what sort of contortions you'd need to be in to do that, but it sounds monumentally, vanishingly unlikely.A lot of people do brake service with just the jack supporting the car.
Yep, they do. They're suicidal idiots.Seen lots of experts do this.
Suicidally complacent idiots who should know better.0 -
A bad workmen often blames his tools.
Some people make a drama out of nothing.
I have used those jacks for years, the person says they are a Mechanic but doesn't chock the wheels when jacking up on a non level surface?
Just because it is written on the Internet doesn't make it true.0 -
londonTiger wrote: »A lot of people do brake service with just the jack supporting the car.
Darwin awards in action. That is precisely the sort of thing I was referring to in my earlier post. With 2 cars in the family ( soon to be 3 now that my son has passed his test ), routine brake servicing is something I do quite a lot of. I have never once attempted it with the car supported by a jack alone.
Ultimately, a jack is designed for lifting, not supporting.0 -
Don't know why posters are trying to defend the Widow-Maker; it has killed people; google it; then throw it away.0
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