This is a safety issue well worth keeping an old thread alive and current. Every summer I hear about some guy on the news who had a car fall on him in his driveway. When my son and his friends bought their first cars and start working on them, I was like a broken record " Where are your jack stands". After a while it stuck and its one of the first things brought out to the cars now.
Jackstands- the best $30 tool you can buy. Somebody remember to bump this thread in a month.

 

Bumped for safety reasons..lol.

 

I cant believe that people don't use jackstands, I'm also shocked that it took as many posts as it did for people to say "GET JACK STANDS" I mean, god damn, the fanciness of the jack is not important, the quality of the jackstands is. Even an old scissor jack will lift the car for the 25 seconds you need to put it on proper jackstands.

If 4 is too expensive, get 2, and only work on one side at a time. Need 4 for the job, and can't afford 4? THEN DON'T DO THE JOB. They're not precautionary, they're VITAL. Same logic as running without engine oil.

 

I learned this lesson the hard way too...no such thing as "too expensive" jackstands IMO. If you cant afford them then you have no business working on the car.

 

Jack stands are for wimps...real men bench press their car when it falls off the jack...

 

wow use jack stand. never get under a car with just a jack. i had a similar story. like 6 years ago my friend was under the car when the jack started tipping over. i jumped under and let the car balance on my arms and the jack so he could get out. needless to say the pinch rails cut both arms open and we never did that again.

 

always put something that can hold your car after lifting w/ a floor jack. if you don't have a floor jack, put your spare tire underneath your jack position

 

those 2 ton jacks are cheap and they wear out about every 2 years at least for me they do check out how they leak the fluid from around the bottom no fluid no jack. use jack stands always if you have none put your tire underneath that side of the car so at least you wont be roadkill

or just get paid and buy a lift lmao

 

I have some rubber pads on my forklift. Makes for an easy lift.

 

Since writing my post a long time ago, I've bought 4 jack stands and whenever I lift my car no matter what I'm doing I will always support my car with jackstands and leave the jack under the car somewhere just in case.

I remembered reading somewhere that the only thing preventing the car from falling when you lock the jack is a rubber o-ring somewhere in the jack. And since we know how things are now mostly made over seas and how things made in China are known for their poor quality. I am going to be extra careful from hereon out.

Because getting killed because of some cost cutting and cheap low quality parts, is definitely not a fun reason to die.

 

meh we are all guilty of not using jackstands. If im changing oil i honestly dont bother, with my DD car its to high off the ground to hurt me in anyway and im not under the car im more off to the side. My arm is under it.

If im taking out a trans, doing an exhuast, axles. Something that does require me to crawl under the car THEN i use jackstands.

 

It would suck to die from the failure of a $.15 oring.........That's why I have about 8 jackstands!!!!