Safety first (dropped my TJ today)

[WallyWest]

Putting springs and shocks in the front today. What bothers me the most about this is I have no idea why it happened.

I had disconnected the sway bar links at the axle, and the track bar also at the axle. Removed the lower shock bolts, had not removed the uppers yet as I was working on springs first. I had the frame supported with jack stands just behind the LCA mounts. I had a scissor jack on the passenger side of the axle, and a hydraulic floor jack under the differential.

The only thing that saved me from major damage was I also laid the tires under the frame.

I wasn't even touching it at the time. I heard a snap, as if something had broken, and the whole front end fell towards the passenger side. The right rotor was in the pavement, but thanks to the tire it didn't hit hard and nothing appears to be busted. I had to do some creative lifting with several bottle jacks to free my floor jack, and then was able to get the front end back up. I had the axle lifted on the passenger side, and drooping on the driver's side. Which seems to me like if it was going to fall any direction it should have fallen towards the driver's side.

My first thought was that something on the right side failed, either the scissor jack or the jack stand. But both were fine. They were tipped over, but still holding. And once I got them out and inspected them they have no damage and still do their job. Nothing connected to the axle had shifted, broken loose, etc...

Was doing this in the street, I don't have a garage, but it is level. I've had much heavier vehicles with all four wheels off the ground in the same spot, with the same equipment supporting them and no problems.

And no, my jack stands aren't from Harbor Freight. Not doing anything else until I can figure out what happened. And I think I'll leave the wheel on the side I'm not working on, just lift one corner instead of the whole front end.

 

[AndyG]

Man be careful .

 

[taylormade73]

Glad you're not hurt.

 

[Kevin Q]

Glad to hear you are ok. Must have been scary. Streets always have a camber. It can be very slight but since the Jeep fell towards the passenger side I would guess that the weight distribution and pressure was just enough to tip it.

 

[John Cooper]

^^^^^ this!! You can never be to careful!!

 

[qslim]

Damn dude, glad you weren't under there. Posts like this are great, they remind everyone to take extra car working under their vehicles because the consequences of a failure like this can just be disastrous. Thanks for posting, if you ever figure out what did it please follow up. Was it lifted near a curb or something where the pavement drops off a bit for drainage or something?

 

[Jamison C]

I agree with @qslim. This topic can never be beaten to death. My uncle bought the farm a few months ago when his tractor tipped over on him while he was working on it. No one knows how, as he was in a level spot and the jacks had no indication of damage or failure. Just one of those freak things. Glad you and the Jeep are alright.

 

[WallyWest]

The thing is, yes, the street does have a bit of a slope to it. It's slight, but I checked it at one point with a level. It slopes towards the curb slightly. And my Jeep fell away from the curb.

The only theory I have is I did see when you disconnect the track bar and lift one side of the axle it pushes to one side or the other. I saw that however and that's why I had so many jacks on it. When I tilted the axle I'd lift the frame and reposition the jack stands so they were nice and straight. It's not like it shifted it much, but I could see the jack stand trying to lean a bit. So possibly the way I had the axle drooping on one side was resulting in a push to the other side that was strong enough to topple the jack stand eventually.

Or one of my stands or jacks broke loose somehow. Now I don't trust any of them, except the floor jack it wasn't really doing anything at the time.

Anyway, got the new springs on one at a time by only taking one wheel off. No issues doing it that way. I had a jack stand and a bottle jack side by side under the frame, and the tire laying next to them, and I watched the jack stand like a hawk the whole time, lol. Never budged.

 

[Zorba]

Thank Goddess you had that tire under the frame - that's an old trick I've done myself for years that I don't see/hear of too many people doing.

 

[jjvw]

The track bar shifts the axle, as do the control arms. The floor jack is on wheels and can adjust during the lift. The scissor jack, bottle jack and jack stands cannot and can easily shift in ways you may not notice until it is too late.

In addition to watching my stands for movement, something I do when lifting is give things a little shake to make sure the load settles and to make sure the rolling floor jack is where it wants to be.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Was it asphalt? Did the jack stand sink into the street and maybe cause it to lose balance and kick the stand out from under it? I've seen people use jack stands on asphalt and it leave a good 3/4 inch deep cuts in it once they were done and went to remove the jack stands.

Glad you're ok.

 

[Flivver250]

A dear friend of mine in Vermont who had decades of experience, owned a local service garage, had way more wisdom and experience than I. He made one mistake at home, tinkering on his own dump truck. Raised the dump bed, didn't block it, and extended his head and shoulders beteen the frame and the raised box. You can guess what happened next. None of us know why opened a hydraulic fitting with the system loaded. One brain fart over a lifetime of safe work was all it took. Glad you are okay. Only cats have nine lives, you just used your one mulligan. You did something wrong, don't do that again whatever it was. Review your process and inspect your equipment.

 

[WallyWest]

Thank Goddess you had that tire under the frame - that's an old trick I've done myself for years that I don't see/hear of too many people doing.

Yeah, I learned that at an early age and got into the habit. Made me think of all the times I've laid underneath a vehicle supported pretty much the same way I was using today. I mean I probably would have lived, thanks to that tire, but could have been seriously injured.

Was a real dramatic illustration of how most of the lifting equipment we use is only designed to fight gravity. Give it any kind of side load and good luck.

Crazy that just a random assortment of people on this forum and there's two stories of friends and family that lost their lives to something like this. We all gotta go sometime, it's just harder to accept those fluke accidents and momentary judgment lapses. Considering all the stupid stuff I did in my younger years it's amazing I'm still alive.

 

[Chris]

something I do when lifting is give things a little shake to make sure the load settles and to make sure the rolling floor jack is where it wants to be.

Been doing this for decades, and will continue to do it. Once it's up on stands, always try and shake the vehicle to make sure things are properly in place.

 

[Flivver250]

In the interest of honesty, I too have had slips and falls when haste overrode common sense. One habit I have after placing a vehicle on jack stands is to shake the shite out of the rig before proceeding to wheel removal. Here at my parking garage shop, I have two floor jacks and 4 stands. I prefer overkill. I am on a level cement surface which helps. My IQ drops dramatically when I am on a motorcycle. Knowing that hasn't kept me much safer.

 

[Goatman]

Sounds to me (I have a lot of experience in this department) like the Jeep rolled back (or forward) a bit and the front axle being down on the driver side pushed the Jeep to the passenger side when it tipped all the Jack's and jackstands. I know this won't help most people, but after a 1 ton Chevy came off the jackstands and pinned my neighbor underneath (lucky I needed to borrow something or else he would have be pinned for hours) we always chain up the vehicle to a front end loader raised above the vehicle we are working under.
When I was a teen I had a car roll forward and the jack (didn't use stands back then) luckily pushed it sideways as it fell. The frame missed my head. It was so close I lost my hat and some hair. Turned me religious for a while!
Now whenever I'm under any machine and I'm alone I'm sure to call someone and let them know. I'll make a 'check-in call's every 1/2 hour. If I miss a call they call me. If I don't answer the phone they are on their way over.
I try to use as many stands as I can and also use a few cement blocks incase anything slips.
Glad you are alright. Please be safe. Most of these happen (in my experience) from the far end axle that's on the ground rolling forward or back causing everything to tip. Be sure the vehicle is in gear and E-brake pulled HARD and have every wheel that touches the ground braced from moving either direction.

 

[Mobusaki]

Glad you're OK, and glad you posted here as a reminder to the rest of us to be more careful. I was installing new control arms the other day and was jacking the front end up and down over and over trying to get the bolt holes to line up. When I was done I noticed one of the jack stands had worked its way halfway out from under the frame. If I had kept doing what I was doing the Jeep would have fallen.

If I take a tire off I always put it under the transfer case skid plate on the Jeep. I feel less safe doing this since I installed a tummy tuck... The Jeep can fall a good distance before it gets to a tire, and then I worry it will bounce off. Still better than not having them under there. I plan to get more quality jack stands and go overboard with them every time.

Shaking the vehicle to make sure things are settled is a good idea I will adopt also.

 

[liquidfluidity]

Definitely a good deal that you're ok.

I too "dropped" mine once. I was in a tricky situation as I had the body lifted and supported and axles completely removed. Pretty sure a few years were removed from my life when it dropped as I had my legs under it. As you did, I had the rear wheels under the frame just in front of the rear LCAs......

Stuff happens even when you're trying to be safe.

 

[HBomber8]

Wow! Glad you’re ok! I usually put the tire under the frame too, especially since I use a scissor jack with my jack stands (going to invest in floor jacks now) but I’m definitely gonna start shaking the whole Jeep just to make sure everything is settled. That’s a great idea. Thank you for the safety reminder, and again, so glad you’re alright.

 

[InOmaha]

The county replaced the wooden bridge near our country road and we were able to take the old wood. We cut up the best parts of posts and planks into cribbing blocks. We never used jack stands. I've gotten into the habit of lifting, cribbing, and setting the load back down on a wide surface. It's harder the taller the vehicle. I've been using ramps and wood blocks, but may go looking for someone who's giving away free wood and chainsaw some larger stump pieces to use as backup the taller I get. This is the sort of stuff we'd use to support tractors and combines when working on them. For some equipment we'd raise it and put steel barrels under the edges.

I do use jack stands under the axles when I'm rotating tires and doing some minor stuff like brakes where I'm not under the vehicle. A guy in my hometown had his car roll forward on jack stands and pin him between the bumper and his workshop. He was lucky someone heard him and he only broke a bone.

For example these local stumps are cut and free on craigslist if I haul them. Some of them look to be about 2 feet in diameter and they'd work better than a tire for cribbing. And they're free. I could burn what doesn't work in the firepit or all of it when I'm done with my project if I don't want to store them.