On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:27:36 +0100, Alan B. Pearce wrote:

>...<
> Jack stands are an absolute must. I have used logs of wood, inside a garage,

As long as they're solid, not rotting!  :-)  Old railway sleepers (I think you call them ties) are available
as surplus here and are strong enough to take any vehicle I've ever worked on.  A pain to saw them to size,
though.

> but don't ever use concrete blocks, they don't like point contact
> compression loads and tend to break up.

Or bricks - same problem but less strength in the first place.  I've seen someone build a 6-brick-high "stand"
for a car, only to see it fall over (almost in slow motion!) when one edge of the bottom one gave way.  After
he'd taken the wheel off, of course!

My father managed to get his car to fall off whatever stand he was using while he was under it, but luckily he
hadn't taken any wheels off, one pair of wheels was over the kerb and he was lying in the gutter so he wasn't
squashed at all, but he was stuck under there until a passer-by managed to get it jacked up again.

And when you're working under the car, try not to bang your head.  I know of someone who banged his head on
the bottom of the car, reflex threw his head back until it hit the ground, reflex threw his head forward until
it hit the car... he did three "Ow-Ow!" repeats before he managed to stop himself...

Cheers,

Howard Winter
St.Albans, England

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