An Ounce Of Prevention

"Justin Hughes" (justinhughes54) 12/14/2015 at 11:00 • Filed to: Wrenching fails

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Due to the front brakes of my fiancee’s Ford Flex wearing out prematurely (more on that in another article), I found myself replacing her pads and rotors this past weekend. A series of unfortunate events occurred with my jack, but it could have been a whole lot worse if I hadn’t taken a precaution that I rarely have before, but always will from now on.

Read on Right Foot Down or continue below

After consulting with me, she ordered the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I’ll review this more thoroughly later, but for now I’ll say that it’s a good affordable replacement/upgrade for the stock brakes, and Auto Anything shipped them super fast. This was a good thing, since one of her brake pads was down to metal on metal, and the other side wasn’t far behind. As soon as they arrived, I went to install them. It was then that I discovered that my hydraulic floor jack had given up the ghost, as it refused to lift the Flex off the ground. So I used the jack that came with the car. Ordinarily I wouldn’t do this for anything but a quick wheel swap, but the brakes needed to be done, and the jack and spare tire were new, never even removed from the car before. I jacked it up, pulled the wheel, shoved it under the car just in case something went wonky with the jack, and pulled the old pads out.

While I was switching sockets to remove the caliper bracket, something went wonky with the jack. Despite having been included with the Flex, it twisted under the weight. The car moved backwards, and the driver’s side landed on top of the wheel I’d pushed under there on a whim.

The truth is, I rarely do this. I also normally use jack stands, but the stock jack didn’t lift the car high enough for me to fit one under there. Fortunately I was nowhere near the car when it dropped, so I was in no danger. But now, here I was, with a fallen Flex and no way to lift it. I had to go admit to my fiancee that what was supposed to be a quick job had gone horribly wrong.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

She had a great attitude. She didn’t bite my head off for it, and helped me stop panicking about it. Instead we hopped in the Jeep and went to the local auto parts store to buy a new hydraulic jack. I’d intended to get a nicer one soon anyway, now that I have a garage, so this just bumped the timetable up to “immediately.” Once assembled I managed to lift the car and finish the job safely. The wheel the car fell on has a couple of new scratches, but the tire that the jack fell into didn’t puncture. Best of all, the Flex has new front brakes that work beautifully.

The moral of my misadventure is this: Don’t skimp on safety, like I did. This is only the second time I’ve ever had a car I was working on drop. Both times were due to jack failure, and both times I hadn’t taken every available safety precaution. From now on, I will always shove a wheel under the car, just in case. If I hadn’t done that, the Flex would’ve dropped onto its rotor. I’ll make sure the car can’t roll if something goes wrong. I’ll avoid stock jacks except for flat tire changes on the side of the road. The good 2.5 ton jack I got lets me easily lift a car high enough to place jack stands under it, which I’ll do unless it’s just a quick wheel swap. In fact, when I discovered my old hydraulic jack had died, I probably should’ve bought a new one before even attempting the brake job. Live and learn, I guess. Fortunately, in this case an ounce of prevention was worth 4,643lbs of cure.

Nerd-Vol > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:04

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Glad you're okay.

AkursedX > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:05

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While you might have taken a shortcut, you still did the right thing. Always, always, always have a jackstand/wheel/something else solid under the car as a backup to a jack.

That’s shitty that the widowmaker failed on you like that though. At least you were at home and not trying to change a tire on the side of the road. That type of failure would have sucked even more.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:06

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A friend of a close friend died under a car due to jack failure. He wasn’t using stands

450X_FTW > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:11

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I found myself replacing her pads

Sounds like a personal problem........

I need more coffee, the ADD is strong this morning

DrScientist > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:14

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not to critique your use of the jack, but my guess is that the car wasnt 100% level. it was the off-center force that led to the jack’s demise. (and luckily not yours)

that said a jack should never be used to KEEP a car up when working under it.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:15

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My Father-in-law’s best friend was killed under his car as a teenager when it fell off of a jack. I’ve heard too many stories of times gone wrong. I use stands, chocks and as a fail safe keep the wheels under the car when I’m working on it. When my boys (7 and 5) help, I want them to see what safety looks like.

The boys are a handful enough, i don’t need to burden my wife with raising them alone all because i wanted to save a few bucks on an oil change, brake job, etc.

Justin Hughes > DrScientist 12/14/2015 at 11:15

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This was my first time lifting a car at the new house in the new driveway, so I don’t know all the ins and outs yet. The top of the driveway looked level to me, but clearly I was mistaken. On many levels.

Justin Hughes > 450X_FTW 12/14/2015 at 11:17

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Perv. :)

DrScientist > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:18

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yeah... and its telling that the manufacturers are skimping so much that their supplied jacks will not work unless the car is 100% level.

Justin Hughes > DrScientist 12/14/2015 at 11:20

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The jack that came with the two plus ton Flex looks the same as the one in my recently departed Focus. It’s fine for the Focus but not something that big.

PartyPooper2012 > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:32

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ummm. it could be me but I usually put blocks under tires when I jack a car up. This prevents the unwanted moves

Justin Hughes > PartyPooper2012 12/14/2015 at 11:35

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Nice wheels!

PartyPooper2012 > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:40

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lol. just a googled pic of blocks under wheels. Not mine

Ash78, voting early and often > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:47

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Those jacks are called Widowmakers for a reason...and it’s not a technicality just because you aren’t married!

Full disclosure: After years of working on my own car, I did a full 4-wheel rotation on the wife’s car when we were first married. It was a shorter wheelbase and behaved very differently when jacked up really high. After the fourth jack point, the car very slowly rocked off the other stands...onto the steel wheel, which I always placed as a backup. Minor ding to the frame rail, nothing major.

But I sure freaked out about it!

PS9 > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 11:48

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///CaringConcernedAngerModeActivated///

Goddamnit man, you know good and damned well you need jack stands before doing ANY work on your car! I don’t care that you have a fancy $300 jack from harbor freight, I don’t care that you see the mechanics down at the garage go jack-stand-less all the time, I don’t care that it makes you feel like a slick F1 race car mechanic to use just the jack, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN CRUSHED TO DEATH! I Better not log in here one day to see a post written by your fiancee addressed to the community because you couldn’t write it yourself. If you die working on your car, I’ll find you in the afterlife and kick your ass!!!!!!111!!11!!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!111!!!!!!

///CaringConcernedAngerModeDeactivated///

Justin Hughes > PS9 12/14/2015 at 11:56

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Fair enough. You’re right. I was pushing too hard to get the job done quickly. Not a good excuse.

Textured Soy Protein > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 12:00

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Ouch, yeah the only time I’ve used my included scissor jack was once when I lived in an apartment building, and I had slacked off on swapping my snow tires/wheels on to my old Mazdaspeed 6. I had bought the tires at Discount Tire who did free swapping of summer/winter tires as long as each set was mounted on its own set of wheels, but I needed to go on some kind of extended drive and didn’t have time to take the car to Discount Tire. So...I swapped out all 4 wheels and tires, jacking up one corner of the car at a time. Actually managed to do it relatively quickly.

As for your bakes, I’m very happy with the Power Stop Z36 extreme truck & tow pads I put on my Grand Cherokee. But rather than pay a whole bunch for the kit that includes the drilled/slotted rotors, I got cheap OEM replacement rotors. Didn’t see much point in the fancy rotors as long as I had good pads.

vicali > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 12:00

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They don’t call them widow-makers for nothing.

I hate those factory scissor jacks, would never get under anything up on one.

Also get a couple sets of these; They are super cheap, and would’ve kept you from rolling.

Rico > DrScientist 12/14/2015 at 12:01

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I have a sloped driveway and never jacked my car up before but for my next car I will be doing a full car detail prep including coating the wheels which will require me to remove them. How should I go about doing this?

Justin Hughes > Textured Soy Protein 12/14/2015 at 12:14

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I generally agree, but this was a nice package deal she got at a good price. These rotors will also be a nice subtle hint that this isn’t your average soccer mom driving the mommymobile.

DrScientist > Rico 12/14/2015 at 12:26

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i guess it really depends on what the angle of incline is. if it can be done, i would do one axle at a time.

get a sturdy floor jack., not a trolley jack, and not a bottle jack. harbor freight has some good ones made my pittsburgh.

get some sturdy jack stands.

1. park the car with the wheels you want to do first on the lower side of the slope. MAKE SURE YOU PARK STRAIGHT. PERPENDICULAR TO THE SLOPE. (let’s just say youre parked front high, rear low. youre going to do the rears first)

2. chock the front wheels.

3. break loose the rear lugs.

3. jack at a center point on the suspension/rear subframe if possible. to get both wheels in the air. then slide the jack stands under an appropriate suspension point on each side.

3.1 if there is no safe center point to jack. jack at the factory jack-points and slide the jack stand under the suspension point. this will take longer as you have to jack each corner separately.

3.2 if the slope is such that the jack stands appear angled toward the back, consider aborting and finding some level ground. if its slight, get a piece of hard wood to slip under the rear feet of each of the jackstands. i would overcompensate on the wood here as the stands will bite through the wood a bit.

3.3 leave the jack in place if possible, but release it enough to put the weight on the stands. no harm in additional safety.

4. slide an old tire/wheel assembly under the center of the suspension, or one along each of the side frame rails. (the rocker panels)

5. loosen your nuts and take the wheels off.

at least for this it doesn’t sound like youre going to be under the car. so most of the precaution is just to save the damage repair if the car does happen to fall.

DarkGemini > vicali 12/14/2015 at 12:26

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This.

If you’re going to use a widowmaker, you should be chocking the wheels.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 12:30

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Glad you’re okay.

Did you remember to chock the rear wheels before jacking it up? Doing that is an absolute must. And ideally, you should chock both rear wheels. It helps prevent side-to-side as well as front to back movement.

Also note that I use the OEM scissor jack many times when I have rotated tires and other things. They’re fine... except that they’re dangerous without chocked wheels.

Personally I never go under any car that is only held up by a jack. It has to be either on metal ramps or on metal jack stands.

And even then, I still chock the wheels that are on the ground.

Pixel > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 12:36

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Even when using jack stands, every time I pull a wheel off it goes under the car as a emergency support if the stands fail.

Those little jacks are scary as hell when they start to tip, because there is nothing you can do to stop it.

my partner & I bought this $400 corolla as an engine donor for her car, and during the 2 hours drive home the RF tire was vibrating so badly it was almost uncontrollable on the highway. We pulled into a rest stop to swap it for one of the rear tires, after jacking up the car and getting the RF tire off, it fell off the jack stand due to a non-functional parking brake. I wasn’t under the car, but realizing the car was tipping and I was between it and the next parked car with nowhere to go was definitely a “code brown” moment.

shop-teacher > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 12:52

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Jack stands and wheel chocks EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Even if you’re just wheel swapping. You’ll have 0.0 seconds to react if the jack decides to shit the bed while you’re in the middle of that wheel swap.

KmartSmart > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 13:00

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Just recently tried to replace my friends tire for him on a BRAND NEW 2016 Nissan Maxima. I had the exact thing happen to me, The jack twisted under the weight of the maxima about 4 inches off the ground. The included jack literally collapsed while I was still trying to raise the car. I will NEVER use an included scissor jack ever again. Incredibly dangerous to include a jock that fails, just to save a couple bucks.

Justin Hughes > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 12/14/2015 at 13:40

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I made a ton of mistakes here, including not chocking the wheels. I usually rely on the parking brake, which doesn’t make it right.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 13:49

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Some scary stuff! I am glad to always use a jack stand AND the tire method. Stand probably wont ever fail but like you said, can never take safety seriously enough. Glad you are okay and now I know sure as shit I will never use just a scissor jack, even on my very light Miata. Not worth it!

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 14:07

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Pfffft. The human head can support the weight of a car. Trust me, I speak from experience.

In all seriousness, yeah a good hydraulic jack is always useful. And don’t make the amateur mistake of not caring for it properly. SOme of themrequire you to bleed the fluid before use to get rid of some air or something. Don’t ignore that.

Leon711 > vicali 12/14/2015 at 14:23

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We call them suicide jacks over here.

Justin Hughes > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 12/14/2015 at 14:23

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I remember that story! I’m just glad I wasn’t near the car when it shifted. I wouldn’t crawl under it on that flimsy jack, but nasty things could still have happened if I was actively working on the brakes at the time.

atfsgeoff > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 14:49

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The moral of the story: Physics is a harsh mistress. Don’t get under a car that’s not safely secured with a robust solid state or mechanical stand of some type.

I usually put a jack stand under the car, then lower the car onto the jack stand and leave the jack under the car but without stress on it, as a backup. Then I’ll throw the wheel under the vehicle as a backup to the backup.

Justin Hughes > atfsgeoff 12/14/2015 at 14:55

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This is the way to do it. This is how I normally do it. Unfortunately all of my jacks failed at once. Fortunately, no harm done to me or the car, and I now own a good proper jack.

atfsgeoff > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 15:01

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How tall is your garage ceiling? Maybe look into a 2-post lift! Far more robust than even the best floor jack, to say nothing of the incredible convenience.

Justin Hughes > atfsgeoff 12/14/2015 at 15:09

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Might work for my BRZ, but not the Flex or the Jeep. There’s an apartment right above the garage, so there’s a real ceiling and not a ton of vertical space.

atfsgeoff > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 15:13

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Bummer!

I’ve told myself that if I’m in the position to get a new house, it MUST have at least a three bay garage, and the ceiling in said garage must be at least 15 feet to accommodate a lift.

Rico > DrScientist 12/14/2015 at 15:42

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Thanks for this, I am bookmarking it for April when I turn my lease in. Like the slope is not steep but I want to take any and all precautions. Plus I can’t even imagine the type of damage it would cause to have a car land strictly on 2 rotors.

UnknownPerson2 > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 15:49

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Why were you not using jack stands? A jack is only for lifting not for use while working on the car.

Justin Hughes > UnknownPerson2 12/14/2015 at 15:52

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Hydraulic jack failed, stock jack wouldn’t lift the car high enough for a jack stand to fit. After buying a new jack, I use that AND a jack stand AND the wheel shoved underneath, just to be sure.

MonkeePuzzle > Justin Hughes 12/14/2015 at 16:08

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Fortunately, in this case an ounce of prevention was worth 4,643lbs of cure.

I’m wondering what 4,643lbs dropped suddenly onto an alloy wheel with only a sharp line of impact across the wheel’s diametre will do to the wheel’s integrity?

Justin Hughes > MonkeePuzzle 12/14/2015 at 16:10

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To be fair, the other three wheels were on the ground, so it was only about a quarter of the car’s weight on it. Which is what it normally carries. Though not exactly at that angle. And not on the tires.

uofime-2 > Rico 12/14/2015 at 16:40

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Find a level area if at all possible.

If in emergency park perpendicular to the hill and lift the high side, chock wheels.

Rico > uofime-2 12/14/2015 at 17:13

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Unless a fellow Oppo can lend me their garage I'm stuck on the slope. Even my house is on a hill!

Daniel MacCabe > Justin Hughes 12/15/2015 at 09:03

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I actually had to use the factory jack for a bit of emergency suspension work while my hydraulic jack was in transit from CA to CT. The jack included with my 2004 Volvo XC 70 is beefy as hell and the was able to lift it high enough to get jack stands under. Ultimately I had to finish the job after my hydraulic jack arrived, and it was much easier, but the Volvo factory unit did half the job, and did so without any trouble at all.

Glad you're safe!

This is my first Volvo, and in the 9 months I’ve owned it, I’ve been very impressed with how over-engineered the whole thing is.

ateamfan42 > Justin Hughes 12/15/2015 at 10:53

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OEM jacks have always been “bare bones”, but this article shows just how cheap and unsafe they’ve gotten in modern times.

I thought the jack with my Audi was pretty sketchy— it was like a scissor jack, but only half of one. I couldn’t imagine using it anywhere besides a nice level smooth garage floor.

My friend and I tried out the old bumper jack when he had his Crown Vic, just to get an idea what it was like. On a perfectly level concrete floor, it was sketchy as hell! How in the world anyone could use one on the side of a sloping road with soft shoulders is beyond me.

LeaksOil > Justin Hughes 12/15/2015 at 20:47

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1. My wife’s Forester has a Powerstop rotors + pads kit from rockauto. Been pleased with it. Especially for the price!

2. Thanks for sharing. It’s always a nice reminder to stay vigilant.

3. I always use two sets of jack stands if only lifting one end (99% of jobs only need front up for my vehicles). So sit it on two of them. Set up other two as close under as I can. Leave jack up if I can without being in the way. Put wheel(s) under pinch welds if their off. Right now I’ve got basic ratcheting type ones. I want to pickup either double locking ones, or ones like I see on Mighty Car Mods where you adjust height and put a pin in the rod. (Anybody have a suggestion for brand for those thoe?

LeaksOil > LeaksOil 12/15/2015 at 22:16

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Apologies for the poor grammar .

(Anybody have a suggestion for a brand for those, though?) ***

catzo5 > Justin Hughes 12/16/2015 at 19:27

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i have pictures of this, but i cant find them :/ will update if i find them. anyways, this summer i changed the oil on my car by driving the one wheel up to the top of this metal ramp ( that my grandfather has probably had since the war) for one wheel, you know, that thing they used before jacks were commonly available, and i drove the car up onto a curb to lift the second wheel.

You might be wondering why i had to put half the car up onto the curb, what happened to the second ramp? Well it collapsed years ago under the weight of another car.

So ya, i was a little nervous under there.

Thankfully a 2-door civic si doesnt weigh that much

Pacorro > Justin Hughes 12/17/2015 at 11:26

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I while ago exactly the same thing happened to me, and while I don’t own jack stands I did slide the replacement tire under. The jack actually bend and the car came down and landed over the tire.

Funny thing is that the jack is the original equipment provided with the car, and usually those are a PoS. Next thing I did was getting a small hydraulic jack and a pair of jack stands, and I can’t recommend enough you to actually buy a hydraulic jack, not like those pro ones, a small vertical cylinder “bottle”one so you can carry it in your car.

Burn-Spaz1966-Burn > Justin Hughes 12/19/2015 at 05:28

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Glad your okay

Unspiek Baron Bodissey > Justin Hughes 12/24/2015 at 14:52

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Uh, I always put the tire underneath the car. Failing that (when I don’t need to take a tire out) I put the car on stands. Always set the hand brake and for good measure block the wheels.

It’s just that it freaks me out something could happen. I have a vivid imagination.