Getting under your van?

[Mr Bean]

I am also on a slope and have a very strong pair of axle stands which although have adequately wide bases, are obviously less safe than on the level. I do find ramps more safe especially when used facing up hill but I always chock the remaining wheels with curved wedges. I always stand cones about a yard either end of the vehicle in case anyone gets stupid with their parking attempts and if I have to go under will shove a couple of wheels or similar so they would hold it off me if it did get knocked off. I have some welding to do around the drivers seat belt area and in a similar vein of some would say unfounded fear will not take it on without removing the fuel (petrol) tank.
I recently needed both rear wheels off the Mondeo at the same time and spread the load along the sill lips with a couple of feet of timber each side standing on wooden blocks at either end. On my gentle slope I would suggest that solution was superior to ramps for obvious reasons and certainly to axle stands which can slip or overbalance. Horses for courses!
Keep safe
Wolfie

[silverbullet]

The only time I've had a car "go up" was one time I was cutting (4" angle grinder) a crucial bracket from the engine bay of an engine-less Rover 3500S (P6). It was on a gravel drive, but whoever had lifted the engine has spilled plenty of oil and petrol weeks before
Did it catch quick! The firemen said "don't worry about the petrol tanks, they never go bang like in the movies...just a dull "boof" and that's it"
Live and learn...

[!aj!]

Not sure what your all worried about... I spent months under my van like this when I 1st got it...



things can look more dangerous than they are.. oh and my van was like this when we had that mini earthquake too

Yeah, and things are safe and then you're dead and then, in hindsight, they were actually dangerous but oops no hindsight cos you're dead! Why take silly, unneccessary risks?

I've used ramps and found the clearance pretty crap. I always use axle stands, even on a slope, but i also keep the jack up and if i've got a wheel off i shove that under as well just to give as much chance as possible if it all collapses. And when i'm under there, i'm always ready to to fly out real f**king quick. (You might say i've got a really active imagination but being crushed doesn't sit too well with me!)

[gaz f]

As mentioned, if using ramps chock the wheels. I didn't and an Escort van tried to eat me once!

The Escort was in my garage, nice and level but with a slope leading into it. I had driven the car in nose first and positioned the ramps infront of the rear wheels (they aren't too high, are solid wooden blocks originally for putting under the rear wheels of trucks to get them level with a loading bay where my dad once worked) and driven up them. I needed a bit more height so had jacked it up from there with a trolley jack on the beam axle. Just for a couple of minutes. When finished I was lying on my belly half in and half out of the garage when I let the trolley jack down. You guessed it... the wheels hit the ramps, I had left the handbrake off but it was in gear (thinking front wheels on the ground being in gear would be enough) and it came down the ramps, not really quickly as being in gear was holding it back a bit, but quicker than I was shuffling backwards! Luckly the front wheels hit the square edge of the ramps and they stopped it from completely coming out the garage and squashing me. I did have a fair sized bump on the back of my head and a scraped cheek but it could have been a lot worse!!!

These days, whatever I'm using to lift a motor of the ground I give it a good shove about to make sure it isn't going to move before I get under the things. It's not worth it, even if your just going to be a few minutes or just having a look.

[insitu_mouldings]

i just use axle stands and if ive got the wheel off i shove it under the van for good measure, that way if anything does happen then the tyre gets it and not you! if your on a camber just chock the wheels. tbh i can get under my van to do most jobs without even jackin it up!

["WEAZLECHIN"]

ha ha oh no. that is well worth sending a picture to the dreaded HSE. (short for assholes)!!

[JCL]

I started this thread and im amused by its continuation but everybody seems to be making valid points.........safety first hey.
I work as a 'fast response unit' paramedic in london and i've been first on scene to dozens of cases of a vehicle inadequately supported falling. In alll honesty as far as I can recall they were all the exact same scenario, young lad using the small emergency jack from the boot to support his hot hatch while he mucks about with the exhaust............. and hey, no surprise, the jack fails or destabilises. Sometimes the lad gets away with broken ribs, sometimes the chest cavity is crushed so badly that he is in respiritory arrest within minutes.

Meanwhile, I will continue using the balsa wood blocks that are in my pic earlier in the thread

[rainman]

Personally before I'll work under The Bus I jack it right up with a 3 tonne trolley jack and lower it back down onto concrete building blocks

Wood is reckoned to be safer than concrete blocks as the latter can break up surprisingly easilly, I still wouldn't be happy with the arrangement pictured though.

["WEAZLECHIN"]

a correct chocking system and axle stands are very inexpensive and, believe it or not designed for "standing axles on"
why bother with random pieces of tree ? thats for making furniture and doors

[JCL]

OK OK OK you all win I will source and invest in some axle stands as a matter of urgency .

If even one life will be saved as a result of this well viewed thread then it has been worth while Particularly if it is mine

[silverbullet]

I work as a 'fast response unit' paramedic in london and i've been first on scene to dozens of cases of a vehicle inadequately supported falling. Sometimes the lad gets away with broken ribs, sometimes the chest cavity is crushed so badly that he is in respiritory arrest within minutes.
:

It could be you - and you should know better This is the worst case of "cobbler's shoes" that I've ever come across
Spend a few quid and be safe, people

[72BUG]

I personally never trust any single piece of equipment and always have a back up. For example if I'm working on the ramps I would also leave the jack under and possibly even chocks aswell. Better to be paranoid than dead.

[tetleysid]

I agree with the latter post, always use a backup when hiking up your van or any vehicle, I use axle stands 3 tonne rated and then some 18 inches of tree stumps or a couple of spare wheels. Don't ever assume you will be able to bug out from beneath a vehicle because they fall so fast that you wont stand a chance. You may not be killed outright but trapped and crushed unable to breath and so have a heart attack/respiratory failure. To keep your trolly jack or bottle jack in place put a piece cut off a rubber mat between the jack and vehicle to avoid the jack tilting and slipping.
Its really very dodgy working in the road, although we have all done it from time to time it only takes some plonker to run their motor into yours and the whole darn lots on your head. This may seem a boring subject but its a lot more boring lieing in a wooden box for eternity