Most of us would never crawl under a car up on a jack without jackstands, but what about placing wheel-chocks when your car is on ramps? I often didn't, but I think I will from now on. Read on...

 

I always use wheel chucks with my jackstands. Hell depending on what I am doing I even leave the hydraulic jack one notch lower just in case.

 

That really is bad.

The ramps I use have a big well the tire drops into when you get to the top, so it is like a built in chock.

 

My rule: I never let anybody stand near my car (let alone sit in it) while I'm underneath it.

 

Not that I will point him out, but there is an owner among us whose car fell on his hand as he worked on it. In fact, he kept his cool and raised his car up to get his hand out......do a search.

 

Well then he's not the only who have done something stupid with their S. Last autum when I was vacum cleaning my car, the hose was not long enough. I did not want to start the car up, so I just put it into neutral, and pushed it forwards. The only part I missed, was the fact that I had my left foot in the path of the rear wheel. So I rolled the wheel over my foot, well it actually did not hurt that much. But a stupid move anyway

 

Remember double redundant minimum!!! If you use jackstands....leave a jack in place. If you use a jack put some wood under the wheels. This car is low and a single point failure will squish you like a bug! I use a 5 ton hydraulic jack and then a jack stand for redundancy. Have used this set-up for years. Boy was I surpirsed when I did my CAI install and found the car resting on the jackstand! A little experimentation showed that the 5 ton jack was leaking after many faithful years of service. I could have ben the bug if it were not for my practice of redundancy when your under the car. Work smart!

Utah