Your automotive floor jack is probably not going to fail, but you should always treat it as if it will.
Never EVER put any part of your body under a car, truck, or other load that is solely supported with a floor jack. Why? Because your vehicle could – and likely will – crush you if the jack fails.
This isn’t a hypothetical; people are injured and even killed by jack failures. The saddest part is that many incidents might have been avoidable.
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Sometimes there are mechanical failures, other times user errors. A lot can go wrong when a car is supported by a jack.
Always read and understand the user manual that comes with floor jacks.
For instance, here is part of the important safety information that Harbor Freight provides in their Daytona 3-ton floor jack (shown above):
10. Never work on, under or around a load supported only by this device.
Husky says similar:
This is a lifting device only. Immediately after lifting, support the vehicle with jack stands.
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Automakers’ owners manuals provide similar advice. For instance, GMC says:
Getting under a vehicle when it is lifted on a jack is dangerous. If the vehicle slips off the jack, you could be badly injured or killed. Never get under a vehicle when it is supported only by a jack.
There are other safety guidelines that should be read, understood, and followed. I won’t go over it here – it’s your responsibility to learn safety information from authoritative sources, such as equipment user manuals.
Jacks are used to lift vehicles, and jack stands – among other devices – are used to support lifted loads. Jack-makers also often recommend the use of wheel chocks or blocks.
Jack stands and other support accessories have their own safety information and guidelines that should also be read, understood, and strictly adhered to.
There are other means of elevating cars for maintenance or repair tasks, such as ramps.
Always prepare for the worst. Will it happen? Probably not, but it could, and for some people it does.
Be safe out there!
If you have any questions, consult an expert, which I absolutely do NOT profess to be. Equipment user manuals should all have phone numbers you can call for technical information and advice.
Jeff C
Sound advice.
My Brother’s good Friend was pinned under his car when the jack let go on him, It was a good thing the Mailman saw him passed out under the car and saved his life.
This story stuck with me over the years and even when I am in a rush I still reach for the Jack Stands.
Jerry
Good reminder. A while back a neighbor of mine broke a leg when he was doing a brake job on his car and it fell. Taking 30 seconds to put a proper jack stand under the car would have saved him weeks of recovery.
Jay Dee
Buy once. Cry once. Sleep like a baby at night.
https://jackpointjackstands.com/
Bart
They should jack the vehicle up and place themselves under there at that price. Whew…
L
Man you weren’t joking, I think I’ll keep using my pile of 8×8 cribbing I got for free that is impossible for the vehicle to fall off of or crush before spending nearly a grand just to put my truck 2″ off of the ground.
Hilarious how eager people are to waste money on some pointless overpriced junk
TomD
It starts to get close to something like https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/two-post-lifts/
Ray
People will complain about the price. And yes it opened my eyes too, but then I thought I and most likely you happily paid more for a plastic handgun. I had ordered some jack stands off of Amazon awhile ago. I returned them immediately and I almost never return anything. The welds and the build quality were as if I they were built by a kid who was just happened to be walking by the factory that day. I’m sure plenty of people trust the Amazon’s choice endorsement and 5 start ratings. They didn’t inspire confidence for me. I’d use scrap (preferably engineered) lumber laid flat and piled up with a wide base as a support before I’d use most jack stands I’ve seen. Free from a jobsite.
MM
I agree that cheaping out on jackstands is not a wise move. However you don’t need to spend that kind of money to get something trustworthy. I bought a number of 8-ton (each) rated jackstands intended for truck service, for working on normal automotive applications those are crazy overkill. And I do believe their rating as I’ve personally tested them with my ancient Dake no. 601 arbor press . Now would I trust those if I was working on something that was actually putting 16,000 lbs on each stand? Probably not. But I absolutely do trust 4 of them to hold up my 7000lb pickup.
I also have a gripe about these “jackpoint” stands: their footprint is huge. Now granted that does make them very stable, but it also restricts access under the vehicle. It gets in the way of your creeper, drain pans, transmission jack, and other things you may need to get under the vehicle while the jackstands are in use. I find that my method of using “oversize” jackstands is already bad enough in this regard but the jackpoints are even worse.
MtnRanch
The JackPoint product looks great if you have a car with limited support points and not much weight. I agree with another writer here – for my 9,000 lb truck I’ll stick with my 6×6 and 8×8 cribbing. The welds will never fail. The surface is soft enought to protect the frame or whatever else rests on them. They stack neatly in the garage, They won’t sink into a soft surface or scratch a hard surface. They are super cheap if you find them as off-cuts on a job.
Troy
When I was 15 and starting to work on cars my dad showed me how, where and why to put the jack and jack stands.
Then he asked me.
How much can you bench press?
I dunno, maybe 175.
Do you know how much a car weighs?
I dunno, maybe a couple thousand pounds?
Try two tons. (it was a 63 Buick)
Do you think you can bench press two tons?
Um, no.
fred
It should not be a complete surprise that hydraulic jacks can suddenly release. But this is a good reminder. I would think that any single point lifting system would also have the potential for instability. An inadvertent push or an unstable lifting base (gravel driveway, sloped driveway etc.) could result in a load drop even with a mechanical or screw jack. When I was a teenager (many moons ago) I had access to a Hein Werner one end lift that had hefty safety pins to slide in to prevent it from lowering unexpectedly. We’d still prop the car up with concrete blocks and wood just in case. My Dad’s ’53 Buick Roadmaster was well over 2 tons of crushing power.
Mike+I
Happened to my neighbor. RIP.
I will not get under a car without jack stands, even for a few seconds.
robert d pomeroy
You should also put the tire you took off underneath as an extra block.
belt and suspenders.
Munklepunk
my father taught me this at a young age.
TomD
Yep. If you have a car on Jack stands (both back wheels say) it can actually be relatively easy to push it off them (the stands can tip especially if not seated perfectly). Always have a backup for the backup – I put the tire under the frame and release pressure on the Jack and then bring it back up to just touch, also.
Ezzy
Once you remove the wheel put it under the car as a failsafe. Even if it’s on jack stands. Learnt from ChrisFix.
Saulac
This. When all failed, the tires would still be there. Just high enough to give you a chance to survive. And don’t forget, tires are getting wider and wider, so they are relevant more than ever. Would not contribute this old safety tip to ChrisFix, but if he did indeed talked about it, and someone learn from him, then more power to him. Spread the knowledge!
Hector
Worked with a rigging company one summer in college. It was a firing offense to EVER reach under a suspended or lifted load; we’re talking stuff weighing tons, but even a just couple hundred pounds dropping to concrete can remove fingers, toes, feet, hands, arms.
It also became a habit to look up before you took a step in any direction from where you were standing – some industrial buildings have internal rolling cranes and walking under a load, either stationary or rolling, got you pink slipped, too.
fred
We had a travelling (bridge) crane in our fabrication shop. Alarms sounded as it moved – and everyone was drilled to stay clear. The crane was more an artifact of a different time and business from what ours had morphed into after we had acquired it. Nonetheless it was sometimes useful to have its capabilities rather than relying on a forklift or one of the small rolling gantries.
Saulac
The thing about watching those videos about rigging/crane/man lift/forklift… accidents is that you can almost always tell exactly what will go wrong.
MM
Your rigging company took safety a lot more seriously than one I had hired to deliver and move two machines. They showed up two hours late, the guy in charge apologized and told me they could “only drive about 45 mph the whole way because they were a little overloaded”.
I had assumed they were going to send two trucks and perhaps a pickup too. Instead, when I looked outside I saw they had loaded a 45,000 lb lathe, a 25,000lb milling machine, and a monster forklift rated for 40 tons which weighs god-knows-what, all on a single tilting-deck bobtail truck with a trailer. No, it was not a tri-axle.
While they were working the gentlemen explained to me that:
a) they didn’t have a permit despite being overweight
b) the trailer’s inspection wasn’t current
c) the trailer was known to have dodgy brakes
Then, after they had unloaded the machinery and were getting ready to leave they managed to blow a tire on the truck, had the brakes on one of the trailer axles fail (and lock in the “on” position) and get their forklift stuck in my driveway.
Matt C.
Generally when working on cars, I think “how can this thing kill me”. I try to do the belt and suspenders approach as others have said when possible.
Doresoom
Same goes when I use my Rhino Ramps. Jack stands too, just in case.
Jared
I never considered using jack stands with a ramp. Now that’s SAFE!
Doresoom
I’ve seen too many pictures of shattered polymer ramps. I suspect user error is strongly involved in those cases, but you can never be too careful.
A W
I put heavy duty chocks around the rear wheels, an adjustable stand under each frame rail, then lower the weight onto the jack stands.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000AXBJU
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0019JVIPM
fred
I think that I liked ratcheting jack stands better than pin type – because of easy setup. I think that my Dad had Wagner and/or Hein Werner ones that were really solid. I think that they were rated at 5-tons each. I recall that they were a lot heavier with a much thicker bar and more solid rack than a lot of what I see today at similar ratings.
Mike+I
Pins may take few more seconds to set up, but they are far safer than ratcheting stands.
A W
I leave the pins installed at the height needed to get the front tires about an inch off of the ground and rarely need to adjust them.
I still have a pair of ratcheting ones but found these from a fellow reader in the comments section of a related article on ToolGuyd (when a specific brand had a recall).
I own a pair of 6000lb SUVs, so the added heft is worth it.
Jack D
Great post. Always always with the jack stands, and don’t forget the wheel chocks every time too…no matter how flat you think your work surface is, it only takes one roll…
Ct451
My car mechanic has one of those locking floor jacks he uses when other spots are occupied. It latches into place as it goes up. He says it’s perfectly safe but I still flinch when I see him go under with just that thing holding a car up.
Chris
Guilty of this. Sometimes we have to change a tire on a vehicle out on the golf course and all we bring is a hydraulic Jack. I Would never do any other mechanic work without Jack stands though. Especially if I’m using a ratchet or breaker bar which can make the vehicle really unstable.
DC
I never go under a vehicle that’s not supported by jack stands. Not even just to look.
Lyle
It’s interesting that jack stands are the recommended solution because a bunch of them were recalled a few years back. I like the idea of having redundancy but after the jack stand recall, I like the idea of timbers being used to to support the load much better.
John
It wasn’t really a bunch of them, it was only ones made by Harbor Freight. The obvious lesson is not to buy anything that your life depends on from HF.
Travis
Amen. My dad told me a long while back, “Never bet your life or your job on anything from Harbor Freight.”
Jeff C
I agree with your Dad.
Coach James
They were sold by HF, no idea what company actually made them. There were no reported failures, HF recalled them as a precautionary measure.
Emilio+Gonzalez
The Daytona floor jack is actually a good jack.
Rx9
An old proverb: The man who does not use jack stands has a promising future AS a jack stand.
Luke H
Even after I have the Jack stands in place, I usually give the vehicle a few full-strength shoves to make sure it’s stable. And don’t forget to chock the wheels, as others have said. Now, I really wish there were stands with textured, flat pads, (maybe as removable accessories?). The ones I have take some work to find a stable vehicle contact point.
Brian M
Almost happened to my really good friend, if it wasn’t for me and his brother being there, he would have been trapped under the car. He even had jack stands but he set the height lower than he meant to or maybe he was pulling it out…I don’t really remember but the jack failed, I lifted up on the fender and his brother grabbed another jack. It was crazy how quickly we figured out what to do, we were only 17 years old and knew nothing about anything.
At Thanksgiving this year we were talking about it and my brother’s mother-in-law said she knew someone that it happened to this year. They found him hours later. It’s a really rough way to die, be careful everyone.
Jeff
I usually jack the vehicle up,place jack stands, leave jack under vehicle but not supporting, just a smidge below the jack point. As well as tossing the wheel and tire under near the frame should the jack stands and jack not protect me.
SamR
For sure a rule to follow.
I recently purchased one of these as an extra safety for quick jacking. I didn’t use it yet, but it looked like a must-have from reading the reviews!
https://agatools.com/products/jack-rod-stand