This is really sad news in Chicago. I don't know all the details, except what The Chicago Tribune reported, but it is sad to see any one get hurt from a vehicle falling off a lift.
They just state that the truck fell off a faulty hydraulic lift and killed the owner of a shop called "Not Just Carz". Pretty close to my house.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-orland-crushed_23may23,0,303785.story
A friend of mine was killed 25+ years ago by a lift that had a leak in the hydraulics. He had eliminated the safety latch and was working late by himself. He stopped to read a procedure in the manual and sat on the floor with his back against the post. Apparently the lift came down and trapped him before he could get away. The lessons learned are don’t work under cars alone, don’t work when tired, don’t disable safety devices, and don’t lean against the damned post to read.
I'm a tech, and I'm scared shitless everytime i get under a car lol. The dumbasses I work with like to disable the safety latches so they don't have to sit there and wait to let the car down. I get extremely vexed with this happens. I always do a daily check of the hydraulics as well before I ever put a car up.
I'm in the gym everyday, but I ain't strong enough to hold up a 2500lb honda.
A friend of mine had a rear miss with a lift colapse some years ago. He was doing a pdi on a full size bronco with a hydraulic and chain type lift when the chain broke and the thing came crashing down. He was hit by the body of the bronco which knocked him clear of the frame work of the lift. He got away with just a few bruises.
I have seen more than one new Mercedes dropped betweene the posts of a double post lift. Makes a hell of a noise. :nice: Pisses the customer off too when it is a special order SEL that was brought in for the 1000 mile service.
Enough to make you want to work on a home made wooden thingie on the driveway. In the name of safety of course.
Not to tempt fate, but I don't really see how this happens with the safety catches installed. I know that on mine, I raise it up higher than the safety catch that is at roughly the height I want, and then lower it until it is sitting on the safety, and the cylinder is unloaded.
Dad taught me early that relying on hydraulics to keep shit from falling on me is false security. You're just one bad O-Ring away from big trouble.
DILYSI Dave wrote: Not to tempt fate, but I don't really see how this happens with the safety catches installed. I know that on mine, I raise it up higher than the safety catch that is at roughly the height I want, and then lower it until it is sitting on the safety, and the cylinder is unloaded. Dad taught me early that relying on hydraulics to keep shit from falling on me is false security. You're just one bad O-Ring away from big trouble.
I'm with you. I don't feel weird at all about working on a car on a lift, as long as I'm the one who put it up there and I know it was done correctly. However, some of the guys here will pick up a car with the loader (big ass Case 621 wheel loader with 6" forks) and have no qualms with working under that. I'll pass on that one.
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