Not a good start to the day, so lucky I wasn't underneath it. I went to give the car a little nudge and over it went.

Scared the life out of me if I'm honest. Damage wasn't too bad fortunately and I've rectified most of it already.

Stay safe guys!

When the car is initially put up on the jack stands, yank the car back and forth to make sure it's stable. Thanks for posting, this is a good safety reminder.

Everyone's fear. Glad you weren't hurt and the damage wasn't too bad.

Ouch! Glad you were not under it!

glad you are okay!

I'm not sure what you had it up on, but don't use the ratchet style jackstands, cuz they can get bumped off the ratchets & drop - so only use the pin style, & try to place them at the 4 jacking doughnuts, or else use vee-notched 2x4 wood at the other seams/etc. jacking points as shown in the pic in the 914info section at the top of the page.

If that wheel/caster & bit of red framing showing was a 4-post wheeled cart supporting the car at those jack points, then it looks like the welds or angle-iron may have failed, which means it was either defective, or undersized for the weight of the car.

In either case - get better jack stands or cart supports before you do anything under there!

Also, that nudging before crawling under is always a good safety check!

Be Safe!
Tom
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Ask Gint about those ratchet stands...scared the hell out of him and smooshed him a little.

Man that is terrible looking! Glad you are OK and it is not a major set back. No more nudging!

Thanks for posting we all need a reminder. We need a "crapped my pants" emoge

Damn, Stephen glad your ok. I’m done with the ratchets as well going to invest
in pin style. So fortunate to have a lift. I make sure that bad boy is stable and locked
as well. Never too safe. Again glad your good.

It's actually on a pair of these with the tops slightly modified.




I'll be making further safety modifications next week.

This is probably worth repeating. Based on a tip I saw here on the World, I got a set of these Strongway Jacks. Best of both worlds has they have ratchet and pin. Built hell for stout and won't break the bank. There is also a 3 ton version for $10/pair less.

I'm chicken shit about crawling under cars. I always throw a backup under the car. spare wheels, jack, whatever. Glad you didn't get hurt.

bbrock -Thanks for the tip on those jack stands I think I may pick up a pair. Very reasonable.
I think Stephen wanted mobility with wheels with his set up.

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I'm pretty paranoid with this stuff after hearing/seeing similar horror stories...I use high-end pin type stands AND typically leave the jack engaged AND sometimes toss a wheel/tire underneath for extra good measure.

That's right, not having a huge amount of room I need the option to move the car around depending on what side I was working on.

I think you could tie the two carts together with some additional rods and then it wont tip. We use 4 wheel carts to move chassis around at our shop and never have an issue.

That was exactly my thought too. I'll have a measure up and order some box section, I have a plan forming.

Yep. Posted that because, like you, I saw someone else post it and prompted me to upgrade the jack stands I had. No way to know what injuries they have saved me, but figured this was a good excuse to throw it out on the World again, even though it doesn't pertain directly to Stephen's situation.

YIKES! Scary stuff Stephen!!

Jack stands even scare me when used for a long time. Ten years ago I made a wood dolly and screwed the wheel rollers to it.....Then three years ago, when I started to work on it more I welded up a nice dolly with caster. I can even put the car on dolly on my BenPack lift and take it to the ceiling. Be safe. Best, MarkClick to view attachment Click to view attachment

The shop carts that we have are very similar but made to bolt onto the 911 suspension mounts. I think Dansk makes them but I haven't seen a similar one for 914's.

Yeah, if you have room, double up on anything to keep the car from going lower than you are thick.

Yes not hard to see your failure from the picture. Your caster section slipped off the end of the cross bar. Easy to see why and the little set screw did not help. Figure out where you need them, and drill a hole through the assembly and put a Pin in it. Your problems is solved.

Then tie the two together with a single bar or two depending one what you want and like.

I will say lots of nice 914 chassis stands on this site. Jeff Hail and Matthew have some nice ones, both bolt the car to the dolly.

You could do similar with your setup

Glad you came out of the learning experience with out a injury.

Yes, that was exactly the failure. Hadn't thought of drilling that part, nice idea. I'll find out what I can get to use as a pin and drill them. Thanks.

A nut and bolt will work fine.Keep it small so it doesn't affect the tube strength. It will still be 1000x better than a set screw.

Nut and bolt do work, that being said, use a long shoulder bolt. Threads are not the best thing to be supporting a hole with. They will get F'd up, you will be cussing up a blue streak, and I will be blamed. Don't do that. Either longs shoulder bolts or pins are the proper item for this location. Aircraft bolts are measured with the shoulder then the proper thread location to spin down to the proper torque depth while supporting the part, on the shoulder of the bolt. Proper aviation bolts (AN bolts) can get pricey fast.

BTW, the tube will not be compromised unless you drill a huge hole in it. Keep 3/8" or 10mm nice stout size, and well, not so huge you start to worry about strength of the supporting member.

Then figure out a way to strap the tub to your dolly, because as you proven gravity sometimes is not your friend.