Dropped my car onto the jackstands incorrectly?

[Bugeye01WRX]

Hey guys

 

I just finished installing a short throw shifter and poly bushings and had car jacked on 4 stands at the front and rear pinch welds.

 

They were set quite high (9 notches on the jack stands) and I was lowering the car down and was told you should always do it in stages.

 

I started with the back and lowered it down to 5 notches but I think this must have been too much as when I released the lift the car dropped extremely hard onto the stands and I heard this awful crunch/crack sound and it actually set my alarm off so it must have been a decent thud.

 

I tried to check under the car for damage but couldn't see any cracks or damage even on the side skirt where I thought this damage must have been.

 

I just had a few questions:

 

1. Any particular damage to look for? I can't see anything but could anything have bent slightly without me noticing?

2. When lowering a car off jacks, should you do it in stages, or should you just completely drop one side down and then do the other? I was quite high which is why I thought to do it in stages.

3. I noticed the rear of my car was not sitting on the jackstands correctly. The front 2 stands where opposite each other and both were taking weight however in the rear of the car, I had to put the left side jack stand about 10cm more forward (closer to the front tyre), compared to the right side which was almost at the rear of the skirt in order for them to both have weight. When I originally had them opposite each other, the left side was not taking any weight and I was surprised the car was sitting there fine haha. What could cause this? I'm potentially thinking the surface I was working on was slightly uneven but it was hard to tell.

 

Thanks all!

Edited March 20, 2022 by Bugeye01WRX

[boon]

Probably a write-off, I'll give you $500 for it.

 

EDIT: Next time don't just dump your jack, sheesh, for someone who is so particular about looking after their car dropping the body 10cm+ onto jack stands seems like a strange idea, why didn't you let the jack down slowly?

[Bugeye01WRX]

13 minutes ago, boon said:

Probably a write-off, I'll give you $500 for it.

 

EDIT: Next time don't just dump your jack, sheesh, for someone who is so particular about looking after their car dropping the body 10cm+ onto jack stands seems like a strange idea, why didn't you let the jack down slowly?

 

I actually did try to lower the jack slowly. I was turning it very gently and carefully but I find that sometimes it goes down slowly but other times it just drops. Maybe my jack is actually broken I never thought of that actually.

 

Yeah it was a bit of a mistake I should have gone a few notches down but it was late, I was tired and then the jack decided not to comply haha. It lowered nicely for the rest of the times I lowered it but it was just that first drop aye.

 

Might have to buy a new jack.

 

Just wondering what possible damage to look out for is all. I had a look under the car and couldn't see any damage to the side skirt or chassis that i noticed but I DEFINITELY heard something crack/crunch.

[Loren]

Jacks that just drop randomly are dangerous. Buy a better jack or get yours fixed.

 

There will be sill damage from a 10cm drop... probably just some dented sills or pinch welds (which are not designed to be used with jacks stands btw).

 

If your floor is a bit uneven, then adjust the height of the stand rather than move the stand to a different place (imo).

Often one of the rear stands won't have quite as much weight on it as the other (if the floor is a bit uneven)... it doesn't matter as

60% of the weight of the car is at the front anyway.

 

You can lift or lower the car in stages if you think it's safer... it can be quite scary putting a car on stands when you haven't done it many times...

plus when you have a dodgy jack and then also when you are in a small garage and don't have a lot of space to get out of the way of a falling car.

 

Always check each stand has all 4 feet squarely on the ground and that the weight on the stand is directly above the stand... no lateral load.

 

Always check every stand before you get under the car, and give the car a good shake too.

 

Never take any risks or short cuts... you will die.

[Bugeye01WRX]

2 hours ago, Loren said:

Jacks that just drop randomly are dangerous. Buy a better jack or get yours fixed.

 

There will be sill damage from a 10cm drop... probably just some dented sills or pinch welds (which are not designed to be used with jacks stands btw).

 

If your floor is a bit uneven, then adjust the height of the stand rather than move the stand to a different place (imo).

Often one of the rear stands won't have quite as much weight on it as the other (if the floor is a bit uneven)... it doesn't matter as

60% of the weight of the car is at the front anyway.

 

You can lift or lower the car in stages if you think it's safer... it can be quite scary putting a car on stands when you haven't done it many times...

plus when you have a dodgy jack and then also when you are in a small garage and don't have a lot of space to get out of the way of a falling car.

 

Always check each stand has all 4 feet squarely on the ground and that the weight on the stand is directly above the stand... no lateral load.

 

Always check every stand before you get under the car, and give the car a good shake too.

 

Never take any risks or short cuts... you will die.

 

Yeah it is not like it dropped randomly I just found that sometimes when releasing the jack even slowly it wouldn't just slowly depress the jack just loses all the pressure and yeah the car just dropped. Ill definitely get that looked at.

 

Yeah it was only my 3rd time putting them on all four stands and my FIRST time being under the car. I actually had 6 other jacks stands placed around the car as backup incase they failed so I did try and be as safe as possible.

 

Yup they were all fixed on the ground. I couldn't get the back ones to both sit opposite each other even when I lowered/increased the opposite side I had to place the back ones slightly apart.

 

Where should I place jack stands if not at the pinch welds? The subframe?

 

Ok so I wouldn't have done major damage? No chassis damage or anything? Yeah it would have been about a 10cm drop. I checked the side skirts and sills and no damage I could see at all but I definitely heard something. Could that noise have potentially just been a noise from the pressure like the plastic side skirt being crushed against the metal but luckily no damage ?

 

I'm just wondering if it is worth having an expert spend 30 mins looking under and just checking?

[ADIKT]

Get a better jack. 

[Loren]

7 hours ago, Bugeye01WRX said:

 

Yeah it is not like it dropped randomly I just found that sometimes when releasing the jack even slowly it wouldn't just slowly depress the jack just loses all the pressure and yeah the car just dropped. Ill definitely get that looked at.

 

That is dropping randomly in my book... I have had jacks that do that, and they need to be replaced or fixed. 

 

7 hours ago, Bugeye01WRX said:

Where should I place jack stands if not at the pinch welds? The subframe?

 

If you look at how the provided scissor jack works, you'll see that the pinch weld is used to locate the jack only. The weight goes on sill, both sides of the weld.

I have wooden blocks with a cut out to fit over the weld... then I used a stand under the that. Sometimes for the front stands I will use the rear bush of the front A-arms.

It's stable enough, but I'm not that keen on using them. For the rear you could use the bushes of the front of the rear diff carrier (the big T shaped thing that stretches

right across the car). The sills with wooden blocks (and cut outs) is best though. 

 

 

7 hours ago, Bugeye01WRX said:

Ok so I wouldn't have done major damage? No chassis damage or anything? Yeah it would have been about a 10cm drop. I checked the side skirts and sills and no damage I could see at all but I definitely heard something. Could that noise have potentially just been a noise from the pressure like the plastic side skirt being crushed against the metal but luckily no damage ?

 

I'm just wondering if it is worth having an expert spend 30 mins looking under and just checking?

 

If you can't see any damage where the car hit the stands, I doubt anyone else will be able to. They will creak and make noise when the weight settles on them... 

could have just been a violent version of that?

[Joker]

or the feet settling on the ground in a Hurry but yeah next WOF might be a bit un-nerving to see if there's any Sill damage (they can fail for that)

[Subru]

Im always paranoid about getting under a car on stands. I use 3T jack with 3T stands. Once the car is on stands, I use the jack just to lift the body a tad as a backup. Sometimes I put chopped wooden planks under the wheels too.

[Loren]

I worry about earthquakes while being under there... mostly I should be worried about banging my head, because it happens all the time.

[Bugeye01WRX]

5 hours ago, Loren said:

I worry about earthquakes while being under there... mostly I should be worried about banging my head, because it happens all the time.

 

Hahha yeah that is the worst one I can relate I have had concussions and hate banging my head :P.

 

I actually noticed tonight that my car was whining when accelerating from about 90km - 130km it just got louder so I think something is wrong with diff. All fluids were done like 10 months ago. And the gearbox is making really weird noises in gear now ever since I put the short shifter in. I am having problems with the shifter as it jams against the plastic housing in 2nd gear but yeah no idea why the gearbox/diff and suddenly making noise.

 

Could be coincidance and wear and tear. Could be I didn't do something right when replacing the bushings or the shifter or could be when I dropped the car haha

[Loren]

maybe a bearing getting tired.

[Niran]

18 hours ago, Bugeye01WRX said:

ever since I put the short shifter in. I am having problems with the shifter as it jams against the plastic housing in 2nd gear but yeah no idea why the gearbox/diff and suddenly making noise.

 

What short shifter is it? You may need to adjust it for more clearance at the bottom.  Mine did this also when it was first installed, as they had it on its lowest possible setting (was a Cobb shifter). Once I raised it a bit the rubbing stopped 

 

[Bugeye01WRX]

1 hour ago, Niran said:

 

What short shifter is it? You may need to adjust it for more clearance at the bottom.  Mine did this also when it was first installed, as they had it on its lowest possible setting (was a Cobb shifter). Once I raised it a bit the rubbing stopped 

 

 

It is the Cobb one. When you say lowest setting do you mean the longest throw?

 

Because yeah mine is about 4mm from the "longest throw setting." I could adjust it actually but Im having transmission/diff whining now and that probably is not the shifter.

[Niran]

@Bugeye01WRX as in the shortest setting.

 

There's two Adjustment points. Its the bottom adjustment clevice that you need to raise a bit to avoid rubbing.