Be very careful

[Tom Schindler]

I am still in shock over this one. I was working on my Fathers 34' long Class A Motorhome today. The POS Chinese valve stems always F'ing leaked a little air.



I had enough and jacked the motorhome up, placed jack stands under it and removed the wheels. I got the wheels off. I climbed under it a little more and placed another jackstand under it because of the weight of the load. The front axle is 3 ton and the rear axle is 5 1/2 ton for a gross of 8 1/2 ton (17,000 LBS).



I made a comment along the lines of "I better get out from under this thing before I become a statistic". I climb out from under the motorhome and stand next to if shooting the breeze with Dad and Theresa. I was out from under it for about 30 seconds. The motorhome falls off of the jack stands and hits the ground. If I would have been under there for a short time longer, I would have been killed.



I took all of the precautions I could think of. Jack stands, setting the parking brake, wheel chocks, etc. I even went as far as using extra stands in case the other stands mess up, there would be another one there.



The motorhome fell to the ground. I was within 30 seconds of losing my life. I am a little freaked, but dealing with it. Theresa was just freaked out.



As I type this, reality has just set in.





Tom

 

[MikeSondra Grossen]

Goodness...CLOSE CALL! someone is watching out for ya...

 

[Bob McDonald]

Daymn!! Happy to hear you are alright.

Did you find out what happened? Did the RV roll and topple over the stands? Did the stands just collapse?

 

[Dave King 2]

Glad to hear your ok. You may never know what happened now that everything is flat on the ground. Have a few cold ones and unwind for now.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I picked the motorhome right back up and finished the job.



It looks like it just walked off the stands. Not sure exactly how, but when you are working with 17,000 LBS, it will do what it wants to do.



People are fallable and even the best make mistakes.





Tom

 

[Tom Beals]

An older brother of a friend from school was killed when we were in high school. He was working on the family car. I say he was a friend, but we were not close, just played junior high basketball and high school football together...anyway, I still think of his brother anytime I put anything, even my lawn mower, up on a jack or a jack stand. I remember thinking that I could not even begin to imagine how terrible it would be to lose someone so close that way.



I am happy to hear you had the sensibility to get out when you did - and have to say that I probably would not have been brave enough to jack it back up and try again.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I had no choice but to jack it back up. The job must get done. My Dad can't do it. He is too old to do car work any more.





Tom

 

[Ed C]

Wow, that is some "Final Destination" movie stuff. I'm glad you're ok.

 

[Dre L]

Jesus dude, glad to hear you're okay.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Glad you are OK. Are you going to pay attention to this message from God and change your life?

 

[gary s]

great to know you are OK.

that must have been one scary experience.



doing work on a 34' long Class A Motorhome with jacks at home?

"but when you are working with 17,000 LBS, it will do what it wants to do."



I made a comment along the lines of "I better get out from under this thing before I become a statistic".



wow, knowing it was dangerous, moving forward maybe you want to get a pro to handle this kind of work. :grin:





I picked the motorhome right back up and finished the job



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Tom Schindler]

wow, knowing it was dangerous, moving forward maybe you want to get a pro to handle this kind of work.

Letting a professional do this type of work got us in the situation in the first place. This professional used inferior garbage to hold the air in the tire.



I knew I was going to get some assinine comment from you.





Tom

 

[ray moyer]

well... glad your not a pancake dude!

 

[Carlos Chio]

Glad to hear you are okay, Tom. Now go out and buy a Lotto ticket.:haveabeer:

 

[Kevin Palmer]

As the others have said, really glad you did not get injured/killed.



In the future, I would suggest working on only one half of an axle at a time. Yes, it will take a bit longer as it will break uf the flow, but you will never truly support the weight of the motor home...

 

[Tom Schindler]

In the future, I would suggest working on only one half of an axle at a time. Yes, it will take a bit longer as it will break uf the flow, but you will never truly support the weight of the motor home...

I was working on only half of the axle at one time. This was on the right hand side.





Tom

 

[Johnny O]

Glad you're okay. Buy a lottery ticket while you're luck is on a run.:haveabeer:

 

[David Ponder]

Tom, Glad you are OK... Dave

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Quote:



In the future, I would suggest working on only one half of an axle at a time. Yes, it will take a bit longer as it will break uf the flow, but you will never truly support the weight of the motor home...

Ok,,, then like you,,, I would be confused as to why it fell as well.



I have worked on hundreds, maybe even thousands of vehicles where we needed to support them on stands. And in every case, no matter how good you have it set up, there is always that moment where you say,,, "man, this thing better not fall off..."



Once again, glad you are ok, in the end that is all that matters...

 

[Tom Schindler]

I had 2 5 ton jack stands under the axle and two more stands snugged up under the frame. I also had a 8 ton bottle jack under there.



I am thinking one of the front wheel chocks moved. My comment, "Let me get out from under here before I become a statistic" is something that is always in the back of my mind when working under a vehicle. You can never be too careful while under a vehicle.



The bottom line is that I am alright. Getting the vahicle back up wasn't as difficult as I thought it was. A few pumps of the jack and she started coming up.



Everything is back together. We will be taking her out on Friday to go to the Ohio State Fair.





Tom