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Oh rats, I just dropped it


Phil Bishop

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I've just been putting my Beaulieu edition Vauxhall 8 valve up on axle stands for a 3000 mile check up while the weather's so foul - and the little lady slipped off the jack. I'm 'home alone' today and I suppose it wasn't such a clever idea in the first place, but I was lucky and nothing landed on me. The back end came down on the stand, which fortunately was still in just the right place, and she landed right on the recommended spot, but from a height of about five or six inches and with quite a thump. The light's not good enough to give the frame a proper check over until the morning, but I'm all at sixes and sevens right now - that's a good 'un, never meant it - in case I find a cracked weld or something in the morning. Can anyone either put me out of my misery or give me a tip on where to look for possible damage?
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If you positioned the stand under a sprung part of the suspension ie de-dion tube or the central A frame bush then I suspect there would be no problem. However, if its an unsprung part where it hit ie the front diagonal bush on the chassis under the drivers backside or the chassis near the fuel tank then have a very careful look indeed.
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Thanks Graham, takes a neighbour to help out - looks like all the others just had a snigger - and quite right they would be, too. I've just had a look and I can see no sign of damage to the welded joint nearest the axle stand. The stand is located just where it should be at the rear according to the build manual. All I can see is a small, less than 10 mm, 'ding' in the tube steel where the angle on the stand obviously hit - just to the rear of the perforated plate that is welded on at this point. Annoying more than structurally dangerous I would have thought, as there is probably not too much load on the frame at this point (please....) Naturally, I'll keep a close eye on this weld once I've got the car back on its wheels and on the road again. What a wally.
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To be honest Phil I think they are all hungover today, there doesn't seem to be much traffic at all on Blatchat.

 

What you were doing was really a two person job, I was doing the same over Xmas and it is always precarious, as my stands are 18 inches tall and my jack only goes to 14 inches

 

Edited by - Graham Perry on 2 Jan 2003 10:42:07

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Been there, done that and got the dent to prove it. But didn't result in any cracks.

 

In fact, the brazing on the joints is usually good quality and built up so very unlikely to suffer damage.

 

Damaged pride is probably the worst you will suffer.

 

Barry

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