Looking At Things Differently

Since my divorce and now living by myself, I have started on my jeep build. Safety is a new issue now. I am real consensus about what I do and I hope I stay that way. If something bad happens, I hate to think about the outcome. If you read my thread, add a line about working safe so it will stay in my mind. Steve

 

Safety glasses , face shield, goggles. These are only a few . Be safe.

 

Its always good to have an escape plan when working by yourself, in case something goes wrong. Keep your phone close if you need to call 911!

 

I was a single parent when I restomodded my '70. Had a lot of these same thoughts as I was laying under the Heep at night once the kids went to bed.

I wear fitted respirators now, not just dust masks. I can turn a filter pitch black during an hour of grinding.

Steel toe boots are worth every penny.

I have had some very close calls with my fingers. In a situation like yours, the idea is to call the ambulance ASAP and then keep from bleeding out before the EMT arrives. Have supplies on hand to make a one-handed tourniquet, and gauze and tape to apply pressure for other puncture wounds.

Another fear I had was the Jeep rolling over me. I personally knew a young widow once that lost her husband due to a car rolling off the jack. If I am under the jeep, it is on level pavement, chocked both ways, in gear, brakes applied (not parking brake - they suck. Use a 2x4 wedged between the seat and pedal to apply the brake). Whenever I am swapping an axle or wheels are off, I use jack stands, a floor jack, and sometimes even the engine hoist as an added fail safe.

Working alone under cast iron transmissions can make me nervous sometimes, too. I found the best one-man solution to be the ATV jack that Sears sells. I have a plywood jig built that bolts onto the jack and cradles the trans, and a pair of mini ratchet straps that go around it. Works better than so-called "transmission jacks", piece of mind when your skull is directly centered under 375lbs of cast iron trans and t-case.

Another transmission tip if you've got a full cage is to put a full size ratchet strap around the roll bar and sling it under the transmission. Works good for holding trans in place while you bolt up the crossmember.

 

:iagree: All good points, Clint.

Over the years, I've spent many nights alone out in the garage and have been lucky to have had only a few relatively minor mishaps. I keep first aid supplies handy. Nowadays, along with some garage time, I spend a lot of time out in the garden area and am careful with how I do things because since I'm the only one home during the day, I'd be laying there for a while before someone found me.

Probably best to think, "What could go wrong here?" before committing to anything that might do harm.

 

Some great advice right there! I've been a carpenter for more than 25 years and (knock on wood), I've never had a major injury and I still have all my fingers and both my eyes. Can't say the same for lots of guys I've worked with and I've seen some greusome mishaps over the years, all of which could've been prevented. I too am a single dad. It's not only you that you are protecting when you go out into the garage alone. Some things are unforeseeable...but BKAP's approach is the one I've always "lived" by.

 

Fire extinguisher handy

 

Electrical tape makes a dandy replacement for a bandaid when you start to bleed like a stuck pig. I second the thoughts about proper jacking and good stands. If you lift your jeep at all on dirt, go to a scrapyard and find soem scrap plate steel to use under the jack and stands. Plywood, 3/4 inch marine grade is a distant second choice. I have seen too many deaths from poor lifting and nonuse of jackstands to do otherwise. It is a tough way to go, suffocating because your chest is crushed underneath a car.

 

Thanks guys, need to get the first aid kit to the garage and a fire extinguisher.

 

Yeah jack stands definitely! It amazes me to see how many people work under a vehicle secured only by a jack or some homemade wood block support. Jack stands are the cheapest insurance you can get.

 

When I pull off a wheel, I put them under the vehicle, under the frame as a spacer just in case the car falls off the jackstands. It's cheap and easy.

 

be in good standing with your neighbors, they could probably get to you quicker than an ambulance could, to help you out until it arrives if something bad happens. I'm thankful that my neighbors usually swing by every now and then just to see the fun stuff that I'm working on. So I know i could call any one of them if I needed a hand with anything, or were injured.

And if there's ever a time where you are jerry rigging something by yourself that could really benefit from a second pair of hands, just wait until you can get a friend/neighbor to help, rather than doing something risky to try and get it done by yourself