What was your closest wrenching near death experience

Jody Treadway

Jody Treadway

Croc wearing fool
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Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Hendersonville, NC
Just as the title states. What story do you have to tell about an "almost bit the big one" experience while working on a vehicle?

I spent from age 17 to 35 working in dealership service departments as a tech. Ford, Lincoln-Mercury and the Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge for then final 14 years. So for nearly 23 years, I've been in a shop environment.

1- Doing a Contour fuel tank recall in 1995 I had spilled an expected amount of fuel on the shop floor between loosening lines and swapping pumps. Back then we only had old school shop lights with screw in 60 watt bulbs. While I was installing the new tank, my light fell and the bulb shattered on the floor in a pool of gas beside a nearly full tank. My heart nearly stopped.

2- While pulling a transmission in a ZJ, I had a NV249 t case slide off it's mounting studs onto my head. Knocked me clean out. Happened during lunch, so nobody was around to see. Took about 10 minutes for another tech to find me. Still have a dent in my skull from it.

3- My worst and scariest. Was lifting a WK at my shop. Had to replace the rear LCA as part of the install. The LCA bolts installed from the inside out from the factory so the gas tank is in the way on one side. I decided to cut the head off the bolt with a sawsall and side the rest of it out (I didn't want to drop the tank for just one bolt). I put on my safety glasses and started cutting. I kept checking progress through the bolt periodically. One time I noticed melted plastic on the blade. I had cut through the tank. Luckily no fuel leaked out and I cut above the fuel level. When I lowered the WK down, fuel started leaking through the cut. It was literally like 1/32" below the cut line. Nearly 3/4 tank worth of gas in it. Had I cut just a hair lower, gas would have leaked into the motor of my sawsall. I can only imagine the aftermath...

Who's next?
 
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1)I was welding a ring gear gaurd on the front yota axle under my dad's samurai. I burnt a small hole in it and oil started leaking out. I put a drain pan under it, waited for it to stop leaking, cleaned it up, then went to filling the hole. I didn't move the drain pan... it was one of those that is basically enclosed with a funnel top and small hole. A piece of slag went in the pan, and apparently something more flammable than gear oil had been drained into that pan previously. It exploded, sounded like a bomb, rang my ears, smoke and oil spray everywhere, wife came running downstairs to see what happened.

2) My previous boss was working on an old trans am. Had the front end up on ramps and adjusting the automatic trans shifter, he grabbed the linkage and shifted it to neutral. The car rolled off the ramps and the oil pan smacked him in the forehead. Any farther under the car and there wouldn't have been enough room for his noggin.
 
Probably my worst was when I worked at a junk yard.We junked a Yj and had pulled the engine,tranny,case,front clip and front axle.Basically a frame,rear axle and tub.We raised it up to get everything out from under it and it fell off the lift backwards,not enuf weight in the front to counter balance the rear.
 
Jody Treadway said:
1- Doing a Contour fuel tank recall in 1995 I had spilled an expected amount of fuel on the shop floor between loosening lines and swapping pumps. Back then we only had old school shop lights with screw in 60 watt bulbs. While I was installing the new tank, my light fell and the bulb shattered on the floor in a pool of gas beside a nearly full tank. My heart nearly stopped.
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My uncle had a shop that wasn't far from INT 81 so he got a lot of folks off the interstate stopping by when they had trouble.A light bulb about cost him his whole place.Luckily they had a truck and chain handy and drug the car out before the fire spread.They wouldn't let us use em at the JY.
 
I was 22 yrs old, my brothernlaw and I had a service station together.
We had one lift, old style, drive on lift. Where the lever was to raise ant lower it, there was a tank. I "thought" it was an air tank. It was, kinda, but that's not all that was in it. It leaked a nasty looking yellow fluid and I was constanly having to clean it up. So one day, I decided, I was going to drain that tank. BUt unlike the air compressor, there was no valve at the bottom. So I came up with a plan. Drill a hole, drain the gunk, tap it and put a bolt in it. So I did. when I drilled the hole, OMG, there must have been 30 gallons of fluid in it! Talk about a mess!, So after cleaning it all up, I went on with my plan. I tapped it(nice thick metal) and plugged it with a bolt, with some Teflon tape. Next, I had a 78 Camero going on for some service. So I got it on the rack, and hit the lever. It took it forever, I was guessing because I had drained everything out and it had to fill the tank back up with air. Well, the car went up, VERY fast, so fast it came up off the rack about 18"!!!!
and the lift kinda bounced up and down. But, the car stayed on the lift! After I put on some clean drawers, I SLOWLY let the car down, always bouncing the whole way down. Called the landlord, service man came out. He refilled the oil, I had let out, and informed me that it was supposed to be there. So, many lessons learned that day. But, he did fix the leak!
 
1) I was in my teens, and rebuilding the carb off my 85 full size Bronco in the garage at my parents house. It was the middle of the winter, and cold outside, so I had my kerosene heater running wide open right beside me. I had the carb sitting on the workbench, and removed one of the bowl screws. Fuel shot out in a solid stream, and missed the kerosene heater by just a couple of inches.

2) I was doing a shackle flip on another 85 full size Bronco that I owned. I had removed the fuel tank (still with lots of fuel in it) and drug it about 10-15 feet behind the truck. In the process of removing the tank, I had spilled fuel all over the driveway. I commenced to grinding the rivets off the stock spring hangers, and suddenly felt heat on my backside. The fuel spilled all over the ground was on fire with the tank sitting right there.

I will probably think of more later, so will come back and edit this post.
 
1) Was working on an old Trans Am pulling the rear axle. I had the car on a jack and stands, pulled the rear axle, and went to reposition the stands to get it sitting better. I pulled the first stand and was reaching across for the other one and when I heard a pop/clank noise. I rolled out from under the car right as the jack collapsed and the car landed flat on the ground.

2) Was unloading another Trans Am from my trailer, I put the ramps down and started undoing the straps. I had the parking brake set, but it must have been frayed because as I walked behind the car I heard it snap and the car rolled down off the trailer. I braced myself against the back when it hit me and I slid down the driveway behind it, somehow right through the 9' garage door, and right to the back of the garage and when my back foot hit the wall that was all it needed to stop it.
 
One I just remembered.I was tryin to find a oil leak on a 80's model F150 w a 300 6cyl.The whole side of the engine was covered in oil.I had a can of carb cleaner spraying the engine tryin to get some oil off so I could see where it was coming from while it was running.Somebody had installed a points dist at some point and I got carb cleaner in it and it ignited.It was a big poof and a ball of flame.I was bent over the truck when it happened and it got my eye brows and the hair on my arms.
 
Blaze said:
1) Was working on an old Trans Am pulling the rear axle. I had the car on a jack and stands, pulled the rear axle, and went to reposition the stands to get it sitting better. I pulled the first stand and was reaching across for the other one and when I heard a pop/clank noise. I rolled out from under the car right as the jack collapsed and the car landed flat on the ground.

2) Was unloading another Trans Am from my trailer, I put the ramps down and started undoing the straps. I had the parking brake set, but it must have been frayed because as I walked behind the car I heard it snap and the car rolled down off the trailer. I braced myself against the back when it hit me and I slid down the driveway behind it, somehow right through the 9' garage door, and right to the back of the garage and when my back foot hit the wall that was all it needed to stop it.
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You got a trams am fetish??
 
1) Was swapping C6's in one of my rigs...pulled them out by myself plenty of times. This time lost my handle on it, 300lbs dropped 18" squarely on my chest.


2) My 96 crew cab, was my dad's at the time...had the notorious column screw problem where the truck would pop out of gear. I couldn't have been much more than 17 at the time, decided I was gonna fix it. Not thinking at all, there was a hill DOWN in to the front of my dad's tool & die shop. I park about 10' from one of the overhead doors, start working on the truck, have the parking brake set, but apparently wasn't set well enough or 8000lbs on that steep of a hill doesn't matter. Truck starts rolling toward the building...not sure why I didn't just step on the brake pedal...but instead run around to the back side of the truck, to attempt to stop it. Slowed it down, but Ran through the overhead, right in to a 10,000lb Freightliner die, and I was pinned between it and the truck.


3) Not so much wrenching, but had an engine core drop off shortly after college...2 460's. I was at my folks house between moves, hoist was in storage. Thought me and my brother could Heman them bad boys...we couldn't. So my plan was to have the dude hit reverse as hard as he could, then slam on the brakes in my mom's side yard. Did, worked like a charm. Probably 530am, everyone is still sleeping, so perfect. Except now I need to move the engines. Wrap the 4 wheelers winch around them, and drag them around back. Do you know what dragging, not one, but 2 750lb items through grass looks like...I do. At this point, my dad wakes up, comes out, says something along the lines of 'you dumb mother f***ker, fix it before your mother wakes up'. She woke up...and I'll just say a mother's love isn't always unconditional. She kept saying she was gonna kill me...soooo.
 
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I was fixing the rear tire on the tractor, it was getting dark and in a hurry. Didnt want to remove the wheel or cultivator for the quick repair, so i grabbed a farm jack (since it was the only thing that would fit in front of the attachment). Got the tractor jacked up and was working on the tire. Kicked the tire to free the brake drag and spin it around. When I did the jack handle fell and bounced off the bottom stops, ricocheting it back up at a high rate of speed. I saw it falling out of my peripheral and got enough out of the way for it to catch me with a glancing blow above the eye. It didnt knock me out but i saw stars and black for a few seconds. Worst part was I had go back out a few days later and fix the tire/get the jack out from under the tractor.
 
1-tonmudder said:
You got a trams am fetish??
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Little bit. ;)
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Around 1979/1980 i owned a 68 nova. we had it in the shop doing something (don't remember what).
i had just stepped out to walk to the store and my wife ran out of the building saying she had laid
a wrench on the battery and it stuck on it. all i could think was exploding battery so i ran in and knocked
it off with another tool. i still have that 1/2 snap on combo wrench and use it proudly.

another time in the late 70s my brother had bought a salvage jeep to rebuild and sell. had it in the shop
with the shop door down. long story short the clutch was stuck to the flywheel and we were trying to get
it loose--i was under the thing checking the linkage and my brother started it up in gear. lucky i was
flat on my back without my arms or legs sticking out and when it started it ran thru the roll up door
and out into the lot before he could catch it to turn it off. rear diff missed my head by this much><.
shop door was about a year old at that time. hammered the thing straight as we could and reinstalled it.
it's still up and working to this day. glad i was skinny back then.
 
I was 12 and we had just finished a rebuid on the 350 for our 78 cheyenne. I was under the truck lining everything up and all. Out of nowhere the bolt that holds the chain on the end of the engine hoist breaks. engine drops but gets caught on one of the headers and rolls to one side. Thankfully I was on the other side.

Also when I was 15 I took up lawn mower racing. Had my mower on the chain hoist doing something and the screw that I had the chain hooked on came out. mower dropped with the front landing right over my ankles (learned from the 350 incident to never lay directly under something suspended). I was glad it still had wheels on it.
 
Back in high school I was working on my CJ5 and used a hilift to lift it up. I was under it working and and came out from under it. Leaned in the back and the Jeep rolled forward in the garage and off of the jack. Apparently I forgot to put th trans in gear and it was in neutral while I was under it working. It could easily have rolled and fell on top of me anytime. After that I'm very conscious about checking things like that and using multiple jack stands, etc.
 
I was standing on fire watch with a extinguisher ready to go. The other guy I was working with had the torch and started cutting off a rusted shock. He cut through the pressurized fuel line instead. I didn't know what was going on except that I couldn't extinguish the fire because he had just ignited the flame thrower! I don't know how, but the fire did go out when the gas in the line and the extinguisher were empty.
 
I was 19, at home, alone in the garage. Just finishing swapping a sbc/700/208 (fixed yoke) into my YJ. No rear driveshaft hooked up. Had it running to warm up and had an exhaust rattle so with my glove on I kneeled down and reach under to grab and shake the exhaust. Apparently had installed the shift linkage upside down, so instead of park, it was in 1st. D-shaft yoke on transfer case grabbed my glove and pulled me right under the jeep and pinned me to the floor board. Took about 20 seconds for my arm to snap. After about 45 seconds, somehow I thought enough to reach with my other arm and grab the shift linkage on the trans and push it into Neutral. Arm flopped out, dangling. Went in the house, called 911 and waited for the ambulance. Turned the outside lights on, shut the jeep off, closed the garage door, etc. Didn't feel a thing until it was put in an air cast for transport. 3 plates and 18 screws later it is good as new. Needless to say, I watch where I put my hands now. If a bone had poked through the skin, I probably would have passed out and died under there.
 
NC-V said:
I was 19, at home, alone in the garage. Just finishing swapping a sbc/700/208 (fixed yoke) into my YJ. No rear driveshaft hooked up. Had it running to warm up and had an exhaust rattle so with my glove on I kneeled down and reach under to grab and shake the exhaust. Apparently had installed the shift linkage upside down, so instead of park, it was in 1st. D-shaft yoke on transfer case grabbed my glove and pulled me right under the jeep and pinned me to the floor board. Took about 20 seconds for my arm to snap. After about 45 seconds, somehow I thought enough to reach with my other arm and grab the shift linkage on the trans and push it into Neutral. Arm flopped out, dangling. Went in the house, called 911 and waited for the ambulance. Turned the outside lights on, shut the jeep off, closed the garage door, etc. Didn't feel a thing until it was put in an air cast for transport. 3 plates and 18 screws later it is good as new. Needless to say, I watch where I put my hands now. If a bone had poked through the skin, I probably would have passed out and died under there.
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:eek:
 
Once I was putting a trans in my buddy’s s10. Easy because it was a 4 banger. I was in there alone, had the front of the truck on stands and the back wheels chocked and parking brake set. One thing I didn’t do was tell my brother and his friends who showed up to stay back. Right as I slid the trans up ( kinda a PITA alone) one kid ran by and wiped out and slid into the stand hard enough to lift the lever on it and drop it. When the truck tilted, it fell off the other and almost killed me. 3 or 4 broken ribs and a few broken fingers later I’m still living.

Same truck but did a fuel pump in it because it was about to die ( low pressure and made bad noises. ) so we got the entire assembly and swapped it. Not hard but had to figure out the wiring because it had an updated plug. Get it on and done. Fast forward a few days I barrow the truck to take some small scrap in and as I’m pulling away( it’s a stick so it’s kinda fun to drive) I smell gas and hot wires. I pull over and see what’s left of the “updated” plug. Traced the issue to a ground wire that had broken and gotten super hot. Almost burnt his truck down.


Was doing breaks on my dads 06 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 5.7 hemi. Heavy truck. Got the trusty 3 ton jack under it and went to lifting the front to put it on stands and used the parking break to stop it from rolling back. I go to jack it up and as I’m placing a stand I hear a creek. Thought it was the garage creaking. Then a bang and before I knew it 30 minutes had passed while I was out cold. The jack failed and dropped the truck which hit my head hard enough to bounce off the concrete and off the truck again. Went back after a few hours and couldn’t remember what I was doing.

Aside from broken fingers and knuckles that’s about it. Well, one more, my brother had resharpened the lawn mower blade and put it back on. I had come out to check on him and see how he was doing ( was about 103 and humid) and I hear a bang and a scary wizzing noise and kinda see a blur coming towards me. Well when he did the blade he forgot the lock washer that was on there and it backed off and the blade got loose. Now I’ve had them drop blades before but never throw them. The blade stuck in the tree about 9 inches from my head. After a change of drawers and a few hours in the ac we went and got another blade and lock tight and lock washered it on there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
NC-V said:
I was 19, at home, alone in the garage. Just finishing swapping a sbc/700/208 (fixed yoke) into my YJ. No rear driveshaft hooked up. Had it running to warm up and had an exhaust rattle so with my glove on I kneeled down and reach under to grab and shake the exhaust. Apparently had installed the shift linkage upside down, so instead of park, it was in 1st. D-shaft yoke on transfer case grabbed my glove and pulled me right under the jeep and pinned me to the floor board. Took about 20 seconds for my arm to snap. After about 45 seconds, somehow I thought enough to reach with my other arm and grab the shift linkage on the trans and push it into Neutral. Arm flopped out, dangling. Went in the house, called 911 and waited for the ambulance. Turned the outside lights on, shut the jeep off, closed the garage door, etc. Didn't feel a thing until it was put in an air cast for transport. 3 plates and 18 screws later it is good as new. Needless to say, I watch where I put my hands now. If a bone had poked through the skin, I probably would have passed out and died under there.
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Winner!!!
I had a story in my mind to type out but no way i am following that!
 
Coil spring clamp broke. Heard the coil go past my ear. Have not touched a coil since.
 
changed the gear oil in a oil pan on a toyota 4runner pushed it out of the way and went home. apparently after i left someone decided to drain the tank into said oil pan and move it back. i started welding 8-10 ft away somehow a spark or slag flew into the hole and BOOM! i was laying on the ground looking up at what i was welding flipped the face shield up, and covered me in burning gear oil.
 
This is a good read... I've had few close ones by far the worst was when I broke my rear spiders on my zj on grapevine in Harlan I drained axle and cleaned with brake fluid so I could weld em up for rest of weekend! Well a buddy decided to assist and wanted to do some welding so he jumped under ass of jeep and started welding, thing is he didn't pull the drain pan out from under the jeep so he throws a spark and boom the whole can of diff fluid and Blake cleaner go up in flames my zj was on stands so somehow I managed to drag him out from under jeep while his hoodie on fire and push my jeep off the stands and out of harms way! Shit of it was the garage we were in was under this guy's house so everyone freaked out we finally managed to get the fire out his house/garage was full of black soot and covered in black for weeks!
 
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