UKC

A neighbour is working on the front near side wheel of his Landrover. The wheel is off, the vehicle is jacked up but UNBLOCKED and he's working with his head under the wheel arch.

In reply to mypyrex:

Ok.

In reply to mypyrex:

Give him a heads up then

...and nothing to stop the vehicle rolling backwards or forwards.

In reply to mypyrex:
Do you have any axle stands you could lend him?

In reply to mypyrex:

I hoped for a second you'd posted something interesting, about the dangers of you courting your neighbour.

In reply to mypyrex:

Send him a link to this thread.

In reply to Mike Stretford:


Great minds... Just been over to offer him axle stands but he said he's OK. I thought "On your head be it"! (Did you like the pun?)

In reply to mypyrex:

If it's in gear, he has the diff locked, and has the handbrake on (which works on the prop shaft IIRC), can it roll, actually?

In reply to Dave Garnett:

No idea TBH but I wouldn't like to find out that it can; although I wasn't so concerned about it rolling as maybe a jack failure. Many years ago I was working with one leg under my car and the jack failed, trapping my leg. Thankfully nothing actually made contact with my leg to do any serious damage. I have never put my trust solely in a jack since, except when changing a wheel. In that case you are unlikely to be under the vehicle(one would hope)

In reply to mypyrex:

Don't worry about it. We have an overpopulation problem anyway

In reply to mypyrex:
Did you tell him about your near miss?

I've found that can be best kind of way to pass on advice, to recount a story of something happening, people seem to take less umbrage than if you phrase it as if they're doing the wrong thing.

In reply to Timmd:


Briefly. He said thanks anyway.

In reply to mypyrex:
Nothing else you can do.

In reply to Timmd:


Start the paperwork for a Darwin Award nomination...?

In reply to captain paranoia:
I don't much like Darwin awards to be honest, they seem to be about laughing at other peoples' mistakes.

Edit: It might be because I've been very stupid in the past*.

In reply to Timmd:

I don't much like Darwin awards to be honest, they seem to be about laughing at other peoples' mistakes.

Don't speak ill of the dead.
Unless they've done something monumentally stupid that is...

In reply to mypyrex:

Never rely just on a jack alone. Far too many things can go wrong. As an absolute minimum lay the wheel down under the car to minimise the risk of being crushed.

In reply to Dax H:
"lay the wheel down under the car to minimise the risk of being crushed."

That's what I was taught by my dad when changing a wheel for the first time. He wouldn't let me or my sister use the car until we could demonstrate we could change a tyre in case of emergency, a lot of people (male or female) haven't a clue.

In reply to mypyrex:
If his landrover is anything like mine then it'll be a mercy killing.

In reply to Willi Crater:


Yeh couldn't agree more. I always fancied one due to the adventurous type hype that I bought into.

Fe kin thing was a nightmare. Weird driving position as if your driving in the passenger seat. Heating goes freezing unless moving. The windows start to come down when off Roading (thought this was just mine till I went up in a long wheel base one and did the same.) flat battery! Try push starting that thing it's like giving a track excavator a push start.
Did the guy have a hose in his mouth attached to the exhaust? Leave the poor bugger alone.

In reply to mypyrex:

You think that's dangerous?... The Americans have been dropping bombs all over Syria recently. They could kill some bugger, carrying on like that.

In reply to mypyrex:

Is your neighbour still alive?

In reply to gethin_allen:

My dad, god rest him, showed me how to change a wheel ... but he didn't actually make me do it. I wish he had, I'd really like to be able to do that!

Yes, ok, the answer is obvious isn't it.

In reply to fmck:



Ha ha. Mine doesn't like right hand bends. Most of the electrics have packed up. What electrics do work impact other remaining electrics - e.g.
when indicate the windscreen wipers come on. Won't start when cold (by cold I mean under 3 Celsius). Has an effective top cruising speed of around 55mph. Often overheats. Does about 25 mpg. Rear prop shaft occasionally falls off. If you use it for more than 45 mins on a motorway then you feel like you're been 6 rounds with Mike Tyson. And at least you have some heating, wish I did, although once it starts to overheat the almost total lack of thermal insulation provides a similar effect. Not so good in the summer when it's 35 degrees though. And that's just I can remember off the top of head.

On the plus side I can't think of many vehicles that if you roll them you can just get them pushed back over and carry on as if nothing had happened. And the dog likes it. Oddly enough I suspect it'll be going long after I'm pushing up the daisies.

In reply to gethin_allen:


That and a lot of company car drivers are not allowed to change one because they are not trained or insured to do it.