'95 850 Turbo - Tire Jack Failed

[scottyscott]

Ok, so the right front tire went flat today while I was at the market. No big deal, right? I decided to put the spare on the right rear and move the right rear tire to the right front. FWD car, after all.

Except...no sooner had I removed the right front tire than the jack made a strange "pop" noise and just...fell over. Thankfully, the jack failed so the car moved forward only...it landed on the brake rotor and slid about 6 inches on the pavement (rather than shifting sideways and flattening me). The rotor didn't turn (car was in park) at or after impact. The eBrake was on, but the back tires slid. Nothing underneath actually hit the ground, nor did the bumper -- the rotor took the brunt of the fall.

As soon as I was sure I wasn't gonna puke, I got the car towed home. I just dropped about 5k stage 0'ing this car...I'm afraid to even start it up. Can't count the number of times I've slid under the car to pop in jack stands to do all that work.

Has this happened to anyone else? Aside from new rotors on the front end, what else should be checked for damage? I couldn't see anything when I poked around, but it was dark.

[rspi]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I have had a few start to twist like it wanted to fail but I backed off and did something else.

[t5contradiction]

Thats so odd, the exact same thing happened to me today. I was replacing an abs sensor and all of the sudden the car came down on a rotor. Went down to advance auto and got a 1 ton jack for $25. Full moon for volvos today maybe.... No damage on my end.

[scottyscott]

Wow, ok, so if all looks well...I guess I'll find out when I take it out tomorrow! hopefully there's not been any serious damage. Yeah, full moon...I'm definitely going to get a new jack.

[cn90]

All tire jacks that come with new cars are potentially dangerous. They are usually compact in nature and are very flimpsy.
The best way is to carry a floor jack but this adds weight etc.

However, there is a way to use the factory tire jack safely.
- Of course car needs to be in Park and Parking Brake is applied.
- Do this on an absolutely level surface.
- Loosen the wheel bolts while the car is on the ground.
- Chock the wheels on the other side. Chock both the fore and aft part of that tire.
If you work on the right side, chock the LF or LR tire.
- Here is the trick: once the car is lifted upward, it moves inward (toward the center of the car) slightly, this will create instability. The way to handle this is to place the jack slightly inward a bit (maybe 1-2 inches) before jacking it up.
This way once the car is up, the jack is perfectly vertical under the jacking point.
- Oh, make sure there are no occupants inside the car for obvious reasons!

[t5contradiction]

Whenever I jack the car up and have to take a wheel off, I will use that wheel and set it down under the car. That way if the car comes down (like it did on me today) it will come down and stop on the wheel rather then ohhh lets say my face or my hand. Better have a cracked rim then a trip to the hospital or worse. Lesson learned today

[shegarty]

Has this happened to anyone else? Aside from new rotors on the front end, what else should be checked for damage? I couldn't see anything when I poked around, but it was dark.

If I'm not mistaken there was a factory recall on these fulcrum jacks ... you might want to check that out with your local dealer, they should still replace them free of charge. I personally prefer the old school scissor jack as they are much less likely to fail in the same way.

As for what to check, start with the front end that came down. Be sure to carefully inspect all of the suspension components, brake caliper and the caliper mounting bracket. You are most likely going to need to replace the rotors but do a thorough check first and take it for a test drive afterwards just to be sure.

stay safe ...

[Rocky]

Axles stands and three ton jack when ever I get to work on brakes or what ever