Hello all,

long story short: I made a rookie mistake, first time I use a floor jack and did not set the set screw for the handle.

I lifted up the car, positioned the pucks, the jack stands but when i wanted to lower the floor jack, turning in the handle counter clockwise didn't do anything... so for some reason I wiggled the handle and pulled it without realizing the base of the jack would reverse to a vertical position.

Now the car front end is up and ready to be lowered on the jack stands but I've got now way to put the handle back in. Since the U joint is a square/hex bit I though I could use a socket + breaker bar to carefully rotate counter clockwise and lower the jack.

Since I'm pretty new to this obviously I didn't have sockets for the braker bar. I walked to autozone to get a set of sockets from 12 to 24mm. when I tried them, the 18mm seems too small and does go all the way in, the 23mm is too big and doesn't catch on the bit.

I gave up an hour ago since the stores were going to close anyway and I have to be somewhere tonight. So the car is going to spend the night (off the street thankfully) lifted by the floor jack. I left the jack stands and pucks in place in case the jack fails overnight and the car won't drop more than 1/2 in.


So now I'm planning for tomorrow. Did I miss something obvious that I should try? Nobody around me works on cars so I've got no one to borrow sockets/another floor jack from. Do you think I'm on the right track trying to find the socket that fits the bit? I'm a bit at loss.




[Background] : I got my 1999 coupe 4A Nassau Blue, 9 months ago. I love it ^^ It's now approaching 75k mi and due for an oil change soon.
I figure I would start to learn how to properly maintain my car (1st car I own, I've always driven my parents/family/gf cars before) and I figure an oil change would be a good learning experience.

On the bright side I've broken nothing so far so it's not catastrophic and I hope I can fix everything tomorrow.

the floor jack : https://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-...fQ%3D%3D%0D%0A

The socket set : https://www.autozone.com/ratchets-so...set/914090_0_0

 

Pictures would help a lot

 

Sure!

https://imgur.com/a/RWfp1iO

 

It's hard to visualize what you did. With pictures it would be much easier.

Nevertheless, let me see if I got you right. Were you jacking up from the crossmember (points 1 or 2 in diagram) to lower the car on jack stands under protecting pucks (points 3 in diagram)?

If that is the case, wouldn't it be easier to jack up the car a little more using a second jack in the same crossmember to free the first jack?

 

Insert a piece of pipe or LARGE screwdriver into the hole, making sure the pipe is short enough to fit without hitting the bottom of the car. pull it down. That should get the tube parallel to the ground. Now take a piece of wood or something to place between the tube and bottom of car so it is held in place long enough to reinsert the jack handle. Tighten the handle. Should work

 

thats what i would do.....after it hits max lift pumping the handle doesnt do anything .....crank it down and keep it down and reinsert handle and tighten the set screw/bolt

its kind of funny actually......i knew a guy he was so nervous about hitting his mirrors when he backed the car out of the garage he forgot to close the hood....OOPS

 

Sorry for the lack of details, I was under time constraint before leaving for dinner.

You got it right though. Jack is on the front cross member and the pucks/jack stands are on the 2 front side locations.

Using another jack is kind of the last resort option. It crossed my mind as well. It would suck quite a bit to buy a second jack... Unless I can rent one somewhere.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I'll try to figure it out before tomorrow morning.

 

Location might allow Someone to swing by and assist You!

 

That would be like a miracle ^^

 

A little far for Me as I am in Alabama. But Someone may still help You! Wave from Alabama!

 

thanks for the support! I'll keep you guys updated and hopefully post a picture of the car on its 4 stands with the jack off tomorrow ^^

 

Haha. I've had this happen before by accident - not realizing the handle was not secured. But I've always had more than one jack at any given time.

BTW - great jack. I've got a pair of the longest model of that family. Perfect for my car, even lowered.

One thing I DON'T recommend is getting under there and twisting the release inside the bottom unless you have a death wish. With my two, one is super gentle and slow control to lower. The other is more of an on/off switch.

 

Are you member of the Auto Club? Might be a good time to join.

 

its wotrh repeating dont screw around with the jack unless the car is properly supported by jack stands.

you dont want it falling on you and thats always something to take seriously.
maybe borrow another jack and raise it to take the first one out.

 

I hear you. I think I'll just go pickup another jack and will sell it on Craigslist for a loss later.

​​​​​
Thanks everyone

 

If you can just run to harbor freight grab another jack and then return it later this afternoon. lol

 

I think you're way over-complicating this. Just stick another tool in the jack handle receiver and pull it down so you can put the jack handle back in. Maybe a 1/2" ratchet handle would work. It shouldn't be too hard to rotate it back down, though you may need something to block or hold it down for a few seconds while you get the jack handle back in.

This has happened to me, silly mistakes happen. This should only take like 3 minutes to rectify.

 

so I looked at the parts manual.....that release mechanism is a square shaft so I am not surprised a 6/12 point socket doesn't work......the set screw on the handle just holds it in place in a recessed collar. when you put the handle back in with the set screw removed.. you should be able to rotate the handle to lower. perhaps the set screw was already in place when you inserted he handle and it prevented the handle tube from gong all the way down and engaging the square shank to release the pressure.

 

Yes, well I ended up getting the same jack today and got off this situation.
It cost a bunch but at least I did it in a safe way

yes and no. I don't think I was at full lift so there was still a bunch of torque needed to bring the handle down. So with a short handle don't have enough torque to bring the jack horizontal.
It's a good suggestion but I tried it without success

Yep, that's exactly what happened i think. I just didn't realize about the set screw until it was too late. Oh well, lesson learned.


So to give you an update, I was able to recover the jack by lifting the front crossmember with the second jack I got from harbour freight. From there on it was more or less smooth sailing. I was able to adjust the jack stands correctly and I used 1 jack on the front crossmember, one on the back. Put the car on the 4 stands and did the oil change.
I ended up having to run get a oil filter wrench because it was impossible to unscrew by hand.

I also got a good look under my car and I'm happily surprised by how little rust I could see. It's very clean. No visible leak around the oil pan area. put the oil pan draining screw and washer back in, put oil in the new filter, and screwed it in place. added 6.5 quarts of mobil 1 5w30 and I was all set! ran the engine a bit and reset the miles on the DIC.
Used oil was dark brown/black, no metal shavings.

When running the car on the jack stands the oil level seemed a bit over the upper limit but I'm pretty sure I drained the oil thoroughly, and I did not add much more than 6.5/6.6 quarts of fresh oil. i'll make another measurement when the oil is warm on a flat surface.

If I put a little bit too much, should I put the car up again and drain a bit from the oil pan?





Now I have 2 floor jacks. I did not have the courage to pack one up and drive to harbour freight to return one today. Having 2 jacks is kind of useful to lift the back and front and make adjustments without having to move the jacks.

keep/return/sell on craigslist... not sure yet.


So yeah... Otherwise, this is my car:


Purchased on corvette forum last october

 

looking good.....as long as you are under 1qt over you will be fine....

if you have the space two jacks isnt a bad thing