Floor jack slipped
 

Had a recent accident where I must have misproperly aligned my 2 Ton Harbor Freight floor jack with the Burger polyurethane jack pad and as I was jacking the vehicle slipped off the jack and came crashing down on it (cracking the side skirt and damaging the door and front fender). Any advice on how to repair this damage or deal with the insurance company? I had tested the jack and and jack pad previously and they worked great but I made the mistake of not checking the jack alignment as it was on the way up. I normally do this once its finished jacking. BIG MISTAKE.

Reminder: Never put your heads under a jack only supported vehicle. Bought race ramps immediately after. Any advice appreciated.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...6b86b2ab64.jpg
crack

Ho lee crap. :eek:
Thanks for sharing as a safety reminder to us all. Thank God you weren't under there...

Did you mean to say polyurethane jack “puck”? I’ve never jacked up my C7 yet but am probably going to do it to change brake pads. Are you saying there was a slip between the puck and jack? Can you elaborate on how it happened? Sorry for your misfortune.

I re-read the OP’s post and saw that a jack pad was mentioned later. Was this pad engaged in the frame slot? Not familiar with the type of pad used, will look it up. This scares me.

update: I looked up pad and see it has a T that engages in frame slot. I’m assuming that the floor jack did not have a circular lip that would prevent sliding between the pad and jack or if the jack did have a lip, the car was jacked with part of the lip on the bottom of the pad (not centered 360 around the pad).

That would certainly ruin your day. Sorry to see the damage. Best bet is to just go get an estimate for the repair from the best body shop you can find. I can't imagine that being cheap to repair, so once you get an estimate, then consider whether you want to turn it into your insurance company. Obviously it will be a chargable claim against you.

Best of luck getting that beautiful GS fixed.

Had the exact same thing happen. I have jack up my c5/c6/c7 many many times! It happened the first time using the hard plastic type pucks. Can't say for certain that they contributed to the jack slipping off the puck but I have my suspicions. The C7 had been up for more than a day and I wasn't home when it slipped off. I am still using these pucks but I am now very carefull when positioning the jacks.

I took the car to Richie collision. They repaired the fender, side skirt and replaced the lower rocker panel for $700. You cannot tell it very happened and I am anal about these types of thing. I will cost you but your baby will be good as new.

Unfortunate, but you’re not the first person to do this... several others have posted the same. It typically happens when the jack wheels don’t move when lifting and lowering.

The side skirt can easily be easily replaced... can’t really see the extent of the damage to the rocker. Hopefully it’s just superficial and can be repaired. You definitely don’t want to replace it. The rockers are actually glued to the fame and can be very labor intensive to replace. GL.

this is why you have insurance.....shit happens...could be worse

I truly feel bad for you but so glad you did not get injuried. About a year ago someone posted the same type of jack mishap but his was 10x the damage. The thing I remember about that thread was it was covered by insurance..

My advice is to get one or two quotes from a local reputable repair shop then based on how much the repair cost would be make the decision to pay for it out of pocket or file a claim. If it were me I would file a claim.

Yes, apologies I think copied and pasted wrong but to clarify it was the polyurethane jackpad that deformed and then caused the jack to slip. At least, this is my best guess based on the slight damage to the pad. It was inserted into the vehicle frame and turned appropriately to lock into place. I have seen jackpads deform as on my BMW but they don't fail that quickly usually. Before you even get to the top. This failed so fast I had no chance to even check it out but I did check to line it up before I jacked it. My mechanic did note that it is a unusually small jackpad, possibly making it more likely to get off center. In hindsight, the bare floor jack or hockey puck would have been safer

My intent is to file a claim. I have been driving for 25 years and never even had 1 claim so they're gonna have to bite the bullet on this one. The side skirts are a easy fix and I can even replace that myself if needed. I may just upgrade to ACS and install it myself call it a day

Here is the jack, which has a slight lip, and is a excellent jack and recommended on this forum actually. This was a combo of user error and the jackpad not being very forgiving. I'm going to go with ramps from now on but I am hoping this will go under the "non-collision" part of my insurance and not drive up rates. I recommend either not jacking at all or using the aluminum bolt in pads or using a hockey puck as Spring Mountain does.

Thanks for the reply. That is the jack that I am considering from harbor freight. The lip does look a little shallow from the pic. I am also considering the billet bolt in pads.

My my friend has a 2 post lift. Maybe that would be safer (and easier) for changing brake pads. I would still need the pucks/pads though.

Pucks
 

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...0abc25f8b.jpeg
That’s why I do not use plastic pucks.

:iagree: Thats what I have.

Amen.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5cd6b4a50a.jpg

Good move. I don't use my floor jacks unless absolutely necessary. If you don't have ramps yet, I recommend Race Ramps. I have the 56" Race Ramps https://raceramps.com/car-ramps/gara...56-race-ramps/ with extenders https://raceramps.com/car-ramps/gara...amps/xtenders/ Easy and safe. I love them.

How do you drain your oil using ramps without also jacking up the rear of your C7 to level? How do you remove your wheels using ramps?
Ramps seem kind of useless to me considering they are no good for the tasks that most owners need to raise their C7s to perform.

Sorry about that sucks!!! Im willing to bet the concrete floor had something to do with the slipping of jack (more than the pucks) as it looks shiny and did you chock the other wheels prior to jacking?

The damage can be repaired, thank goodness your body parts weren't in the way!