Bad luck and crappy Audi factory jack

[Dave Hord]

Ironically,

I dropped the rally car off the stock jack last week.  Had my arm in the wheel
well at the time it dropped...I was damn lucky.  Large puncture wound to the
wrist...nothing worse. I could feel the spring coils closing around my hand as
I whipped it out of the way.

Up until that day I've always LOVED my stock jack.  That thing is AMAZING in
soft surfaces, VERY sturdy when in can dig into the dirt a little (first clear
any loose gravel/dirt away)  It's so small in height that you can get it under
a rally car with two right side flat tires and bent rims (ask me how I know :-
)  You can't do that with a subaru scissor jack.

Where it does NOT excell, however, is hard surfaces...especially the smooth
concrete of our warehouse! Yikes!

Now to be fair, I was an idiot. I knew one of the rear caliper parking brake
cables was disconnected...but started jacking up the rear first at what I
thought was the bad caliper.  Please note that I'd thought I'd rush it just
this 'once' and not use any blocks...parking brake'll hold it!  Anyways, I
picked the wrong side...I jacked up the GOOD side...leaving the car with only
the transmission to hold it (we know how much play THAT has!).

And I, uh, actually dropped it twice.  After jacking it up after the first drop
I thought 'wow, this isn't safe' (DUH!) and thought i shoudl get some
blocks...while I was grabbing the block it dropped a second time.  Sigh.

Only damage was the dust shield, which would be off the rally car if the darn
bolts hadn't become 'one' with the hub!!

I'll carry and use the sock jack in emergencies...but I'll never touch it again
without proper blocks.

Speaking of which, anyone know where I can buy some?  My last one was two metal
pieces hinged...you opened them up, lifted a VERY heavy wire support, and it
made a nice little triangle.  Stolen out of the CDN tire parking lot while I
ran in to grab some parts!! (wish the car had rolled on the idiot who stole it)


-Dave
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89 90q  300km+ Rally Conversion...
Roll cage shots available at:
http://home.the-wire.com/~spokes/rollcage/page1.htm