August 31st 2012 I lost a very dear friend.

We were more than friends, we were brothers. I knew Travis Steele since the 1st grade. He was a great man; loving, friendly, and always had a smile on his face,. We grew up together, rode motorcycles together, partied together, and built Rx7's together.

That Friday night he had received new parts for his FD. In his excitement, he jacked up the car, placed it on a jack stand and got to work. Somehow the car slipped off the stand and fell on him. He passed away doing what he loved.

He didn't post much or come on the forum too often, but he was a serious rotary enthusiast. Travis (Steelemotorsports), his younger brother Dave (FCinWV) and I (XLR8) were all very close. We've been into rotaries and Rx7's for a long time. Travis added the FD to his Rx7 collection last year. It was his dream car. Dave & his dad will be driving it up to the Chris Carlisi BBQ. Travis had been looking forward to the event all year. As we celebrate Chris's life, and his passion, we will also be celebrating Travis's life.

I wanted to create this thread in his memory. Please be safe everyone. We forget sometimes how dangerous our amazing hobby can be.

 

What a horrific way to go; I hope he didn't suffer for long. My condolences on the loss of your best bud.

 

From what I was told, it was instant.

Thank you.

 

I'm sorry for your loss....That's definitely a horrible way to go! He was at rotor fest wasn't he?

-Dan

 

Yes he was. He and his brother drove up that weekend.

 

My condolence to you and his family

 

sorry for your loss yeah my old man almost went out the same way but a jack stand saved his ***, taught me to never work on a jacked up car alone incase you need help. but anyway again sorry for your loss.

 

. At least he got to own his dream car before he passed. Not many people can say that.

 

Yeah i said my condolences in the brothers thread in the NE section. This is absolutely horrific.

I knew of a person who went out this way. He was under his accord supported by a jack ONLY and the jack apparently failed and was left under. His mother went outside to find her son gone under his car. I cant fathom that traumatizing vision that poor mother has to now live with. That poor family and poor kid.

Thats why even just to do an oil change, which is super quick, i put a jack stand. Even though you're supposed to, i still know of people who rely on jacks only and even myself back in the day used only a jack. I still remember installing my PFS exhaust using an OLD OLD rusty jack i had laying around. Thank god it didnt fail on me.

RIP to travis.

 

hey , man be strong! My condolence to you and his family

 

Seems like some of you guys completely missed the point where OP said the car was placed on jack stands.

OP, sorry your loss. My condolences for all effected.

 

really sorry to hear that... sorry for your loss , and a loss for our community as well .

 

That is such a Tragedy,I am sorry for your loss.
I work on my car alone,and I am so strict with myself,when others work with me they get mad,but I don't care.I only care that I can tell about how hard the job was later on..and whine.
Thoughts are with your Friend.

 

As I posted in the NE thread, my deepest condolences..... I can't even imagine what you and his family are going through. Really puts things in perspective.

 

Wow. My condolences and extremely sorry for your loss.

 

Sorry for your loss Josh. My condolences to his family and friends.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. It's sobering to hear that something like this could happen even when you use jack stands like you're supposed to.
This caught my attention because I've been sliding rhino ramps under the tires in addition to the jack stands for some extra safety measures.

 

My condolences bro sorry for your loss.

 

That's a sad story and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

Folks... when working with jack stands, always do a 'shove' test on the car to make sure it's secure on the stands before going under. You'd want it to fall from that test rather than something happening with you being under it.

 

My sincere condolences.

I came across a Porsche forum thread with similar unfortunate circumstances, and what was to blame was that the jackstand used was the "teeth" type, and eventually the teeth were dulled down enough that it caused a slip and failure.

I try to stick with ramps and jackstands that use a locking pin now...

 

This is the very reason I'm paranoid about jacking low cars.

Deeply saddened to hear this news, my condolences to his family & friends.

 

My deepest sympathy goes out to his family and friends.

I always do the shake and I also try to remember to crank a jack under the section I'm working on. Thanks to the OP this thread will make me that much more careful.

I'm going to look my stands over today when I get home. I already have a few locking type jack stands but I have cars on jack stands all over the place so this thread is a great reminder to us to be careful and use safer equipment.

 

I saw that already.

I was just sharing my story about how the kid i knew used only a jack and how i myself used only a jack back in the day.

Accidents do happen, even if you're the safest person in the world.

 

Wow really sorry / saddened to hear this. Let this be a lesson to all of us.

 

I'm so sorry to hear this has happened to someone on here. That's a horrible way to go. We forget sometimes how something as simple as jacking up your car on simple stands can affect are lives and are families. I'm a mechanic by trade and it does happen more then you would think. even if there are people around to help, most of the damage is already done. This is my worse nightmare being on the job. I always leave the jack under one side of the car for extra safety. Better safe then sorry is the motto in my shop. My condolences to everyone that was affected by this tragedy.