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[Lizzie_Zoom]

There was me having driven, with a full car load, over 600 miles up to and around the Lake District, then back down to Blackpool, when with just 5 miles to go before arriving at our holiday home, on the M55 my n/s rear tyre decided to deflate!!  

No problem I thought, until I realised my trolley jack was back in my garage in Ashford as the boot had to be filled to the brim with my adopted daughter's families luggage and there had been no room for it all!

Unpacked car of occupants to stand on the embankment, and then boot of all the luggage, extracting one good spare wheel, tools, and that bloody scissor jack!!

All went well to start with until jacking up the car and taking off (very easily for a change!) the offending wheel.........that darned stupid contraption of a jack decided to topple, with the wheel hub ending up in the road surface!!

Fortunately I managed to place the awful jack back under the jacking point and very carefully, with old wheel being progressively pushed under the rising car as a safety (for my sanity!) measure, jack the car up enough to place the spare wheel on the hub, that is after I had straigtened the metal hub backing plate which had been crushed against the bottom of the brake disc!

Anyway all was ok in the end, and I did not require my AA breakdown cover, but I will now vow never to leave home again without my trusty trolley jack! 8-) 8-)

Who was the bloody idiot who thought scissor jacks were a good idea?

Scissor Sisters??

 Good one!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Great that you are back safe and well Lizzie. Us women should stick together. You have just increased our number by about 25%

 

Thanks greatly Dusty, and absolutely right!!!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

You should never have gone away.

On holiday I always take a trolley jack as I can't jack up the van with the scissors jack

You are right there Martin in more ways than one!!

As for the trolley jack I will certainly be placing mine back in the boot, or if no space exists for it there I will tow the bloody thing instead of leaving it behind; big mistake!!

[Tony H]

Glad you are safe Lizzie.

Those scissor jacks are awful, I much prefer my 3 tonne trolley jack from Clarke!

Unfortunately, I just don't have room for that in the car, as well as a cage, 2 dogs, and all my camping gear - so I too onnly carry a scissor jack for emergencies  

`

Ah, but scissor jacks have some many "other" uses...

Very true when I worked in refinishing, the were very hand for pushing out some types of dents in body panels. By the way welcome back Lizzie

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Glad you are safe Lizzie.

Those scissor jacks are awful, I much prefer my 3 tonne trolley jack from Clarke!

Unfortunately, I just don't have room for that in the car, as well as a cage, 2 dogs, and all my camping gear - so I too onnly carry a scissor jack for emergencies  

`

Ah, but scissor jacks have some many "other" uses...

Very true when I worked in refinishing, the were very hand for pushing out some types of dents in body panels. By the way welcome back Lizzie

Thanks Tony, nice to be back!!

[jereboam]

...on the M55 my n/s rear tyre decided to deflate!!  

... and I did not require my AA breakdown cover,  

Don't know the M55, but I'd think twice about changing a wheel on any M road.  And if it had been an off-side wheel, I'd certainly have used my AA breakdown cover - that's what it's for!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

...on the M55 my n/s rear tyre decided to deflate!!  

... and I did not require my AA breakdown cover,  

Don't know the M55, but I'd think twice about changing a wheel on any M road.  And if it had been an off-side wheel, I'd certainly have used my AA breakdown cover - that's what it's for!

But I'm a Dizzie Lizzie of a woman Jereboam and logic don't come into it!!

And this is after an artic missed me by an inch or two (no, I am not joking!! ) whilst changing an o/s rear wheel on the M20 just outside Maidstone on Christmas Day morning at 0120 2006!

In fact it was so close that it took some time for me to accept I was not really dead!!

[jereboam]

40 years ago, when I worked for the company that installed the motorway signals, my engineering colleagues were sent out to replace a transponder box which had been taken out by a lorry.  

It had been situated 15 feet off the carriageway...

[Dodger]

There was me having driven, with a full car load, over 600 miles up to and around the Lake District, then back down to Blackpool, when with just 5 miles to go before arriving at our holiday home, on the M55 my n/s rear tyre decided to deflate!!  

No problem I thought, until I realised my trolley jack was back in my garage in Ashford as the boot had to be filled to the brim with my adopted daughter's families luggage and there had been no room for it all!

Unpacked car of occupants to stand on the embankment, and then boot of all the luggage, extracting one good spare wheel, tools, and that bloody scissor jack!!

All went well to start with until jacking up the car and taking off (very easily for a change!) the offending wheel.........that darned stupid contraption of a jack decided to topple, with the wheel hub ending up in the road surface!!

Fortunately I managed to place the awful jack back under the jacking point and very carefully, with old wheel being progressively pushed under the rising car as a safety (for my sanity!) measure, jack the car up enough to place the spare wheel on the hub, that is after I had straigtened the metal hub backing plate which had been crushed against the bottom of the brake disc!

Anyway all was ok in the end, and I did not require my AA breakdown cover, but I will now vow never to leave home again without my trusty trolley jack! 8-) 8-)

Who was the bloody idiot who thought scissor jacks were a good idea?

Lizzie, welcome back, you've been much missed m'dear.
Regards the stupid scissor jack, carry a bottle jack in the boot, I do, far better than a stupid scissor jack, safer too. works like a trolley, ie: hydraulics, but takes far less room.
My bottle jack is no substitute for a trolley, but far far superior to any SSJ. in my humble opinion..

Dodger

[JonArgraig]

Glad you are safe Lizzie.

Those scissor jacks are awful, I much prefer my 3 tonne trolley jack from Clarke!

Unfortunately, I just don't have room for that in the car, as well as a cage, 2 dogs, and all my camping gear - so I too onnly carry a scissor jack for emergencies  

`

Ah, but scissor jacks have some many "other" uses...

Very true when I worked in refinishing, the were very hand for pushing out some types of dents in body panels. By the way welcome back Lizzie

I've used a half scissor jack to open many door quickly when needed - much much cheaper than a hydrolic setup and quiter than a boot

[Lizzie_Zoom]

There was me having driven, with a full car load, over 600 miles up to and around the Lake District, then back down to Blackpool, when with just 5 miles to go before arriving at our holiday home, on the M55 my n/s rear tyre decided to deflate!!  

No problem I thought, until I realised my trolley jack was back in my garage in Ashford as the boot had to be filled to the brim with my adopted daughter's families luggage and there had been no room for it all!

Unpacked car of occupants to stand on the embankment, and then boot of all the luggage, extracting one good spare wheel, tools, and that bloody scissor jack!!

All went well to start with until jacking up the car and taking off (very easily for a change!) the offending wheel.........that darned stupid contraption of a jack decided to topple, with the wheel hub ending up in the road surface!!

Fortunately I managed to place the awful jack back under the jacking point and very carefully, with old wheel being progressively pushed under the rising car as a safety (for my sanity!) measure, jack the car up enough to place the spare wheel on the hub, that is after I had straigtened the metal hub backing plate which had been crushed against the bottom of the brake disc!

Anyway all was ok in the end, and I did not require my AA breakdown cover, but I will now vow never to leave home again without my trusty trolley jack! 8-) 8-)

Who was the bloody idiot who thought scissor jacks were a good idea?

Lizzie, welcome back, you've been much missed m'dear.
Regards the stupid scissor jack, carry a bottle jack in the boot, I do, far better than a stupid scissor jack, safer too. works like a trolley, ie: hydraulics, but takes far less room.
My bottle jack is no substitute for a trolley, but far far superior to any SSJ. in my humble opinion..

Dodger

Thanks for that Dodger, much appreciated!

As for the bottle jack, I used to have one for my first and early cars, but not since!   I am now going to buy one to compliment my trolley jack.

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

scissors jack, i never know which way to turn it then I get my fingers caught.  

[cem_devecioglu]

Scissor jacks in my idea is really a stupid design..Whoever the engineer was initially could have done a more simpler and fail safe design..

(I'm also en engineer..A few hundred grams heavier design could be more safe and useful.)

And what sounds more stupid is that all car firms use that by default

its time consuming, in case of rust very hard to operate and easy to drop the car..

What scared me everytime happened to you Lizzie.. :-/

[Omegatoy]

Sorry but scissor jacks and bottle jacks just dont cut it for me,
If i cant carry me 5 ton trolley jack then i carry the little 2 ton one!!
doesent take up much space and four points of contact on the floor are much safer then the one of the aforementioned!!
and at around 30quid its a good birthday or xmas pressie to ask for

[Lizzie_Zoom]

My brother-in-law started his very successful motor bodyshop repair business in a Downham, Bromley, back street and I remember once he had an American 1930's car in called a 'Pilot'.

The most impressive thing it was equipped with was an integral jacking system built into the car to raise it for replacing wheels 8-) 8-) 8-)

Why are modern cars not so equipped? :-/ :-/ :-/