Well, I messed up! I should have known better!

[nikwho]

So, last night i was using my cheap "Big Red" floor jack that I bought from Sams Club to lift my '68 GMC. I was lifting it up to put it on jack stands so that I could figure out the power steering fluid leak that it has developed. Its got the cross member and suspension from an '86 C-10 and a 350/th350. The jack is too tall to fit under the cross member, as its got drop spindles and 2" drop springs. So, I took the round metal foot off of the jack, so that the jack would fit under the cross member (second mistake). I had the tires about 8-10" off the ground and it was just about high enough to slip jack stands under the truck to support it, when BOOOM! The truck was in park, and when the floor jack articulates up, the pad also moves toward the rear of the jack. The slippery, power steering fluid lubricated cross member allowed the jack to slip off of the cross member.

The entire weight of the front half of the truck slammed down on the jack, landing on the factory metal cross member that resides between the radiator and the suspension cross member, smashing the cross member up towards the crank pulley/dampener. It actually all ended up about 1/8" away from the crank pulley. It most likely hit the pulley and relaxed back down a bit. I was at the shop when it happened and had to drive the truck home. I gave it a once over, determining that it was safe to drive. The alignment is drastically different and the truck feels kind of "darty", wanting to turn R or L, not really wanting to track straight. So, the bending of the factory cross member has obviously shortened the distance between the two frame rails, knocking my toe off.

Such a bummer and such a stupid mistake! I am going to go buy the $200 floor jack that I want from NAPA, that sits nice and low and has a nice big rubber foot to support the vehicle. Anywho, that doesnt help my current situation. So, The cross member in question is held in I believe by two remaining factory bucking rivets and 4 grade 8 bolts where factory rivets used to be. The factory rivets, I believe had to be removed to allow the swap of the newer C-10 suspension cross member.

So, I am leaning towards removing the cross member and possibly building a new support out of 1.75" DOM tubing. Or, I had thought about wrapping a chain around the bottom of my floor jack and connecting each end to the stamped steel cross member that is bent and pushing the truck up with the jack by the suspension cross member, effectively pulling the bent cross member down. Its approx a 1/8" stamped steel cross member. It wont go easily, but its not the strongest piece. Since the cross member got pushed up and kind of twisted back, I had also considered putting the truck in park with the e-brake set and the wheels chocked and pulling on the cross member with a tow strap connected to my 3/4 ton truck in low range. Just slowly tug on it.

Anyway, I will assess and figure out how to best fix it. I just wanted to vent and complain to you guys about how stupid I am! I'll take a picture of the damage and post it up here as well.

Thanks for listening to me moan!

Nik C.