My green dot, factory jack decided it wanted to be a 2 piece jack yesterday. I have always been very cautious when using this factory jack. I have used this jack many times before without any problems. I will NEVER use another one of them. I was in the process of lowering the car, after having to replace the oil pressure sender, had to take all the other crap loose to be able to remove the little block, then the sender. My exhaust gaskets finally arrived, put everything back together and tested...NO LEAKS!!!! Great. I had already removed the jackstand from the right side, no problems, it was while I was removing the jackstand from the drivers side when the failure occured. I raised the car just enough to get the pressure off the jackstand, and lowered the jackstand to get it out of the way by sliding it between the rear tire and the rocker, just then, I saw the car shutter just a little, and the lifting arm seperated from the jack, the car was FALLING, with my hands under it, on the big jackstand(12 ton) it seemed like it was in slow motion, but it only took a split second for it to come down, I was able to get the stand turned so it would not hit anything, and got one hand out of the way, but the other was not so lucky, it was on the jackstand release handle when the car came down, the rear of the rocker hit that part of the stand, luckily enough there was something soft for it to land on so it would not do much damage, MY HAND, it bent the rear of the rocker panel right at the very end, bent the end cap, and made the top mounting screw pull out of the car, when the end cap popped off, it let my hand free again. I straightened the rocker, and the end cap, as well as the inner body where the screw pulled thru, I used the next size up screw, to reattatch the end cap, it had stripped the hole, everythingwas fine, except for me, dislocated thumb, a bruise on my arm the size of a handball. I will heal, the car is fine, things could have been a lot worse. As Wayne states in his book, "Using the factory jack can be dangerous, and should only be used in an emergency." I think the factory jack should not be used at all, I could not believe that such a small amount of metal, after I saw what broke and how the jack is constructed, is being depended on to lift these cars.
