There is a God, my bug almost ran me over.

KooK

So, I put my 71 away for this year so I could better focus on other projects, mainly my Mustang and my 1958 semaphore Beetle. The Beetle was a job I found out at a farm and while it's in rough shape, it's in salvageable condition, I picked her up, took her home and stored it in my backyard for a what was supposed to be a week while I cleaned the garage. Well event after event unfolded and it stayed back there for the better part of a year. Finally today I get things cleaned up and comfortable enough that I'm going to pull the bug into the shop today.

I had already done some prep work to separate the body and the chassis, basically took off everything including steering shaft, disconnected brake lines, windows out, basically everything and the body is ready to pop off, it's just sitting on the chassis now. So I made sure I had air in the tires, popped it off the mound it had been sitting on and started to wheel it further into the back yard.

Now you see, I wanted to be smart about this because I live on a steep hill, so I got my tow bar out, hooked it all up, and pulled it to the front with my truck. I back up my mini-tractor / lawnmower to it, hook around the thing and start pulling it up close enough to the garage that I could still fit the tractor out, but it's still on a fairly steep hill. I chalk the wheels with the removable tops of jack stands, two of them, thinking "This has held many a thing in my driveway!"

So I disconnect mini-tractor, start pulling it outside of the garage very carefully (making sure I don't tap the bug) and to the best of my knowledge, I might have been on the tractor, I might have been in front of it, all I know is out of the corner of my eye, I see the bug start moving on me.

Son of a bitch if I didn't spring to life like I was 13 years old, I always make fun of those people who jump in front of their cars when they see them rolling but that is exactly what I did. With the front fenders already off the thing I jumped straight in front of it and jammed my foot straight into the rolling tire and somehow, somehow got it stopped. I cannot clearly remember what happened but I do remember looking over and seeing my neighbor staring at me. With my heart going 3 million bpm, I give him a limp 2-3 finger salute and yell out "Hey!" Clearly trying to play this whole thing off.

I have no idea how I caught it, I have no idea how I didn't break my foot/leg, I was able to roll the thing up and into the garage after collecting myself, shut the door, came inside, took a shower, grabbed a beer and thanked God and/or whoever was watching over me for the assist.

Cusser · Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:05 pm Post subject:

So: no photos????
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

Letterman7 · Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:38 pm Post subject:

Of what? The tire mark on his sneaker?

bubblehead · Samba Member Joined: February 15, 2002 Posts: 523

nsracing · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:27 am Post subject:

Sure there is God. And I bet he was saying..."You stupid, ass!!!" LOL>

There have been many times, I was saved. And I am eternally grateful for HIS grace. And I remember not to do stupid stuff next time.

You got lucky. It could have rolled down and hit someone else.

eashc · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:18 am Post subject:

Call it dumb luck or Gods grace. I vote for God in my life.
Not to long ago fixing a torn swing axle boot, jacked the bug up then before crawling under, gave it a good shake to see how sturdy it was. It fell of the jack and started to roll. And I have a steep driveway
I vote for Gods grace watching out for me.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Cusser · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:26 pm Post subject:

KTPhil · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:52 pm Post subject:

eashc · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:17 pm Post subject:

Of course the bug is half way up the driveway. But once on top it becomes almost level. When on top it's perfect for looking under the motor. When doing Valve adjustments there's lots of room. When doing engine work, the motor is closer to eye level with bending over to much. But if you drop a screw or bolt, it can roll far and fast.

old DKP driver · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:43 pm Post subject: oh GOD

I would really have to think about it before I could really remember WHICH time..................................... Question

GOD saved me from either dying or coming really close to it in my almost
50 years of ownership. Shocked

AND THESE CARS ARE LITTLE TOO Exclamation

_________________
V.W.owner since 1967

KTPhil · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:09 pm Post subject:

From an old post I made here:

LivinInnaVWBus · Samba Member Joined: October 07, 2013 Posts: 968

I had no idea, my girlfriend at the time who took the picture had no idea.
This was probably 10 years ago, since I saw this photo I've made sure to jack the car up, put the jack stands in place and take a step back. I then shake the car hard and put a hydraulic jack in place with a slight amount of lifting pressure as a backup.

If you look up jack stand and hydraulic jack reviews, you will see lots of failures with most of the new stuff on the market - especially anything sold at harbor freight. I will not go under a vehicle which isn't secured by 3 points.


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