Minor injuries while working on the Charger

[ncmiller1]

So while breaking loose a bolt on the Charger, my thumb came between the wrench and a sharp place when it finally decided to go.  There is now a hole punched all the way through my thumbnail and though it is a small injury, man does it hurt like heck.  Just trying to pick up a fork sends a sharp pain through my thumb.  I've definitely sustained worse injuries in life, but nuisance pain wise this is up there.

Just curious what peoples stories are from working on their Chargers and coming out a little less intact.

[Slowpoke]

nothing recent but I do think they require a small blood sacrafice from us for the repair to work. 

[Rolling_Thunder]

This was a small puncture wound at the shop one day...     caused by a chrome burr  



This one is my favorite....        piece of sheet metal caught my thigh.

[ncmiller1]

Wow Rolling_Thunder!  That's a pretty intense leg gash!

[Charger440RDN]

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

Wow Rolling_Thunder!  That's a pretty intense leg gash!

Yep - didn't really hurt either...   my friend snapped the picture...      it just kept bleeding   

[tan top]

   damn

there was a quite a big thread on this injuries working on your charger / cars  on here few years back ,  that had some intresting  stuff in 

[b5blue]

  I have found that by generally feeding my cars a steady light diet of my blood prevents more vicious attacks. I have sold a few cars that had complete sets of knuckle marks from my right fist in them. They were Ford and Chevrolet cars that had to be beaten into submission. 

[1969chargerrtse]

Not the Charger but back in my twenties I was leaning over a fender tightening the batt clamp bolt.  My wrench touched the fender which made a tiny spark because it was the positive clamp. The battery exploded like a stick of dynamite in my face.  I went screaming across the yard holding my hands against my face. I lost my hearing temporary. Not a mark on me?  To this day I don't understand why?
The only thing the Charger hurt was my wallet.

[cdr]

TO MANY 

[stripedelete]

Not the Charger but back in my twenties I was leaning over a fender tightening the batt clamp bolt.  My wrench touched the fender which made a tiny spark because it was the positive clamp. The battery exploded like a stick of dynamite in my face.  I went screaming across the yard holding my hands against my face. I lost my hearing temporary. Not a mark on me?  To this day I don't understand why?
The only thing the Charger hurt was my wallet.

The battery was emitting Gas (hydrogen?) and the spark ignited it - boom.

My dad always warned me to always put my head behind the hood when I was jumping a car.  You know how you wiggle the clamps to get a good connection?  He always added, "it's not always the bad battery that blows, the good one will too".  I didn't listen.  I was very fortunate that the top plate of the battery struck me in the face preventing me from ending up blind or the acid getting injected into my face.  I guess it can fester and itch for a lifetime.  It's been 30 years, but I vividly remember the blast and being dazed and trying to collect myself, when a piece of the battery came back down next to me.  Btw, it was the good battery.

One more thing from my dad, "keep your face away from tire while your inflating it."  Keep 16 inches away or over a the fender.  I didn't have to learn this one the hard way- but my wife's uncle did.  His "half nose" is not a good look, but he can still see.

[69hemidaytona]

I was working on a lift off hood roadrunner in my garage a few years back. I was removing the leaf springs and had the jackstands underneath the rear axle. As I removed the last nut on the U bolts the body of the car dropped down onto my chest. I was the only one home at the time and I really thought for a split second that my life was over. Luckily the wheel and tire were still on and it jammed up into the top of the wheelwell just as the body rested on my chest. I think there was less than a hundred pounds of force resting on me so I was able to bench press the body off of my chest. It's a good thing I wasn't on a creeper. It was a stupid mistake on my part that won't be made again!

[royt440]

Torn bicep muscle/ligament. The engine was running and the interior was totally stripped out. As I pulled the door closed, a major shock ripped through my arm . Later found the hot wire to the brake switch had fallen to the bare metal floor pan. Gradually getting the strength back but the muscle is shorter and there is a large knot right in the inside bend of my elbow.

[Fred]

  I have found that by generally feeding my cars a steady light diet of my blood prevents more vicious attacks. I have sold a few cars that had complete sets of knuckle marks from my right fist in them. They were Ford and Chevrolet cars that had to be beaten into submission. 

Beating into submission can hurt.  Have you never heard of bribing instead.

[ACUDANUT]

I have lost several nails working on cars.  I takes 9 months to grow one back once it eventually fails off. SUCKS
I also had a grinding wheel explode and it put a very deep cut on my inner thigh. It also almost hit one one of the boys down there. lol.. Came within 1/2 inch of hitting my femoral arterty..Got 6 stiches.

[Fred]

The top of my head is so full of scabs from old (and new) wounds it looks and feels like a luna landscape............correction, my wife says mallee root!  

[cdr]

this happend to a friend ,71 440+6 rr,one of the carbs float stuck & filled the crankcase with gas,he was under the hood,ign on,bypassing the starter relay ,well there was an explosion,the oil pan got swelled up like a tick on a dog,the valley pan wrapped around the intake,the nice big crome MR GASKET OIL FILLER cap,blew off like a cannon shot,knocked him out cold,& you could read mr gasket backwards on his for head,true story i was there,had to take him to hospital.this is the car

[69rtse4spd]

To many to recall, luckily none to serious.

[bill440rt]

I had a fan fall on my head once.     That was good for some blood running down my face & a bunch of stitches. Ever have Novocaine injected in your skull? Doesn't feel all that great. 

I have a nice U-shaped scar on my finger when a J-clip decided to break loose while I was using an air ratchet. Drove into my finger like a corkscrew.
There have been MANY others, too many that I care to remember. 

[Patronus]

I cringe reading this thread. Busted knuckles and weld burns are about it for me. I had a buddy pull the distributer out of my small block Mustang once, it blew the valve covers off.    I never did find that breather.. 

[ncmiller1]

There have been some bad injuries on here, luckily mine have all just been bumps, scrapes, and small punctures... and I hope to keep it that way with all my power (though there is only so much that can be prevented by us, the rest is all wrong place wrong time)!

[BigBlackDodge]

This was a small puncture wound at the shop one day...     caused by a chrome burr  



This one is my favorite....        piece of sheet metal caught my thigh.

Looks like you lost your right testicle..................


BBD

[HANDM]

Umm... going out on a limb here, but wouln't you say that shorts and flip flops aint the best work wear?

Anyone that comes to my home shop wanting to work on anything, they know to wear proper clothing or I send them down the road thinking about it

That being said, lucky it didn't gash your artery   

[FLG]

Not the Charger but back in my twenties I was leaning over a fender tightening the batt clamp bolt.  My wrench touched the fender which made a tiny spark because it was the positive clamp. The battery exploded like a stick of dynamite in my face.  I went screaming across the yard holding my hands against my face. I lost my hearing temporary. Not a mark on me?  To this day I don't understand why?
The only thing the Charger hurt was my wallet.

The battery was emitting Gas (hydrogen?) and the spark ignited it - boom.

My dad always warned me to always put my head behind the hood when I was jumping a car.  You know how you wiggle the clamps to get a good connection?  He always added, "it's not always the bad battery that blows, the good one will too".  I didn't listen.  I was very fortunate that the top plate of the battery struck me in the face preventing me from ending up blind or the acid getting injected into my face.  I guess it can fester and itch for a lifetime.  It's been 30 years, but I vividly remember the blast and being dazed and trying to collect myself, when a piece of the battery came back down next to me.  Btw, it was the good battery.

One more thing from my dad, "keep your face away from tire while your inflating it."  Keep 16 inches away or over a the fender.  I didn't have to learn this one the hard way- but my wife's uncle did.  His "half nose" is not a good look, but he can still see.

People think im a wuss sometimes when it comes to batteries but whenever im jumping, or attaching a cable i put my head over the hood or if thats not possible i close my eyes.

[Ghoste]

Is there ANYONE here who hasn't drawn blood on the back of their head from hitting that damned hood latch???

[Rolling_Thunder]

Umm... going out on a limb here, but wouln't you say that shorts and flip flops aint the best work wear?

Anyone that comes to my home shop wanting to work on anything, they know to wear proper clothing or I send them down the road thinking about it

That being said, lucky it didn't gash your artery   

Yep - Was working late one night and wasn't doing any heavy lifting - mostly office work -  got motivated and said something along the lines of "Oh I'll just do this one thing...."   and paid for it.   

[FLG]

Is there ANYONE here who hasn't drawn blood on the back of their head from hitting that damned hood latch???

The meat hook of death? Yeah, you learn to avoid it or put a tennis ball on it afterwards....funny seeing other people get it though 

[71 b-body charger]

Trying to get the floor pan out of my 72 Charger SE the other night and i put a 1/4 inch deep gash in my arm from the sheet metal, didnt know it was there till i could feel the blood going down my arm  ! I now take you all seriously when you say you put blood sweat and tears into your car

[Dino]

Trying to get the floor pan out of my 72 Charger SE the other night and i put a 1/4 inch deep gash in my arm from the sheet metal, didnt know it was there till i could feel the blood going down my arm  ! I now take you all seriously when you say you put blood sweat and tears into your car

I did something similar when I was a body man apprentice many years ago.  The car was on a cart and I was lying on my back and cutting open the rocker skin with a hammer and cold chisel.  I didn't notice I was slowly reducing the angle my arm made to the rocker and when I gave it another good whack the side of my wrist went over that razor sharp edge and dug in so deep that for a second I was stuck.  When I pulled my arm back the blood was eveywhere.  Luckily I didn't hit an artery.  Looking back it was one of those life lessons but damn that hurt!

[BigBlackDodge]

Is there ANYONE here who hasn't drawn blood on the back of their head from hitting that damned hood latch???

My old man would knock his head on that all the time while helping me figure out a wiring issue. He's GM guy so I always giggled quietly to myself when it happened.


BBD

[Ghoste]

Not Charger related specifically but not completely off topic, I had my own freak deep arm gash some years back.  I wa standing on an open trailer playing tug of war with the dog.  Someone yelled out from the shop and as I looked over the dog pressed the advantage.  He gave his head a sharp yank and pulled and since I had my end of the rag wrapped around my hand, he quickly dragged my arm across the top edge of the licence plate that was attached to the rear of the fender of the trailer.  Like you, it missed the artery but was deep wide and blood everywhere!  I still have the big "suicide" scar on my wrist.

[Fred]

My charger draws blood whenever I get near it
She's one hell of a bitch!!

[Finn]

I was cutting the quarter panel off the charger with a cut-off wheel when I caught the rocker with the blade. The whole thing jerked out of my hands, slammed up against the panel, broke part of the blade off, then proceed to skid up my thigh, wrist, and arm, cutting me as it went. I had about 7 gashes perfectly spaced up my forearm by the time the stupid thing stopped spinning. I didn't want to take the time to go get stitched so I just let them scab up. I got so many "why are you cutting yourself?" questions that I just wore long sleeves everywhere until the scabs peeled. Still have about 4 scars from that. 

[Fred]

WARNING!................. Tools are dangerous.

[Topher]

I was working on the Charger in the driveway one day and had my then 2 year old son(he's 21 now) sitting on the fender. He picked up the screw driver off the fender and proceeded to whack me across the back of the head! I said OW! What'd you do that for?! He said "I sorry daddy, com'ere I kiss it and make it better"

Some of the more serious injuries were: burning my wedding band to my finger when I wrapped my hand around an ignition switch to "protect" the positive terminal and touching the frame of the dash with the ring/blowing the end of my ring finger out with a hammer while putting in a u joint(5 stitches across the tip, and it's still crooked from some of the meat missing)/multiple schrapnel removal from both eyes and having to have the rust ground out with a small dremel like tool/ cracked eye socket from a 1/2" air fitting blowing apart and hitting me in the side of the head/ no blood shed, but I did have to go to the hospital when a drop cord reel fell 16' and hit me in the neck-it almost put me to my knees.

Stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come!

[MoparManJim]

Each scare on my hands and arms and feet has story behind them from the charger. pick a scare and you will hear a story of how that scare got created.. 

[Fred]

Each scare on my hands and arms and feet has story behind them from the charger. pick a scare and you will hear a story of how that scare got created.. 

So what is the story on your charger Jim?   All those scars and no pics to show for it.  I'm still waiting.
This post is no good without pics!!

[MoparManJim]

Each scare on my hands and arms and feet has story behind them from the charger. pick a scare and you will hear a story of how that scare got created.. 

So what is the story on your charger Jim?   All those scars and no pics to show for it.  I'm still waiting.
This post is no good without pics!!

Alot of folks ask's me that question. 

[Fred]

Each scare on my hands and arms and feet has story behind them from the charger. pick a scare and you will hear a story of how that scare got created.. 

So what is the story on your charger Jim?   All those scars and no pics to show for it.  I'm still waiting.
This post is no good without pics!!

Alot of folks ask's me that question. 

Well, what's the answer.  is there an answer?

[bull]

Yea, pretty much every time I touch the thing I end up bleeding, smashing something or bumping my head.