i just finished doing a new driveline and replacing the fluid on my T-5 and i always use 4 jackstands on the front and 2 in the rear with a jack with tension still on the front and back,maybe overkill but you only have 1 chance on it holding,if it fails your toast.

 

That's exactly what I do. Spare tire works great if you don't have any extra wheels laying around. You can also move the wheel around to the area you are working under, since you'll have the whole car up on jackstands.

 

I jack the front up by the crossmember and place jackstands on the frame directly behind the front wheels, and then jack the rear up by the differential and place stands in front of the rear wheels. I then take the jack back to the crossmember and make contact but with no lifting. Just a safety precaution.

 

I couldn't even begin to phathom how many vehicles I've been under in my 30 years of turning wrenches. I remember in the early days while learning and having to wrench on my own ride (dad said if I was going to drive not only did I have to buy my first car - I had to fix it too) I'd do some pretty scary stuff like do a complete clutch job with nothing but a bumper jack and the front wheels under the frame rail to save me.

To this day I remember that and I take that extra time to be safe. I won't turn the first wrench until I am confident that what I'm working on will not hurt me.

It'll take some time to get the confidence needed to work under your car, just as was posted before. Don't cut corners, double and triple check your stands and have a saftey net in the event something should happen. Even a bottle jack wedged in the right place will allow you enough time to get out should you need to. Lastly, give the vehicle a good shake when you have it in place - it'll get the stands to settle and also let you see if they're placed right.

Cheers.

 

Just another comment here...Bulldog66 is right about 2 things...

1) With time you will feel more and more comfortable being under the car. His comments about what he did as a kid were like a flash back! I used to do the same things! I haven't done it in 15-16 years and now I am kinda leary but...I will guarantee you that in 6-8 months if the car was held up by bubble gum and bailing wire I'll be gong 'Sure...I'll get under there!' I'm not saying take chances but the more you do it the less you think 'Holy Crap..this thing is gonna fall on me!'

2) Take the extra time and effort to have a safety net. Despite what I said above, I will always create a situation where 3-4 (and maybe more) things have to go wrong before the car will end up on me. NEVER let anyone convince you to get into a situation that you don't feel safe in (or at least have a good escape from)! And always have someone around to check on you/call for help. Even when I was a teenager I would tell someone around the house 'I'm going to be under the car...if you don't hear from me in a while come check.' That way even if it drops you have someone there to get it off you (and hopefully your safety net worked and they show up sooner than later).