Basic question

The largest piece of metal that you can find is what you want. The engine cross member is what I use. Stay away from sheetmetal as you can do some fairly major damage the body. Use jackstands for obvious safety reasons. The extra 60 or so seconds it takes to put them under the car is worth it.

...Ron

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"Amy Andrews" wrote in news:50uGf.15799$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net:

Why jack it up in the first place? It's a lot easier to make a little set of ramps out of some wood and drive right up on them.

I got some 2x4s and had Home Depot do an angle cut on each so they look like wedges from the side. Now I just set each one in front of a tire and drive right up onto them. Takes all of 20 seconds and there's plenty of room to change the oil (the extra 2" was all I needed). Plus, the car is still as level as if it were on the ground.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

you should set the jackstands high enough that you can work comfortably without hitting your face on the under carriage. the proper way to jack the car is by using the frame rail on both sides of the car one side first then the other. make sure the car is in park if automatic or in gear if standard then set emergency brake plus always put blocks behind rear wheels so the car can't roll while you are under the car

I don't know what year your car is, so can't tell you exactly where. But Ford is pretty good about putting instruction on the car. Usually a big white sticker near the factory jack with pictures.

Maybe the OP wants to check the wheel bearings at the same time?

Carl

Amy, Sorry some people on here dont seem to be able to comprehend what they read

Obviously YOU wouldnt use the jack from the trunk if someone paid you...I do all my own work on my cars and think I've used a trunk-housed jack once in the last twenty years.

That is why you have AAA or roadside from your Ins co.

You're right... jack under center of the crossmember, double chck it once it starts to lift.

I then put stands under the subframes or the lower control arms at the spring nests, depending on what I'm doing.

Even though I drive either clunkers or now-antique fox mustangs, I dont use the jack-points for stands or jacking with the floor jack, either.

A tip... if you use the cheap stamped steel stands with the legs that look like they were sliced lengthways, have someone grind the base of each leg so they sit flat.... and use foot-square 3/4 plywood under them.

Esp if on dirt or asphalt.

"Backyard Mechanic" wrote

: Amy, Sorry some people on here dont seem to be able to comprehend what : they read

Oh *crap* you are so right.... I don't know why I saw it but it didn't soak in.

I hate it when that happens.

KJK

No prob; everyone starts out with zero knowledge. Good way to learn is to ask. :)

This might help. I got this PDF from someone here a couple years back. It's for a 2003, but should be applicable to any Mustang from 1979-2004.

Depends on what you want to do. If you lift the front of your Mustang from the center (using the K member as a jacking point), you can stick the jack stands either under the A arm (loaded suspension) or under the frame rails (unloaded suspension).

However, if you're going to be doing your own oil changes, it's way easier to just use ramps, IMO. _Especially_ if you're working on less than an ideal hard surface. :)

Well, then I'd jack it up of course. But the OP never mentioned that...

"Carl" wrote in news:ydOdnfQoeryjCHfeRVn- snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

"Joe" wrote

Hubs did the same thing for ours. It was so low he had to concoct steps out of wood to get the jack under so he could lift it onto jack stands.