Hi everyone,

I am interested in really getting to know my honda civic 1996 and possibly learn how to change the oil, tranny, etc.

my question is what is the best and most of all SAFEST way to elevate the car and to get under it.

I remember my dad had these metal ramps that you could drive the car up onto and get under it. I'm not sure how safe they were though (he is still alive though)

Obviously you shouldn't use a jack.

 

Well the ramps will give you alittle more space to work with. You can use jackstands as well. Just make sure you jack the car up in the right places(right behind the front wheels & front of the rear wheels), also make sure you put the parking brake on and if you wanna go beyond that you can get a couple chock blocks for each rear wheels to make sure the car doesn't move(roll).

 

Thank you for the reply.

I think i will try the ramps. If you don't hear from me any more you know what happened ;-)

 

Ramps are going to really limit what you can do because most things require you to remove the wheels. ie, you cant remove your tranny with the wheels on.

I have a good jack that will lift the front end high enough at the front tow hook point to be able to fit good (high capacity wide) jack stands under the side jack points (at the frame behind the wheels), lowered the car onto the jack stands and block the rear wheels...... at least this is what I did when I changed my clutch.

 

floor jacks and jack stands are the best way to lift and support a vehicle to me. but that is also because my body rests a tad bit lower than stock specs.