I position my trolley jack under the wishbone rear mount here arrowed red.
note some trolley jack heads can swivel, I turn mine till the grooves align with the cylindrical shape of the rear mount bracket.
then i lower the car on the stands as shown
- preferably jack up only the front or rear end of the car at a time with the other end touching ground,
- handbrake on and in-gear,
- preferably wheel-choked (especially front wheels cos an open-diff, even in-gear won't prevent the car swivelling to one side n falling off the stands [found out the hard way at one point]),
- check the floor is flat n solid,
- the axle stand pegs are fully inserted with the lock-clip inserted.
- also check the edge of the LH stand doesn't clip the bolt on the inner side of the chassis rail that holds the fuel/brake line support bracket as shown here. place it abit ahead or behind that bolt so it doesn't snap off
for the rear, I place the hydraulic jack under the middle of the rear beam axle then rest the ends of the round beam (before the flatter spring cup section) on axle stands.
if I need to lower the rear axle further such as changing springs/shocks:
- secure front wheels
- loosen rear wheel nuts
- jack up via the middle of beam axle
- rest rear axle on stands
- remove rear wheels
cos the brake hose can only stretch so far before damage, you may need to unhook it from the axle to allow the axle to drop fully.
- for rear disc brakes - unbolt the caliper off the carrier and leave it resting on top of the disc
- for drum brakes - may need to disconnect the hose from the axle
the panhard rod will try to swing the axle to one side and bind the geometry when ur dropping the axle. disconnecting the rod helps prevent the linkages from "springing" back up while ur trying to push it down. The stock rubber panhard rod bushing is likely to be bonded to a fully rust seized metal insert bush so prob best to leave it alone to prevent damage.
if the bush has been replaced ie whiteline panhard rod, then you could just undo and slip the rod off.
- undo the rear dampers strut top nuts
- jack up the car from the middle of rear axle again
- position the axle stands (the top of stand cushioned with a thick bunch of rags) on a "valley" looking part of the chassis just ahead of the rear lower trailing arm chassis mount
- slowly lower the chassis onto the stands, always checking they're in the correct position
- continue changing suspension bits