I had mine up on 4 jack stands when I did mine, and had about 20 inches of clearance. I made a tranny jack adapter that went into my existing floor jack and held it in place with ratchet straps, and just rolled the jack out from under the car.

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02 e53 X5 3.0i Manual Trans
13 e70 X5 xDrive35i
04 Honda S2000