My 39 Coupe has not been on the frame since I bought it. I want to raise it with a lift, but not from underneath. The inner channels need repair and I do not want to risk crushing them. Can I lift by the roof without risking damage?
I've seen damage done by just wrapping a chain through the windows. I would suggest a couple of 4x4's through both window openings (door & 1/4), & lift with a strap on those. If you're still nervous about that, wrap the wood with some old carpet.
I would tack the doors in a few places if the gaps are good. You’re gonna need to hold it together if doing rockers. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I took the deck lid off, stuck bolts through the rear body mount holes and ran a chain across inside the trunk. Used the engine hoist in the rear. Ran a strap through the front body mount holes and lifted the front by hand enough to put a 2X6 under the body. Raised it a little at a time blocking each side of the board. Then raised the back and rolled the frame out. Guess you could reverse the process lol. Or maybe you have friends??
Iffffff it were me, I'd go through the front and rear window openings with two padded 4x4's. Tie the 4x4's together with some 2x4's or 2x6's underneath and above to act as locating pieces to keep the 4x4's separated and in position. Then attach a chain to the 2x4's/2x6's using eye bolts bolted through them and lift from those. It would end up something like a lifting frame.
I usually lift at the waist Could use some eye bolts and lift by body mounts. The rear would be easy with the trunk lid removed. Could use straps in the front and pad em up to protect the body Or invite about a dozen friends over.
when I lifted my suburban I put eye bolts through the rear body mounts and a chain and lifted it with a engine hoist on the front I put eye bolts through the front body mounts and a chain and lifted it with a come along to the rafters
I’m kinda slow sometimes, but I would brace the body inside, so you can move it, work on it etc. Looks to be in good shape, brace it to hold that shape.
Because of the length of the vehicle it's best to have two lifting points rather than trying to find a single balance point. If you put a large strap thru the window and lift, the strap will pull inward as well as up and possibly bend/crush the sheet metal somewhat. Ask me how I know. On a subsequent body raise I made a padded bar that passes thru the truck cab for lifting and adapted a Harbor Freight engine tilter to it to get it balanced. Since the body you want to lift is much longer and more difficult to deal with, you need two points to lift. I would think about putting two I beams across from wall to wall and then supporting them with some used industrial pallet racking (not the light duty stuff). Or you can build some supports to go under the beams and secure them to the floor and wall. That will give you a long term ability to lift any time you want. I would remove the trunk lid and make some kind of bracket/brace that you can secure inside the trunk. Then I would make a couple of small brackets that you can secure to the firewall and lift the front in two places. That gives you 3 lifting points. It takes a little time and money to build a crane but it's there for everything you need to lift for the rest of your life and it saves a lot of effort later on.
I made this, attaches to top of extended engine hoist arm. Slide engine crane under frame and/or body with arm extending through door/window opening. Centre body points equidistant from centre pivot. Body weight is only on outside adjustable pads. https://www.resto-revolver.ca/bed-box-removal-tool Or this simple external framework, you need to fabricate the arm for the engine crane to centralise and balance the body weight.
Maybe lift the front by the cowl and the rear with a strap down thru the rear window and hooked to the internal body structure.
Invite 5 friends over for beer BBQ and the game Sunday. At halftime, ask them for help for 5 minutes...
I did my 51 Merc similar to what LLoyds paint and glass said in post 5 and 29moonshine said in post 10 Deck lid off an I bolts though the rear body mount holes that come up in the trunk and hooked to mounts on the firewall with the connections spread as far as possible. We had to have a couple of guys hold and balance the body when we had it in the air as we had the front hanging from a 5 ton chain hoist and the back from a cherry picker. I've done a lot of them by raising the front a bit at a time and blocking it up with a 4x4 under the front and jacking up the back and doing the same. a lot more work as you lift a few inches on one end and lift a few inches on the other until you can move the frame out or in as needed. As the others said, I am not a fan of the straps though the openings as that tends to pull it out of shape from the pressure. I don't think the body will balance right for the rack setup on top of a cherry picker although it works fantastic for standard truck cabs if you have a smooth enough floor in the shop to roll the cherry picker. What ever you do be safe doing it and don't take risks because you are trying to do it without properly thinking it out.
Lots of awesome replies. Many show lifting truck cans or bodies using the roof. I think I'll go that direction. The RR floor mount area is the worst place in the coupe. For now I just wanted an initial test fit on the frame to define engine location. I have a build thread for the coupe if anyone is interested. Thanks
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