Projects What's the most generic way you've lifted the body off your car in a small garage?

ok, folks. I'm trying to figure out a way that I can lift the body off of my car and leave it up and roll the chassis in and out of the garage to clean, paint, and repair as often as I need. What's the cheapest, most generic and safe way any of you have done this?

 

Get several guys to lift it off and set it aside while you do the chassis... otherwise you will be bumping your head on it all the time (ask how I know).

I volunteer to be one of the guys

 

If I could talk my wife into losing her garage for a while, that would work well. If not, I'm screwed. Where are you located at Madgrinder? Did you get anything in the flood? My neighborhood was destroyed in Pegram, but my house was about 8 ft above the others so God spared me and my family. I would love to have someone with some experience to show up and help me out. My wife has said that she would gladly cook the dinners and supply the "drinks" for a hot rod get together.

 

I am near Donelson. We did pretty well with the flood... several days without hot water or a/c kinda sucked. The crawlspace flooded and I had to cut power to the a/c unit and water heater (both were down there).

I have a tiny one-car garage and have lots of experience "making-do" with moving cars and parts in and out as needed.

Brett

 

Just let me know when you are ready to show some knowledge. If I could get the stupid freakin hubs off the back end, I'd be able to try and fix the brakes on the rear. Got the front replaced and fixed and plumbed. I made a makeshift driveshaft to get her in and out of the garage. I'm just about to the point where I'm going to pull it into the driveway sideways and put a chain on the hub and attach to mu truck and just drive like mad and yank the crap out of them. If I could come up with another rearend, I'd replace it when I get the body off down the road.

 

I'm not familiar with that rear end... are the drums pressed onto splined axles or something???

 

Well, I'm not sure. There is a small keyway that fits into the axle and the hub center. I've broken 2 hub pullers trying to get it off. I need one of those super duper hughe freakin mommjomma hub pullers that I can just beat the snot out of with a hammer to turn.

 

Did this years ago, made a frame out of 4 x 2 box section

 

4-55 gallon drums and 2 good 4x4s. I've done it before and never had a problem with it. As has been said there is a head bump hazzard. But if you are going to roll the chassis out to work on it it shouldn't be a problem.

I have also done some really insane things but I wouldn't suggest them. Just because I was lucky doesn't mean that you will be.

 

A few years ago, I changed the frame under my '57 Chevy - working alone. After everything was unbolted and the body was just sitting on the frame, I used a floorjack under the rockerpanel (with a block of wood between the jack and the sheetmetal) to raise one side of the body up off the frame. With the body about 8 inches up off the frame, I placed wooded spacers between the body mounts and the body and then lowered the body back down these spacers. I moved the jack around to the other side and did the same thing. Once this is done, the body now is sitting 8 inches above the frame. I then used the floor jack under the chassis to raise the whole thing up as high as my jack would allow. I placed 4X6 wooded beams (two of them, one near the cowl and the other near the rear wheel area) across the frame. I then used four really tall jackstands (you can stacked wood or brick - just make sure that the stack is sturdy and not wobbly) under the wooden beams. Once the wooden beams are supported, I removed the wheels from the suspension, lowered the chassis down to the concrete and simply rolled the chassis out from under the car. You can roll the empty chassis on the brake drums without damaging the drums. Once the chassis is out from under the body, you can weld up a dolly for the body. I built my dolly with "legs" that hit the body mounts, which allowed me to jack the dolly up against the body and remove the beams from the jackstands. Once this was done, I could roll the body around where ever I needed it. When the body was ready to be reinstalled, you just jack the body & dolly up, set up your stands and beams (between the dolly and the body), roll away the dolly, and roll the chassis back under the body and reverse the process. It's really not as bad as it sounds. With thought and planning, you can get the chassis out from under the body within an hour or two (once everything is unbolted).

 

we used some lumber ,cement blocks ,and hydraulic jacks. placed a 4 x 4 under the body and lifted the rear section of my 59 ford wagon a little bit and set the 4 x 4 on a cement block. then went to the front put another 4 x 4 under the cowl section of the body and lifted the front . kept going until it was high enough to roll chassis out from under body then resupported body to be secure and safe..in a one car garage taking the body off the frame is going to fill that garage very quickly with parts maybe easier to just drive and clean what you can

 

I thought about doing it exactly the way that 4ever18 suggested. I have a 2 car garage and was just going to leave the body on one side and roll chassis out to the other. So do you all think that 4x4s would hold the body and I wouldn't need to get 6x6s? I thought about building some jack stand boxes out of 10x12 lumber and just using some jack stands with the 4x4.s on them.

 

The year and type of car might help a little but I used 2x4 pry bars and blocks of wood to crib up a 32 sport coupe with the doors and rumble lid still in place. A saw horse for a fulcrum let me pry up one side at a time while my son carefully slipped the blocks in place. Over to the other side and then the first side again. When we got it high enough we slid 4x4s across between two saw horses above the frame. Then we removed the cribbing lowering it onto the 4x4s allowing me to roll the frame out from under the body suspended above. I had prebuilt the new frame and rolled it under the body and lowered the body onto it's new home. If you build a carriage to roll it around on that will work too.

I had experience moving heavy boilers and heavy equipment so it was not a big deal. You can move the earth with a large enough lever.

It takes a little time because you only gain a few inches each time around the car but with out equipment it can be done safely with levers and blocks of wood. Take your time and weave the cribbing in opposite directions so it doesn't roll over.

Not for everyone but it worked for me.

 

When I took the body off of my '37 Terraplane I jacked it up as high as my floor jack would go then built a scaffold out of 2X4's to support it. I then took out the bolts and lowered the frame and rolled it out. After I finished the chassis I reversed the process and took the scaffolding apart. I'm new at adding picture so I hope the attachment worked.

 

how much would somebody think the body without the glass, doors, and trim, or hood would weigh?

 

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=113397 Made one of these and it worked great. scroll down on the page

 

buddies and beer, nuff said.

 

The last one I did in a REAL garage, I bought wheel-dollies from HF and welded tall jackstands to them. Lifted the body from the rafters and rolled the frame out. I set the body down on my homemade jackstand-dollies and welded some 1 x 2 box tubing between the four stands to make a complete framework.

It was height-adjustable, roll-able, and I was left with dollies and jackstands when I was done

 

You can figure about a third (plus) of the weight of the car.

We did it with two jacks, at the firewall, then to the rear at the bumper mounting frame...raised front first, inserted block, moved to rear, did the same until we had the roof of the car 6" from the ceiling...BTW, did this with a '55 Cadillac two door hardtop, minus interior......you can read it here, about two or three pages in:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329070&highlight=the+best+55+caddy+build

R-

 

I placed a 4x4x8' across the ceiling joists, bolted 2 chains around it at the right distance, and using straps and 2 chainfalls, picked the body, rolled the chassis out, lowered the body onto a dolly, then moved either as required. I've done this a few times. Works good.

 

I just pulled the body yesterday using a forklift and two stone straps. Then I stacked 8 CMU/cinder blocks under each corner with a scaffold board between as cushion, similar to StudeDude's setup.

 

this is how I do it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302730

 

if the car will still move under its own power, you can back the nut off of the hub and go for a drive around the block and make a few turns and hit the brakes a few times and they may break loose (worked for me with my hudson pickup)

 

i stuck a 4 foot 2x4 thru the windows on Lil Beast..then stood up inside the car and carried mine into the garage by myself....pays to have a lil car..and to be short sometimes

 

I don't think that giant forklift will fit in his "small" garage.

 

you never did say what KIND of body you were trying to lift, but here's what I did with my 32. it was a cut down 5 window with tubing run around the interior holding the doors shut too, so I ran a bolt through the back side of the tubing and another through a couple dash mount holes and put a chain on them. I found the center of balance and picked the whole deal up with an engine hoist. when I got it up as high as I could I hooked the chain to a couple heavy duty hooks lagged into the rafters. the body hung that way a couple times. when I first got it home before the chassis was done and while I was fixing the rear crossmember underneath it (note- it SUCKS doing frame work with a body hanging less than 3 ft over the frame.)

 

One cement block at a time and 4 x4's plus jack. Then rolled frame out.

 

please stay away from cinder blocks!

 

Ever see a 'camper hoist'? Portable frame with 2 hand-cranked cable winches, used to lift campers off pickups. My friend bought one at the flea market for $20. There are lots of them around, used and cheap!
Lifted his Model A Coupe body, then his '40 Ford 4-door sedan. Frames were rolled out, bodies lowered down onto 4 Harbor Freight piano dollies...bodies rolled outside and tarped. This made WAY more sense than hoisting without dependable 'skyhooks'...

 

Like the above post says. I had the body off of a '50 Buick several times using the camper jack method. Works better if you weld about 4' sections of 4" angle iron to help support the body under the rockers. You may have to experiment till you get it balanced. I also found that a small chain through the windows tying the two stands together is a good idea.

The only drawback is usually the rear wheels dont clear the jacks. I had to remove the wheels and support the rear with a floorjack to roll it out.