How to lift body off frame in my small garage?

dont have camper jacks...dont see any good ones around here...
whats a wooden buck(block)?

 

i bought two bumper jacks one on each side of the body and lifts it right up. they look like the two post lifts. a lot are made with air cylinders

 

lots of friends..cold beer and hot pizza

 

You need a half sheet of 3/4 plywood ,(4) 2x4x8foot (8) 2x6x8, make your self a 2 foot x 2 foot frame of 2x6 cut a 2 foot x 2 foot piece of plywood, screw it together well so it locks the box, Screw 2 2x6 x 8" together to make 2 4x6x8foot beams. screw the bases together at the bottom under the car with the 2x4's so the boxes don't move, jack up the rear of the car body as high as it will go, slide in your beams, now the front, slide in your beams, need to go higher slide in some 2x 6 blocks. Steady and certain rule the day. Roll your chassis out after you screw the 2x6 beams to the boxes. put the 2x4's back in before you go under it. You can even slide a cart under it. A little slow lifting and shoring is better many times than calling over bodies. I lifted my 38 panel body fully dressed and painted by myself in about 3 hours. I set the body back on the frame in about 3 including insulating rubber and bolts. Never had to say a word to anyone never lifted more than a jack. Best part is that when my buddy needed his car lifted he didn't have to call 6 guys to lift it either. we did it this way and kept all the steak and beer for ourselves.

 

check out mercman1951's post above. He has the best example I've seen todate..... page 2 of his first link-- works slick

 

Keep It Simple ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Jack it up,,, Lower the frame.

 

hmmm...
i have an engine crane, i have a floor jack but i might just use the drunk friend method.

 

Pic 3....
WTF is that creepy old person looking picture inside the car at the back? what the hell? ha

 

Engine hoist worked like a charm for a pick up cab... Oh and I did it by myself though an extra set of hands would have made it easier/quicker.

 

Im not 100% following what your saying...where does the boxes go?
are the boxes going directly under the center of the 4x6x8 for center support? are you doing the beams length of body or width?


What can I use instead of tall jacks like in some picks cause dont have them...the only thing i have is a hoist so can do front and back one at a time...my jack stands are only 12-15 inches tall so too short to roll the car out...tires are 27" tall and should I put blocks on the beams so that the rockers arent on the beams

 

cherry picker, a few friends, set it on wood and cement blocks

 

This post RULES! I'm about ready to do the same thing in about a month or so.....

 

I did this.



Lifter with hoist as fas as possible and ratchet strapped the rest, of course body weight here is -400 lbs I'm guessing, but I did it alone.

 

I will be doing this to my 52 buick special. Thought id just bring this back to life rather than starting my own thread. Any more ideas lifting 50's car body's off frame please do share w/pics if possible.

 

I jacked my 50 Pontiac sedan up as high as I needed to get the chassis out from under and then built an "A" frame through the back window with a 6x6 and some 4x4's and strong tie braces. Then rolled the chassis out.

 

I made two giant saw horses out of landscape timbers. I used three comealongs. One at each forward corner and one to the rear. I lifted a complete 60 chevy Bisc. body and got the frame out from under it.

 

Cherry picker and a balance beam - doesn't get much easier than that..................

 

You got lots of advice, may as well get one more. I used a larger size engine puller to lift my sedan body. The thing is, run your straps (2) under the body and then place a 4X4 on the roof to keep the straps from pinching your top. I put a roofing nail in each strap on the 4X4 because I did it by myself. She came up like a charm but I had to watch the back roof to not hit the picker arm.

 

Build a Gantry from 4x4s
inverted "T" base and inverted U top
Basically an "A" frame but with single legs

$60 in materials

14 feet tall 8 feet wide.

2x8 corner braces. Lag bolts

You can use a comealong (2 ton cable puller) $20 or a harbor Freight 1 ton chainhoist $50

I slide mine to where i need it and hoist whatever. Picked up a 40 ford pickup stacked on another 40 pickup on my car hauler. Raise slide lower. Repeat till u clear

 

I built this A frame, it worked out great.

 

Harbor Freight hoist worked well for my Model A cab.

 

HemiDeuce, how did you pick up that roadster? I have a model A roadster I will need to move a few times on my own. To add to the challenge, mine is currently sans floor. Straps on the roof obviously don't work.

 

I built a 1" square tube frame bulkhead between the trunk and seat.
I then bolted a couple of chains to it, and attached them to a engine leveler
It balanced perfectly.

 

I used a similar method with a similar sized ('47) body. Was able to jack it high enough to support with a 6X6 and steel saw horses on each end (bottom of firewall at body mount holes and under rear tail pan ) high enough that the chassis could roll under it for storage.

 

I like the balance beam trick.

When I lifted the Scout body, I sat it on two 8 foot 6x6 beams supported on 4 old oil drums, which were plenty strong.

I'll have to do something similar on my Plymouth soon, but no oil drums anymore.
Also I'll want to roll it over. We didn't roll the Scout.

I've got a line on an old trunion but it'll have to be enlarged to work.

I wish I had one of the big hydraulic power-driven trunions I designed at Manlift back in the 70's. Those things had 6x12x3/8" steel tube columns & would roll my assembled car without flinching. We used them for installing the 2" thick counterweight plates in the frame.

 

I've done just about every one of these tricks some a few times. They work, but sometimes not flawlessly. You can't get them high enough, or thru the door, not enough room on the side, you are hooked up below the CG, all sorts of issues. Then the blocking and shoring its a cluster fuck and the potential for serious injury is high and great care needs to be taken.

So a project comes up here then another. Both require the musical chassis game and several rounds of it each and all I could see was more of the problems listed above in multiplicity. I sprung for a gantry crane. It's perfectly flawless and safe with very little issues or obstacles to over come. I got 2 trolleys and 2 hoists, one on each side and up she goes. I called to rent one, its a 2 ton monster and 1500 a month! I looked to buy a used one and the few I saw sold quicky before I called. I got the horrible freight unit on sale with a coupon, 2 trolleys, 2 hoists for under 700.00. At quick guesstimate that's about 70.00 for each alleyoop I was looking at, and then I could sell it. Well fuck that, I'm keeping it. It's so easy to snatch a body off a frame now its almost 2 easy.

 

I went to Home Depot and for $60 got myself 6 Mexicans to lift the body off while I watched with a beer.

They were still available on the next day so used them again.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Weld cros braces in the doors, unbolt the body from the frame, start jacking the body up, set it on concrete blocks with 2 4X4's on each set of blocks. Stack your blocks the correct way, look at a building to verify. Once you are out of jack range, stack 4 concrete blocks in a flat square and lay a sheet of heavy plywood over it, go up again, adding concrete blocks, under your 4X4's. Get it high enough to roll the frame out. Make sure your 4x4's are wider than the body by a foot. Have you considered how you will get the body on the rotisserrie? This also works for that. I would show you pics of the process but its an off topic car.

 

Great thread! Some of you mentioned the risk of the body twisting. I have a 4 door sedan and reckon it would be softer than theb2 door. Would you guys recommend reinforcing the body in some way?

 

I'm allowed the smaller half of a two car garage and can move her car out (occasionally). Once everything, doors, fenders, etc was removed I bolted chain to the rear bumper mounts and front body mounts after getting the body blocked up a bit. Four 20 gal drums, two 4x4's and my cherry picker. Drums were spaced to clear the track width. Could roll the chassis in and out for suspension work and rust proof the underside of the body.
Wife helped with eyeballing things going up and down.
RB