Here are pictures of lifting my new rust free former fire engine cab with my engine hoist. I am not sure if this would work with a standard folding hoist, my hoist was a former non-folding, but a few mods and some welding turned it into a folding unit. The reason for this note is my standard folding one has legs that do not come out for extra support, the unit I turned into a folding one, has inner legs that extend out all the way around. Before I pulled the legs out, the cab was lifting the hoist off the ground in the back. Once I pulled the legs out, no prob. I used a standard tow strap wrapped around the cab from above the doors. Note where the strap is, very close to the front windshield, not in the center or the back. This is where I found the cab to be almost perfectly balanced. I belive you could also lift the cab from the side like this to install the cab back on the frame. I will find out once I install the cab back on the frame. I am posting this because I couldnt find a simple picture of somebody doing this anywhere.
I am one to do everything on my own also and I lift my coupe bodys on and off by running the picker through the door....looks good man.
Nice. You might like going through the doors and lifting off of the body mount points just to not have it up so high. They **** when you tip one over. Don't ask me how I know... AD Chevys rule!
not to hijack,,,but how do you guys lift a car body off the ch***is?,,,im getting ready to seperate my shoebox from the ch***is,,and i was wondering if anyone had some good tips......basically, i planned on unbolting the body mounts, jacking the body, sliding some 4 x 4s under it, putting it on jackstands, and rolling the ch***is out.....does that sound ok,,,or is there a better way im not thinking of?
The jackstand board trick is actually a good one. You could do that at one end and cherry pick the other.
I think you will find that your picker will be into the roof before you can get high enough to set the cab back on the frame from the side, unless you move the picker inside the cab. We have run a 4" x 6" wood post through the door windows and lifted with the picker under the center of the post. Gene
I've used a cherry picker to take cabs on and off pickups for a while. I need to remove one from a COE soon and wonder how others have done that. My cherry picker is not going to be high enough to remove it.
Kinda do mine the same way. I have been using a 4x4 to go thru the door windows and a ratchet strap thru the front and back windows over the roof to hold it in place. I put the boom thru the side window and center the tip of the boom under the 4x4. Lift carefully as the cab will swing if the weight isn't perfectly centered. I have used this method by myself several times and been very successful. I think I may make a block to go onto the tip of my 'picker next time, so the boom isn't at such a steep angle and hitting the door at the top of the lift. The nice thing is if the truck is on skates it can be slid out and the picker doesn't have to be moved reducing the chance of something slipping. Sorry for being a little long winded, but I don't have any pictures of it going on or off. Hope this helps someone. Eric
Here's a thread with some pictures of how I lifted my panel body off the frame... http://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads...rds=panel+body&topic=0&Search=true#Post483386
Yep, I do the same as you show in your pictures but always from the side of my 37' cab. For added protection against the single strap slipping and getting off-center, I run a 2nd strap at 90 degrees to the first one (through the windshield and rear window). - EM
I bolted chains diagonal inside the cab from the mounting points and attached my lift where the chains cross. Took the cab off and put it back on the frame using the same method. Worked great and doesn't have to be lifted all that high to clear the frame.
We did the Sedan Delivery by putting the chain fall on the front of the body and the cherry picker to the rear body mounts. We lifted it straight up, rolled out the old frame and rolled in the new. Worked like a charm.
your way will work fine. We did the original seperation of the 51 fleetline body and ch***is that way while it was outside the garage....sat the body on 55 gal drums our 51 fleetline body coming down off the rotisserie wiht the help of our engine hoist. It was touch and go after we added about 500 lbs to the body
A forklift comes in handy. Here's how I swapped the ch***is in my my panel, took about four hours on a Sunday afternoon:
I lifted my body off with a engine hoist too. I was nervous because the Chevy Bodies have so much wood so I bolted an eye bolt through a 4" x 4" and placed that in the arc of the truck where I thought the most strength was. Then my wife hoisted the back up while I lifted the front up. It wasn't nearly as "hands free" as I would have liked but I had to come up with something since my only "muscle" was my better half.
I too use a cherry picker throught the door. I put eye bolts through the subrail body mount holes , run chains to them and pick it up slow and easy. One man operation.
Some great ideas here and on the linked threads. bobj49f2, Freakin' awesome still shot video. Makes it all look way easier than it is. Do you have a program that ties all the still shots together? Thanks, John
That's exactly how I re&re the cab off my truck. Also made for a good rotisserie stand in. lol Amazing what you can do when you have no money and are working by yourself................
I used Animation Shop Pro. I have a remote on my camera and just took a shot every ten minute, or so, and then joined them all together.
Cinder blocks and 4x4's to sit on. I use an engine hoist also and work end to end until its off the frame. By myself of course.
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