Projects 33 WILLYS ????

About to remove glass body off, (cab only, tilt front end) and wanted someone that has actually done this if this should be a safe attack at it. Straps are 4" wide, lifting with engine hoist. Worked fine with 40 Plymouth, but of course steel..... hate to end up with convertible. And if anyone happens to know the weight, I'm guessing 350-400? Called a couple dealer/sales places and they were guessing also. Thanks

 

If you're worried why risk it?, with nylon straps you can go under the body and over the frame rails to separate the two.

 

The body is molded around the frame, can’t slide straps underneath without lifting the body about 6 inches. I think I’ll be fine, but just seeing if someone has done it like this.

 

All else fails, grab a bunch of guys and buy pizza.

 

When you’re old and live in the country, hard to get guys, even enticing them with beer and pizza, plus will probably have to take it off and on a few times. But thanks

 

It's not going to yank the windshield posts in half, but if the floor and door posts aren't stable it might stretch the whole body out of square. You don't show us any pics of the condition of this body. Some old Willys bodies were more "race weight" thin things with no inner structure.

 

Can you attach the straps to the inside floor somehow? (Seat belt mountings are good for this) Go through the window openings like you already did, and spread the load across the biggest floor area you can.

 

Body is braced up pretty rigid , steel tube inner frame,not a light weight race body, i can lift it up off the frame a couple inches by myself from the back so can’t weigh much more than 3-400 lbs. I’ll give it a shot, thank it’ll be ok. Just thought there would be another model 77 builder out there that had did it. Thanks guys

 

I've lifted all sorts of steel and glass bodies, and you don't want to run straps through to lift because they put tension against the body as they lift. This can distort things, so the best way is to run 4"x4"s through the windows side to side, and then hook straps to each end of those.
I use two 4x4's so one towards the front, and one towards the rear. Using two hoists or come alongs to lift so my pairs of straps go to one pair of straps at each end.
Always works great and lifts the bodies easily and without distortion.

 

That’s what I did on my 40 Plymouth, worked fine . Didn’t think the door jams were that strong on this, I’ll check that out before I do it. Thanks