How to lift body off frame in my small garage?

Guys,
I am fed up with all this sheetmetal work while I am lying on my back or in a tight dirty corner. I am buying a body rotisserie this Saturday and I'd like to get the body off the frame, a.s.a.p.

The car is in the single spot in the garage, so there is about 2feet between the car and one wall of the garage. I can pretty easily get 3 guys, 4 total to help me lift the body manually. But, two of them against the wall are going to curse me big time!

So what are some other ways to lift the body off the frame? How many people should it take? Because I would then need someone to roll the frame out, because walking the body out of the garage would be pretty much impossible. Maybe I could rest the body on some tall jackstands and roll the frame out.

Would it be possible to lift the body with a couple of jacks, then rest 4 body points on 4 jack stands temporarily?

What I would ideally do is, use an engine hoist or some sort of winch system. I am considering on buying a manual crank winch and mounting three pullies to a wood structural beam in the garage which runs perpedicular to the length of the body. The hand crank winch is $28 and electric winch is about $60. With 3 pullies, one of each side of the car and one to route the rope/cable to the crank this could be a crude inexpensive way to lift the body.

 

a HAMB friend of mine lent this gantry to me for my A project..
Danimal and his Boy Court in the photo


this has made my many on/off with the body so much easier than the way i was doing it, (engine hoist) and i can do it all by myself

it does depend on what size car you have too

 

What you are suggesting is exactly what we did. Remove the mounting hardware. Jack the car up. Place on jackstands and roll the frame out.

lifting a car (unless it's completely stripped of everything or has a MG on the front) isn't any fun for 4 people.

I'm betting someone has done it, but I'd get the stands if it was me.

Your particular vehicle may vary the procedure.

 

have a look here, loads of ideas and answers, opinions
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/search.php?searchid=7356417

 

The picture shows my '41 Pontiac sitting on metal sawhorses with a landscape timber to support the rear, and large home-made jackstands to support the front (you can see one just to the left of the torch setup). What I did to get the body off, was to borrow a friends' air jack to lift the rear of the car, then used my engine hoist to lift the front. I put the sawhorses and timber on the front and removed the hoist. The timber was long enough to allow the ch***is to roll forward from under the body. This was a one-man operation. The body is back on the frame now, in preparation to moving to my new location, but I imagine that I'll do the same thing to lift it later.

You're lucky...you'll have a rotisserie; I haven't figured out yet how I'll tip mine to do the underside. An online friend rolled his car onto tires.

 

One guy had a fixture with 4x4s that he attached to his cherry picker and lifted a truck body off the frame. Just an idea I saw awhile ago.

 

No doubt using a gantry frame would make it easier/safer. I've got one but didnt use it( seen in the background). We used some base extensions for our jack stands and the engine hoist for lifting the rear with some moving straps. Rolled the ch***is out from underneath it to the front. Can't find the pic of lifting the rear w/the hoist, being it's a wagon, it made it easy to strap from pillar to pillar. But here's the pics of the front, with stand extensions, and some 2"x2" .250" wall square tubing to hold the front up. Hope this helps.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13359133@N05/1695201280/in/set-72157602618871040/

ratchet straps, going down isnt that fun tho.

 

i used a chain and a cherry picker up front and two guys picked up the back while someone pulled out the trailer the body was on

 

Invest in a used set of camper jacks. Weld 4" angle iron about 3ft long to go under the rockers. Run a light chain through the windows to keep them from slipping out. I lifted my 50 Buick body several times this way by myself.

 

Just remember you need enough lift height for the rear support to clear the rear wheels when it rolls out. Its much better to support the body with something substantial from side to side at each end rather than a jack at each corner . I have lifted a couple of late 30s coupe bodies off my self. used an engine crane at the rear and an endless chain at the front with 2x4 underneath across to hold it steady. What is the body you are lifting. With the doors off it will be much lighter.Remember these old bodies can twist.

 

If you only have that much room in the garage, where is the body and rotisserie going after?
If you are going to roll the frame out after, why not roll them both out for the separation?
Seems like the description is lacking something, or you are not thinking this out clearly...

 

This is how I did it by myself. Of course it was only a truck cab. But hey, just some ideas.

 

I got a 4 x 4 and drilled a hole in the center. I put a "eye hook" through the hole and hooked the Cheery picker up to that. I then placed the 4 x 4 in the arc of the truck where I thought the most strength would be (31 Chevy coupe) and hoisted the rear up until it cleared the frame. I then lifted the front of the body up by myself and had my wife roll the frame out from under it. I am sure that if you had a strong body you could stick that 4 x 4 through the windows and evenly lift it without having to throw the ol back out.

 

Jack the body off the frame a little in the front, a little in the rear blocking as you go. I pulled the rear wheels to get more clearance and dragged the frame out from underneath. Same operation in reverse to put the body back on the frame. One person operation with a floor jack, jackstands, 2x4's and metal adjustable sawhorses. Pic is before pulling the ch***is out.

 

Removed a 40 coupe body with two camper jacks and some angle iron once by myself. Took awhile, but it worked.

 

I used two old cable-operated camper jacks to take a '66 Chevy Suburban body off the frame. Did it myself. Used four 55 gallon drums to rest the body on while hustling the jacks back to the rental yard.
You might try camper jacks in your garage.

 

i pull the trunk lid off my coupe, clime in and pick it up by myself, it helps if you have someone to stablize the cowl

 

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm kind of surprised no one talked me out of removing the body off the frame. But that is a good thing, b/c we all stayed on topic...

Ill do***ent what I do, if I do it. After doing some searching, I am a little hesitant to lift the body from the frame.

 

I just invite abunch of people over for a party and once they're good & liquored up, I give it the 'ol "hey, as long as you're all here, can give me a hand real quick?"

 

I used the camper jack method too:

http://landyachts.homestead.com/mercresto.html

 

When I pulled the body off my frame (40 Ford) I used the jackstand and timber method and dragged the frame out from under it. When I say dragged I mean dragged, no running gear on the frame. Getting it back on was another story it took 5-6 of us to set it back on.

 

Harbor freight had a sale on the lift in the back picture and works great . One guy can do it ! It's rated at 2000 lbs. it was on the close outs $249.95 the winch was 99.95 110 volts

 

I JUST did this to my hot rod. I used an engine hoist! If you are by yourself, this is the easiest way to do it. I used a car tow strap and wrapped it around my roof and then attached it to the hook of the engine hoist, it worked great!

 

I was thinking about doing it like this as well, but I was worried I would bend the roof and knock it out of wack!

 

Heres how I did my Merc. A little big for a one time lift though, but it worked like a charm. One man operation and we put it on a rotiserie to blast and paint.

 

I'm really digging this post, cause i have been wondering how to get my body off of my car without a gantry so I can put some rust prevenative products. You guys are a wealth of knowledge

 

47Soto: Ain't it the truth? I love the HAMB for this reason. Now, WCRiot has SEVERAL suggestions, so he can choose the one that fits his situation the best.

Glad to see you post, buddy. Wondered about where you were on the DeS coupe, so now I guess I know! Sounds like you're planning your moves & making steady progress. Right on, brother! -- Jimi

 

im glad i found this was wondering what im going to do

 

2 camper jacks with a wooden buck through the front doors then just crank it up where u need it