Lifting body off the frame....tips?

[Nick774]

Im at the point of lifting the body and rolling out the frame. I have all the equiptment for the job, I am just wondering if anybody has a good step by step process as far as the lifting and block placement. I dont want any risky mistakes during the lift. Thanks - Nick 774

[82DMC12]

Im at the point of lifting the body and rolling out the frame. I have all the equiptment for the job, I am just wondering if anybody has a good step by step process as far as the lifting and block placement. I dont want any risky mistakes during the lift. Thanks - Nick 774

I'm doing this job soon myself. I too would like to know what others have done. I'll be leaving the engine on the frame and wheeling it out as one unit, then lift the engine and strip the frame.

I'm fine with all the mechanical stuff, but want to know how to get the body to that height.

Andy

[DMCMW Dave]

With a lift.

[DMage]

4x4's, cinder blocks, and several extra hands... :-)

I am sure Morpheus will be in here soon and can toss up pics of his body/frame separation. Or, he may have pics in a thread if you do a search.

[Rich W]

As Dave will probably recall, about a decade ago, its probably not the best idea to use an in-ground, 2-post lift
as we did the body off lifting (at a Tech Session, as a H.S. shop), to later find out the problem of getting the
rolling frame out between the two in-ground posts. It can be done, but it was just extra hassles with the job.

Probably want to avoid using a 4-post lift as well, although I have used one "from near double park position",
using the lift platform above the car body, to do the lifting of the body, suspended under the platform. Again,
hard to do, especially when you want to open the door(s), even just a little ways, so its not recommended.

The next method I will be trying is using two truss hoists - one lifting the front end and one lifting the back end.

I have used the jacks, blocks and boards method a few times, with mixed results. Plenty of extra hands does help.

I think what Dave was getting at was using a floor mounted, 2-post lift is one of the easiest ways to do a body off.


With a lift.

[82DMC12]

Yeah I don't have a lift. Ghetto way with blocks is what I'm looking at!

Sent from my GT-P7310 using Tapatalk 2

[Nicholas R]

I just did a body frame separation.

Honestly the easiest thing I found was to jack the entire car up as high as possible supporting the 4 jack points with jack stands, cinder blocks, whatever. Then instead of lifting the body off the frame, I dropped the frame out of the body. To roll it out, I supported the front end with an engine hoist so that the jack stands wouldn't be in the way, and rolled the frame back until the wheels hit the back jack stands. Then my dad and I each grabbed a side of the body in the rear and lifted. While it was lifted, one person manned each rear jack stand while another rolled the frame back. As soon as the wheels were clear, the 2 people replaced the jackstands and we lowered the body back down.

Here's a video of the entire process if you're interested. We start dropping the frame out around 4:15:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFL4-fwGj9c

[Morpheus]

Here's a link to the thread about my separation:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?948-Body-Frame-Separation-Party!-SAT-7-30-11

I really wish I would have had a lift accessible to do this. I don't ever want to do it again without one.

[Nicholas R]

If you have 2 engine hoists, the process will be a LOT easier. I put the body back on my frame today; the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ll84SVMts

[nkemp]

It has been many years ago that I did this. I did it as a one person operation with one, maybe two, floor jack(s), 4x4's and blocks. Here is the abbreviated version:

NOTE: do this at your own risk and if it does not work well for you don't blame me. Evaluate the appropriateness of this method before you start.



Double check to make sure the body parts are separated from the frame parts... but that was obvious

Repeat as you are separating ... another obvious comment


Jack up one side as far as seems reasonable and safe and block it.

No need to go too high. Do not go so high that the body will fall to the side!
If using one jack, use a 4x4 that fits from jack point to jack point to disperse the load. You could even put 2x4 scraps at the jack points to localize the load at the jack points
Two floor jacks are almost more effort because you need to raise both and if by oneself that is more work than using one


Jack up the other side similar height & block

For blocking the car I had a whole pile of 2x8 & 2x6 scraps I salvaged. I nailed them into a pyramid (flat side down). I had extras that I put on top the pyramid as needed. To this day I still have them and as I type the D is sitting on them. I prefer them over the metal stands ( easier on the bottom of the car and they seem safer... I don't trust the floor stands but have no reason not to)


Repeat this until the body is sufficiently high to roll the frame out
Use the 4x4's across the body at the jack points.

The 4x4's need to be long enough that the wheels will clear the blocks that hold the 4x4's
If you used a 4x4 on each side from jack point to jack point, it is easy to get the 4x4's discussed in this bullet into position.
When the body is high enough to clear the frame and allow the 4x4's to be inserted, you can jack front to back instead of side to side


I then put a trailer (double wide snowmobile trailer) under the body and lowered it onto the trailer and moved it to a safe spot.
To install the body I reversed the process


It wasn't all that hard. You put a few miles on working side to side. I found that a three car worked well:

One for the body,
One for the frame,
One to do the work!


Another tip ... I had a board laid out with a rough drawing of the frame. I set parts, bolts, etc on the board in their relative locations. I also used string tags on parts with drawings or comments. It made it real easy to get it back together. You can also reinstall bolts to manage them as well. Don't even think of storing nuts , bolts and washers in a bucket!

Have fun,
Nick