Re: help lifting the body
Hey there, I'm planning for the same project on my car. Looked around a lot for different ideas and I came up with a plan that I think is pretty good.
I have limited garage space, so I've made a design to prop the body on a 4x4 frame, with large casters, so that I can wheel the body back and forth as easily as the frame.
PM me if you want more details, I made a few drawings and have measurements for everything.
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Re: Help lifting the body
So, Disclaimer, I haven't done this yet, just figuring out the details. I looked into purchasing a steel tubing frame or a hydraulic lift...but too much $$$.
I priced out buying steel tubing and making a rack for the body, but even in its simplest form was around $800 not including time to build it (and I do my own cutting/welding). So, same design goals but with wood 4x4's is much simpler, just a couple hurdles that I think I found a unique way to overcome them.
Goal #1 - separate the body from frame and be able to mobilize either section
Assumption #1 - The weight of the Fiberglass + body is able to be supported by 2 wood 4x4's running left to right (i have seen several pictures online of people supporting their deloreans with cinder blocks and 4x4's).
In my case, I will likely have the body suspended on my apparatus for quite some time, my concern is moisture/temperature changes affecting the structural integrity of the 4x4's...but that's my risk.
Important Dimensions:
Jack Plate to Jack Plate - Front to Rear is 59 1/4" center to center
Jack Plate to Jack Plate - Left to Right is 54 1/2" center to center
Widest Point of frame clearance = Rear tires outside to outside - 73" (I want at least 6" clearance on each side)
Tallest Point of frame clearance = Rear tire Height - 26" (I have 225's, not 235's) (I'm adding 4" clearance on top)
The unique part of my plan:
I didn't want to buy 4 expensive lifts...and most car jacks won't lift high enough anyway.
So, I found a set of 4 camper scissor jacks for about $100, these will lift up to 24", which is close:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Next is how to get the apparatus between the jack and the car, while its still 1 piece.
4 - 3" long pieces of 4" square steel tubing x 0.1875" wall. The trick here is that the wood 4x4 will slide through the center after the body is jacked above the frame.
Also grabbed a set of hockey pucks to place between the steel tubing and the jack plates.
So my idea is to place 4 scissor jacks under the 4" steel tubing (with hockey pucks glued to the top). Jack each slowly, making sure all connections are the car are free. Then once its cleared the frame, slide the wood 4x4 through the steel tubing and then assemble the frame underneath.
I also purchased these large rubber casters to mount on the bottom of my wood frame, so I can roll the body back and forth.
Casters:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I can't figure out the picture upload thing.
Attachment 61841