Body removal on a 2door htp

[jdlafayette]

Hello, I want to remove the body on my 2 door hardtop. I will brace the door frames and the body is now solid after many hours of rust repair. What is the best way to remove the body without buying a lift or body stand? Slowly and use 4 x 4 wood and jack stands sound like it would work? Thanks guys. John.

[RICH MUISE]

John, It's going to be difficult at best to do it without any overhead lifting devices without damaging sheetmetal. There is no place on the underbody where you can jack it supporting the weight of the body and not damaging the sheetmetal. I did mine a few years ago, in my backyard, alone (I'm 63), using a cherry picker I got on sale at harbor freight for $120., and a heavy duty storage rack similar to what you'd see in Sam's club. I attached a 12,000 lb. pull come-a-long to the rack on one end and the cherry-picker on the other. I got some 3/8" eye bolts and attached them to the body at the front frame mounting locations at the firwall, and the two back ones in the trunk. I attached lifting straps to the eyebolts. Once I got the body high enough over the frame I used truck jack stands ( car ones won't be tall enough) with a 4x6 stradling them. One at the front and one at the back. I left the support straps attached and with tension as a second support.
Are you planning on doing this inside or outside, and what exactly are you doing to the car once the body is off? I ask because I spent the most miserable next ten days of my life doing what I did the way I did it.(I don't know very many people around here, or I might have checked into rounding up a half dozen young guys to just lift it off using the mentioned lumber.) Does anyone know what the weight of the body is and how many guys it would take to lift it.?

[cool57]

Thirty years ago I did a body-off resto on a 57 retract. I jacked the car up and put stands under the frame and then unbolted the body. Then I placed more stands under body bracing ribs as close as possible to body mounting points. I should mention that all mechanicals and suspension were already removed from the frame, and front clip, doors and interior were previously removed from the body. Floor jack was placed under the X frame. I slowly lowered the floor jack leaving the body on stands. The floor jack was rolled out with the frame on it, balanced by helpers. More stands were then placed under the body. Then young and crazy me "creepered" under the car and started on undercoat removal...

P.S. This was done in a 1.5 car garage.

[RICH MUISE]

old and crazy me did it outside, in the back yard, in the Texas sun in august. 600 lbs. of sand reused as many times as I could between rainstorms. I went thru 22 face mask shiels before I was done. Next time I'll try harder to find a whirly-gig I can borrow, rent or buy used. Nothing more invigorating than having a presurized sandblaster aimed 2 feet above your face!

[jdlafayette]

Thanks Guys, I plan on doing it in my garage. Jacking up the car by the frame and then supporting the body and lowering the frame sounds like it would work. I have all new rockers and body supports but am afraid of damaging all my hard work. I wish I didn't have to remove the frame on the car. The frame is really dirty , rusty and ugly. It also has been a hot rod since the sixties and has many battle scars. I want it to look nice and have the frame blasted and painted. Are the rockers strong enough to hold any weight or do you think they will buckle?  Thanks again guys. You are always helpful with your info and past experience.  thanks, John Lafayette

[RICH MUISE]

rockers are definetly not strong enough. You will have to use the areas under the floorpan that have the floor support ribs, and the front two frame mount braces at the firewall. I assume you're doing the underside of the floorpan as well as the frame, so you will have to work around the areas with the jacks/4x4's then go back and do them. Just a suggestion...you're gonna need a set of body mounts to replace your old ones so grab some as soon as you can. Dennis Carpenter is the manufacturer for all the ones being sold...check availability because when I needed them I had to wait 1 1/2 years for Carpenter to run them when they ran out, as nobody had any inventory. I think they are 225. set Rich

[jdlafayette]

Thanks Rich, I hope the body mounts are available, 1 1/2 years is terrible. Thanks again, John

[Ford_Fellow]

I have used wooden gantry's that I made out of 2x4's...You can lift a car body off a frame with the motor still in the frame in an eight foot ceiling...You make your gantry to fit the shop and use threaded rod to assemble the conections and then it can come apart for storage...
  I use three comealongs to lift with..With two on one end and one on the other it lets it rock as you lift and all lifting device's stay in the loaded mode...

[Ford_Fellow]

[Ford_Fellow]

[Ford_Fellow]

I used three two by fours nailed together for my top support beam and used ten footers so that it would be wide enough to load on my trailer...It is strong enough to lift a car body and also with my car craddle attached to the body..
If I was to make another gantry I would use two by six's just because the two by four cross beam with the craddle attached to the car did have a deflection to it

[jdlafayette]

Wow!, Great photos and info. It looks like a great low dollar way to remove the body. Where is the best place to attach to on the car body? I can't tell on the 55 crown where you attach to . Thanks again for the info. John.

[Ford_Fellow]

The best places to lift are from the firewall body mounts or also where hood hinges attach...On the back the real wheel house is the strongest part and there are frame mounts there...Take off the trunk lid and you have room to lift...If the body is structurally good on the back then you can lift from the rear frame mount holes but the safest is around the wheel frame mounts or attach to the wheel well it self...If mounts are under the quarters you can use a bar from mount to mount and attach to the bar where you have clearance..every car is different so every hookup is a little different but of the same principle...

[Ford_Fellow]

On the crown I was able to put a board under the chain I had bolted to the rear body mount and also hook a bar between the two front lower firewall frame mounts because the body was already off the frame...I had it on the craddle and then had to take it off because I had to do a job on another car with the craddle....

[RICH MUISE]

Ford fellow...Great set up you've got...and some really interesting projects. When I pulled the body off mine a few years ago I ended up messing around with cherry pickers and h.d. storage racks. I thought about building a wooden gantry but I thought..."no way will it support the body" ( mainly because I didn't have a clue how much the bare body on my 70A weighed).Well it obviously works and works well! Short of having two rolling steel adjustable gantrys this is a great way to do it, and a whole lot less money especially important for one-timers like me.Thanks for sharing    Rich