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Taking Body Off Frame

Leadhead

Well-Known Member
What's the best procedure for someone without a lift to get the body off the frame? I'm getting all the surface rust off the frame and spraying it with a preventative, replacing the body bushings, and repairing the body mounts on the frame as needed. I only need it up a foot or so. I saw someone using an engine hoist with chains bolted to the seat belt mounts. Do I need to brace the body? Any tricks or suggestions welcome. Thanks!
 
If you don't have a lift, hopefully you have a good floor jack, and if you do, I've used a 4x4 to lift it off the frame creating cribbing to support the body (on the outside of the wheels and frame) and roll the frame out from underneath.

Now I use my 4 post lift with straps to lift the 2x2 steel tube with the body sitting on top of the tube.
 
Thanks for your reply. I wish I had your lift! I do have a couple good floor jacks. I may have e to get a couple 4x4s.
 
When I detailed out my undercarrige I didn't want to jack my car off the frame because of hearing the horror stories about breaking the bolts. I had cleaned and painted the whole bottom of the car and frame but when I tried to put the new fuel line in even though I had cut it in two pieces I still couldn't get it up and over the frame where the rear end would be. I was so pissed I started breaking the bolts loose with my breaker bar didn't even put any spray on them before I attempted to remove them. Got real lucky and only spun one nut in the cage. The car still had the whole interior in it and all the glass the only thing I did was I rolled the side windows down about a inch so there would be no pressure on them. I decided to try and jack the body off the frame using my floor jack and a 3" thick by 6" wide piece of wood with a 2x4 on one end to even out the height difference between the two floor braces I was going to straddle. I only wanted to raise the body off the frame about 3" to be able to get the fuel line in and change the body mount bushings. If I knew I was going to lift the body I would have done the frame after the body was up but even though I did it the way I did the frame came out pretty good on top because I got in there and sanded the top of the frame and cleaned it good and got up close to get the paint up on it. Here's some pictures of what I did the car was already up on jack stands when I jacked the body off the frame. This was all done with spray cans putting a clear rust preventive paint on first and then using a Krylon rust Preventative Paint as a topcoat.
 

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Even though I just jacked the car up about 3" I placed wood blocks in between the frame and body for safety reasons while working on it.
 
My dad and I took my convertible body off the frame with 1 cherry picker, a floor jack and some scrap wood blocks and such. We used the cherry picker on the front (a length of chain was bolted between the fender mounting holes on the front of the firewall). The back we put a piece of wood under the trunk floor (so the jack put the pressure on the two trunk floor braces not the sheet metal itself). It would have been easy however to lift the front, put it on blocks them move the cherry picker to the rear and lift the back.
We set the body on concrete blocks which supported 2 sistered 2x4s. I had no concern that this was unstable or sketchy

Here is a thread where I talked about a tip over jig I built because I didn’t want to spend $$$ on a rotisserie. It was really useful and really cheap.
 
Are you going to clean up and paint the underside of the car? Or just work on the frame? Either way taking the body off was so much easier than I thought it would be. I seriously worried that I’d screw it up but it was a piece of cake.

What are your plans for the frame? I thought about having someone blast and powder coat it. Here in the Bay Area I think I was getting quotes of at least $800 and I would have paid that but I didn’t have a way to transport the frame so I just figured screw it, I’ll do it myself. I used a knotted wire wheel on a beefy 4.5 inch grinder (not the $11 HF) and Roloc discs on and air powered angle grinder to clean it up.
It’s a boxed frame so I used a few cans of Eastwood internal frame treatment to spray in the inside. Not sure it does anything but can’t hurt. The exterior I sprayed with Upol epoxy primer and top coated with single stage black.
 

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With the help from my cousin and uncle. We used a cherry picker in the front and floor jack to jack up the back. Had to remove gas tank first, bolts and anything else tied to the body. They said it was light enough a few more guys we could have just picked it up.
 

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Also wanted to add I’ve seen the body taken off with one cherry picker in the middle of the car attached to seat belt bolts. Probably the way I will put my body back on when I get to that point. Good luck mine was easy to remove just go slow and be safe and alert. Beers after.
 
Are you going to clean up and paint the underside of the car? Or just work on the frame? Either way taking the body off was so much easier than I thought it would be. I seriously worried that I’d screw it up but it was a piece of cake.

What are your plans for the frame? I thought about having someone blast and powder coat it. Here in the Bay Area I think I was getting quotes of at least $800 and I would have paid that but I didn’t have a way to transport the frame so I just figured screw it, I’ll do it myself. I used a knotted wire wheel on a beefy 4.5 inch grinder (not the $11 HF) and Roloc discs on and air powered angle grinder to clean it up.
It’s a boxed frame so I used a few cans of Eastwood internal frame treatment to spray in the inside. Not sure it does anything but can’t hurt. The exterior I sprayed with Upol epoxy primer and top coated with single stage black.
Yes, I will be cleaning up the underside. I still have patchwork to do in a couple very small spots. I've done the frame from the rear wheels back so far using two different wire wheels and this other type of rust removal wheel on a couple different angle grinders. Thanks so much for all these tips!
 

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Yes, I will be cleaning up the underside. I still have patchwork to do in a couple very small spots. I've done the frame from the rear wheels back so far using two different wire wheels and this other type of rust removal wheel on a couple different angle grinders. Thanks so much for all these tips!
The best thing is sandblasting but when you don't have the area to do it I found this wheel at Home Depot that was especially for paint and rust removal and mounts in a hand drill. That's what I used on my car and when the wheels got too small I saved them for tighter areas. Doing it with this type of wheel seemed to be the best way other than sandblasting.
 

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The best thing is sandblasting but when you don't have the area to do it I found this wheel at Home Depot that was especially for paint and rust removal and mounts in a hand drill. That's what I used on my car and when the wheels got too small I saved them for tighter areas. Doing it with this type of wheel seemed to be the best way other than sandblasting.
Thank you! Yes that's the other wheel I was referring to. I got a 10 pack off Amazon, and they're made for the 4.5 inch angle grinder. They are awesome.
 
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