Nightstick
Bronco guy
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2010
- Messages
- 2,929
So... finally after two months of saying I was going to pull my body, me and Izzy got 'er done today. I definitely DO NOT recommend trying to pull the body in the manner we did. Neither of us had done such a thing before so we were basically shooting from the hip the whole time... In the end it worked out, but not without costing me a little extra coin and labor to get it road ready. I hope y'all get a good laugh outta this one, we sure did...
Okay, so taking after siderbox and a few others I braced the body using 1.5" angle iron as you can see in the pics. I borrowed a chain hoist from a buddy and welded another piece of angle across the middle as a lifting point for the hoist. So Izzy gets to the house around 0700 this morning and we get to work (this is where is starts to get ugly).
We figure out pretty quickly that the chain hoist I borrowed is hunk of shit, and doesn't work. We decide to use the engine hoist on the back while me and Izzy lift the front, wife slides the frame out, slides the body cart in, disco right? WRONG!!! We lift up the front about 6-10 inches and it buckles, totally mangling both inner fenders.
After rethinking our plan we decided to use a ratchet strap from the rafter to the center lifting point, engine hoist on the back, me and Izzy lifting the middle. Oh, let me also mention that the engine and tranny are still in, so it needed to be lifted pretty high. I also left the TC shifter on which we ended up taking off later (I know, stupid) The problem with this method is that the ratchet strap only ratchets so much. Another problem was that the angle iron bowed in the middle. Thankfully my welds held up!!! So again with my wife's assistance we lift she pulls and we start getting the frame out. The only thing I forgot to disconnect while I was prepping was the speedo cable at the body mount, took it off, and kept going.
Now, if any of you have done this you know the biggest problem that comes along with using an engine hoist and other ground mounted lifting devices while trying to slide a body cart underneath. We eventually got the frame out and now had to somehow get it on the cart. The engine stand was in the way at the back mounts, and a floor jack was in the way on the side. What we ended up doing was taking four jackstands and putting them on each back corner, then on the two corners near the front of the rockers panels. It was teetering on the edge of crashing to the ground for a little bit, but all ended well. We unhooked the engine hoist and ratchet strap, lined up the cart, and lifted it by hand onto the cart.
So... lesson learned here guys. When it's time to out the body back on I will be buying a new chain hoist and rigging up a four point lifting brace for the body. My inner fenders are toast, but I was going to replace them anyway. The quote of the day went to my lovely wife. As me and Izzy lifted from the front and mangled the fenders my wife said, "Uh, did you just break the f*ing bronco? %)"
As you can see I have my work cut out for me cleaning up that frame.
Okay, so taking after siderbox and a few others I braced the body using 1.5" angle iron as you can see in the pics. I borrowed a chain hoist from a buddy and welded another piece of angle across the middle as a lifting point for the hoist. So Izzy gets to the house around 0700 this morning and we get to work (this is where is starts to get ugly).
We figure out pretty quickly that the chain hoist I borrowed is hunk of shit, and doesn't work. We decide to use the engine hoist on the back while me and Izzy lift the front, wife slides the frame out, slides the body cart in, disco right? WRONG!!! We lift up the front about 6-10 inches and it buckles, totally mangling both inner fenders.
After rethinking our plan we decided to use a ratchet strap from the rafter to the center lifting point, engine hoist on the back, me and Izzy lifting the middle. Oh, let me also mention that the engine and tranny are still in, so it needed to be lifted pretty high. I also left the TC shifter on which we ended up taking off later (I know, stupid) The problem with this method is that the ratchet strap only ratchets so much. Another problem was that the angle iron bowed in the middle. Thankfully my welds held up!!! So again with my wife's assistance we lift she pulls and we start getting the frame out. The only thing I forgot to disconnect while I was prepping was the speedo cable at the body mount, took it off, and kept going.
Now, if any of you have done this you know the biggest problem that comes along with using an engine hoist and other ground mounted lifting devices while trying to slide a body cart underneath. We eventually got the frame out and now had to somehow get it on the cart. The engine stand was in the way at the back mounts, and a floor jack was in the way on the side. What we ended up doing was taking four jackstands and putting them on each back corner, then on the two corners near the front of the rockers panels. It was teetering on the edge of crashing to the ground for a little bit, but all ended well. We unhooked the engine hoist and ratchet strap, lined up the cart, and lifted it by hand onto the cart.
So... lesson learned here guys. When it's time to out the body back on I will be buying a new chain hoist and rigging up a four point lifting brace for the body. My inner fenders are toast, but I was going to replace them anyway. The quote of the day went to my lovely wife. As me and Izzy lifted from the front and mangled the fenders my wife said, "Uh, did you just break the f*ing bronco? %)"
As you can see I have my work cut out for me cleaning up that frame.
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