Lifted the body yesterday. Was working alone. It went smoothly. I only missed one wire, the one that goes to the brake dist. block. Fortunately I saw it before it became taught.




Didn't use straps just rope and only one per side. I could get away with it because of lifting by the fabbed door braces. The front was light enough that the front strap seemed unnecessary but I used one anyway. Here it is suspended.




Overall the frame and cage are better than I expected. The body mount perches are still good.




Rocker channels weren't as bad as I thought either. I was prepared for the worst.




#4 body mount is junk. Looks like an easy fix though.



getting the decklid hinges out was slow and hard but they came out. There was nothing left of the nut cage.



Check out Bubba's shortcut. the easy way to change the rear brakeline. This will be a nuisance to fix.






I had to blow the heads off of 5 of the 8 body bolts. I got the no. 1's ok, and 1 of the no. 2 mounts with wrenches but almost did a #2 when I had to get out the Big Red Wrench for the rest. A little scary but not too bad if you work fast and cool things down quickly.

I had expected a lot worse especially after seeing some posts with a lot of birdcage rust and frame problems. I have learned a great deal from you folks here. The info shared on this forum has made things much easier for me so a big Thank You to all of you. Rick

 

Great Photos.

 

If the body is hung only by one ceiling joist, you'd best get something to support the body. The fiberglass body is fairly heavy and your "single point" unit loading on one beam is risky, at best. I couldn't see the attachment at the ceiling, so I couldn't see whether you lagged in a cross beam over 3-5 joists to spread out the load [or not]. Not trying to tell you what to do, but I am concerned that it might not hold. {I hope my concern is unnecessary.} Great job of disassembly, though.

 

Great pics. The #4 reinforcement is pretty easy, use the advanced search to look up my old posts on the subject - I did mine with the body mostly on the frame.

7T1 - good points on the lift point.

 

Nice job, but I have question to ask. I posted in the forum a few days ago to find out what is the minimal height I would need to build a stand to pull the body. The results that I got looks like ten feet is the min. Unfortunately I don't' own a backhoe or a forklift truck like the guys that responded, not that I don't appreciate there responses I loved there originality. Like Sherlock Home once said to Watson "One must adapt oneself to the tool at hand" so, I thought I would give your method a whirl. What is the height of your ceiling and how high did you have to get the body to clear the motor?



Danny

 

7T1, It's distributed over six 18" deep trusses with two 12 ft 4 by6's on the upstairs floor. I know it doesn't look like much in the picture but it's good and strong. I would concerned too if I didn't know what was holding it up. Just not visible. I'd estimate the mostly stripped body it to be about 6-700 lbs. Pretty heavy. Center of gravity seemed to be near the shifter.

Danny, My ceiling is 10' clear almost exactly. Barely enough even with the hook almost on the ceiling. I had tires on and air in them.

Batman, I'll be sure to check out your posts on the #4 mount.

Bad news for me though. I was overly optimistic as the driver's side rocker channel had to come out. It was rusted worse than I thought so I I got it out today. It was a tough job. It gave me a hard time. The nose is still on so I think that made it worse. I have to decide to either fix it or buy a new one now. The pieces Pass. side is good but drivers side had to go. I was too busy trying to get the rocker channel out today to get any pictures but I'll take some tomorrow, Rick

 

Great photos. Thanks!

 

Nice work, It was exciting to lift the body and find all the hidden treasures below. Good Luck to ya with the future progress.

 

Do the rocker channels just unbolt? I figured they'd be part of the birdcage structure and not removable easily. I've just lifted the body on my '76 and I want to catch all those opportunities to protect exposed metal where I can, and unbolting the rocker channels for a blast/repaint would be excellent

 

Sounds like you used several joists to spread the load. Excellent. (I am assuming you lag bolted the 2x4's to the joists and bolted the eye hook with some big washer or plate under the nut.}

 

Ben, They are not easily removed. Spotwelded in many places. You can see the places it's welded in the AIM. I had to do some fairly major surgery to get access to the spotwelds. It involved cutting out fiberglass at the bottom of both the front and rear door jamb. A nasty job. I'd rather jam a sharp pencil in my ear than do it again. I'll get some pics today. Rick

 

Rick,
It's information and pictures like yours that help people decide to tackle the BIG jobs. Keep the pictures coming, they're so interesting to see. Thanks!
Regards,
Alan

 

how hard did you find it to perform the body off?

 

Great pics!

 

I guess I'll leave that job for another time then.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Don't want to hijack Rick's thread, but you've got a PM about my experience with my '76.

 

The hardest part is talking yourself into doing it. It just takes time after that.
Good job so far so keep it going and show us more pics along the way.
My Body-off