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I'm going the route of pulling the body with a two-ton engine hoist. I have the hoist fully extended and using the straps (tied knots to shorten). I have the straps placed just in front of the rear wheels and just behind the door/front clip seam. I seem to have a couple of problems:
1. Weight distribution. I've removed only the seats in the interior. The rear lifts only a foot while the front is nearly three feet off the frame.
2. Max height. I still have roughly 8" until I clear the battery box/storage compartment.
I know this method has been used successfully many times. Tips?
Here's a decent picture that shows the weight distribution problems and the strap locations.
Also, if you look at the hoist, you can see one of the back supports is off the ground. One of the pins on the opposite legs was not properly installed and the uneven weight distribution caused it to start folding up. This is when we decided to call it quits for the day.
I ran the straps inside the doors. I also tied knots in them to shorten the reach. I don't have pix of the body when it was at full height and off the frame, but I found that as the lift rose the distance from the center of the body to the lift shortened, causing the body to tilt toward the lift. Since my lift is a cheapo PepBoys, the arm doesn't have the reach of a more expensive commercial grade one. It still did the job, though. I had removed the gas tank and the motor before lifting the body and rolling the chassis out from under it. I got only enough height to roll out the chassis w/o wheels on small floor dollies.
When I put it back on, I plan to put the straps on the outside of the doors with the T-tops on. That will pull the straps out further to the side, giving me more lift height, and it should be more stable than it was when I did it inside the doors.
Yesss!! You should have seen the body when it was hanging free. I will have many extra stout bodies to help balance/hold the body when I put it back on. I already have a few willing volunteers.
I know this method has been used successfully many times. Tips?[/QUOTE]
Make sure you support the nose clip. I have a small crack on the edge of the hood opening about 6" in front of the firewall on the passenger side. Wen I rolled the body around without ensuring teh clip was supported. Right now I have a strap from the front of the t-top support bar to the front of the clip.
I'm not sure what the weight differences on a rear end of a '73 vs. a '75; I've also removed just about everything in the engine compartment.
I'm going to remove the doors and put the wheels on dollies. We typically had hands on the front clip at all times and supports are set up for it on the body dolly.
FWIW I called a local crane company and they charged $125. for about 45 min of work. This was after I almost lost the body of a 65 after lifting with a HF engine hoist & knotted lift straps.
I'm not sure what the weight differences on a rear end of a '73 vs. a '75; I've also removed just about everything in the engine compartment.
I'm going to remove the doors and put the wheels on dollies. We typically had hands on the front clip at all times and supports are set up for it on the body dolly.
I may be wrong but I would think that removing the doors would weaken the overall body strength. Just my thought not positive.
Dont know if its too late but can you get someone to weld up a H bar like this one. My friend's 71 we did last year. Worked perfectly. And we had 7 guys just in case it didnt. Good luck. He did have to make some corrections to the dolly and this holding the car up made it much easier to raise and lower.
Karol, Where you get the straps that you used on the sides?
PM sent.
THis was a friend's body lift, not mine, so I dont know who put it together as it was borrowed. I assume they used the straps in the kits at the vendors.
One thing that might help is your front strap is a few inches back from the door-fender gap. Moving it forward to the gap will help distribute the weight better. It might be the pic but when you tied the knots are you sure the front and rear straps are the same length? In the pic the rear one looks longer which could be the problem. I tied mine also but had to adjust for length front to rear. If they are the same length moving the front strap forward may change angles enough to make the pull even.