Body lift with engine hoist

[Bob/Kansas City]

I had to devise a way to lift my roadster body off the frame that I could do by myself and decided to try it with my 2 ton Harbor Freight engine hoist.
I used a couple of ratchet straps and spread the load as evenly as I could and slowly, carefully jacked it up. The ratchet straps let me balance the weight of the body front to back so it would come up off the frame straight and I gotta say it worked beautifully! I was really sweating that and could envision all sorts of oh s**t things that might happen!
After I had the body up in the air to where it would clear the frame and the hump of the rear cross member I just pulled the hoist back to where I could roll a wooden dolly under it that I had built to support the body full length so there would be no sag.
I know this has been discussed a time or two in the past so for anyone still wondering if it will work... it does ...much to my relief!

 

[Aok]

Good idea the engine lifts have many uses I have used my to remove 8' pick up truck beds

 

[juke joint johnny]

Well Done !!!! I'd have been Scared Too!!!

 

[wrndln]

I did the same thing with my hoist about 3 years ago when working on my 28 special coupe. I used a nylon towing strap to wrap around the sills. I couldn't get the body perfectly balanced, but even my wife could hold the body level while I moved it onto some sawhorses. I did this about 4 or 5 times without any problems.
Rusty Nelson

 

[john in illinois]

Here is my setup. Had the body on my motorcycle lift table. Easy one man transfer.

 

[ken ct]

Good idea the engine lifts have many uses I have used my to remove 8' pick up truck beds

Ive used mine to remove wheels from motor-cycles for repairing flat tires etc. etc. Lift the front or rear end of it any height I need with straps. ken ct.

 

[V4F]

very good ideas !

 

[Skibb]

Great job Bob and congratulations. You're the man, hard to do for one person.

My Buddy and I did the same this summer with '30 Briggs sedan using his car lift. Then we moved the chassis out of the way, slid a wood dolly under that we made with wheels. Dropped the body and stored it in my garage while replacing the chassis wood. Brent told us to check the chassis wood. He was right, it was totally decayed.

 

[crumbaa]

I am lucky my dad and I built a great A frame that we have used use for lots of heavy jobs over the years.

 

[old car guy]

Used the same hoist to remove a 29 Briggs fordor sedan body , made a extension out of thick wall tubing with triangulated bracing to go over the roof. I used nylon straps and took the body off by myself. Put it on a cart made the same size as the frame with heavy duty casters. It was a easy project once I was able to get all of Henry's original bolts loose.