Gantry Crane for Pulling Body

[Whiplash]

Hey all,

I know many people pull their bodies off with 7 friends or a cherry picker. The first solution assumes you have 7 friends that care as much about doing it right as you do.

Using a cherry picker was my first thought but I don't see how you can set the body down on the body dolly (such as the wooden Nolan Adams plans). The legs on a cherry picker wouldn't fit under this kind of Dolly. Or do they?

I'm thinking of using a Gantry Crane to pull the body. I could pull the motor with the same unit once the body was off. Has anyone done this?

If so where did you get your Gantry Crane? Is there a place in DFW you can rent one? Buying one seems silly and I don't know how to weld so building one is out of my list of choices.

I did find this one at Harbor Freight http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41188.

It's a bit pricy. Still cheaper than anything else I found on the web. However, I'm always a little nervous with the Steel equipment from China. I've broken more than a few hand tools from Harbor Freight where the metal just cracked using hand pressure. Also the angled supports don't look like they support much of anything.

I'd rather rent one if possible. Storage would be a challenge as well. I could make it work but that's just one more thing in the way somewhere. Although I'm sure loading things in and out of the pickup would be easier if I had this.

I'm looking for your thoughts. Am I on a reasonable track? I have to do most of the heavy lifting by myself. I have one or two friends that can help me but not 7 that I trust lifting the body.

Thanks for the feedback in advance. Maybe there's some simple solution I'm missing.

Whiplash

 

[bossvette]

Try a local tool rental store, look in the phone book under "tool rental" you will be suprised what you can rent.

 

[GTR1999]

You can build a A frame out of 2x4's and 4x4's to pick it up too. Gantries are nice but then what are you going to do with it later? If you sell it you probably get 50% of what you paid. There were some pictures of A frame guy sbuilt to pull the bodies. I remember a guy in TX using one on his 79?

Gary

 

[Whiplash]

You can build a A frame out of 2x4's and 4x4's to pick it up too. Gantries are nice but then what are you going to do with it later? If you sell it you probably get 50% of what you paid. There were some pictures of A frame guy sbuilt to pull the bodies. I remember a guy in TX using one on his 79?

Gary

Do you recall where the plans for the 2x4 / 4x4 A-Frame came from. I'd like to consider this as an option too.

Regarding rental, I searched United Rental and they didn't have any Gantry Cranes. I'll go see them in person one night this week.

Thanks,

Whiplash

 

[GTR1999]

No I don't have the plans or recall the spec's. You need about 10' over head and figure about 1,000 lbs- nose heavy.

Gary

 

[IH2LOSE]

I used an engine crane to pull the body on and off my 62 a couple of times,no problem with getting it under the noland adams wooden body support as long as the wheels are tall enough.

as said before what could you do with the gantry when your done ,and where do you store it.

Most engine cranes fold us small and youll always need an engine crane

 

[BBShark]

I was thinking about a gantry setup for my rebuild. My car is on 22" jack stands in a garage w/ 8ft ceiling. I was thinking of building an overhead gantry out of 2x10, support the body with straps and lower the frame away from the car.

I would like to do this to replace the body mounts and clean up the top of the frame so I don't need to completely remove the body from the frame.

 

[miratech]

I just did the exact thing yesterday. I only have an 8 foot ceiling in my garage and like most people, don't have a ton of buddies that are willing to give up their weekend to work on my project. So I built an A-Frame out of pressure treated 2x4 and bolted them together. The total height I have is 7 1/2 feet tall A-Frame. Then I used an electric hoist to pull the body off. Attached are some pics.

BTW, I drew up the plans to make sure it would work before I built it and would provide to anyone interested.

 

[BBShark]

I just did the exact thing yesterday. I only have an 8 foot ceiling in my garage and like most people, don't have a ton of buddies that are willing to give up their weekend to work on my project. So I built an A-Frame out of pressure treated 2x4 and bolted them together. The total height I have is 7 1/2 feet tall A-Frame. Then I used an electric hoist to pull the body off. Attached are some pics.

BTW, I drew up the plans to make sure it would work before I built it and would provide to anyone interested.

I see you have lumber under the body that the straps attach to. How did you get the body up high enough so that you could get the 2x4's under. Also looks like the top of the windsheild frame is cut out. Do you think you could lift a convertible from a point more rearward that would level the car?

BTW, That is an interesting car. Is it a convertible conversion?

 

[miratech]

I see you have lumber under the body that the straps attach to. How did you get the body up high enough so that you could get the 2x4's under. Also looks like the top of the windsheild frame is cut out. Do you think you could lift a convertible from a point more rearward that would level the car?

BTW, That is an interesting car. Is it a convertible conversion?

To get the 2x4 under the body, I removed all the mounts and used 2 small bottle jacks (one on each side, starting at front) between the frame and body in wheel wells to slide the 2x4 through. The front was easier because you have the body mounts on the inside of the firewall to jack up.

My car is a 76 coupe that had an annoying problem of falling sun visors and leaking t-tops. When I inspected the windshield and t-top frames, found they were completely rusted out and previous owner stuck floral oasis foam to anchor screws. So, I decided to correct the rotted top windhshield and t-top frames by chopping the top and I am now going for a roadster conversion.

 

[bossvette]

Cool I have a 76 that whenever I corner hard drops rust chips into my lap; keep us informed on how your Roadster project comes along and I might just follow in your footsteps

 

[Ol Blue]

Like IH2LOSE, I used an engine hoist to pull the body off of my daughter's LT-1 convert. It worked just fine, don't need a lot of ceiling height and folds up for easy storage.

I've also jacked up the body on an old racer and ran 2x4's under it then dragged the frame out from under it. Of course the engine and suspension had been removed. I guess if you jacked it up high enough you wouldn't have to do that though.
Ol Blue

 

[Whiplash]

I just did the exact thing yesterday. I only have an 8 foot ceiling in my garage and like most people, don't have a ton of buddies that are willing to give up their weekend to work on my project. So I built an A-Frame out of pressure treated 2x4 and bolted them together. The total height I have is 7 1/2 feet tall A-Frame. Then I used an electric hoist to pull the body off. Attached are some pics.

BTW, I drew up the plans to make sure it would work before I built it and would provide to anyone interested.

I like the A-Frame you built. It's the way I would like to do it but I'm already running out of room with the body dolly and the other two cars in the garage. I'm going to go the Engine lift path. I think it will work just fine.

I need to order the lifting straps. The vendors have several different versions from $80 - $100 dollars. Is there a body lift kit / strap kit that's better than one or the other. It's hard to tell from the pictures if one has any significant benefit over the other. I've looked at all the catalogue companies. Opinions are appreciated.

Whiplash

 

[Ol Blue]

You might want to ask the vendors how long their straps are. I used a borrowed lift kit from a friend and it worked fine when in a garage with very high ceilings, but for my current project they were waaaay too long to be of use with the engine hoist. See picture.

I used some tie down straps with hooks on one end to go under the rocker rail. The other end I threaded through some tie-down ratchets so I could shorten them enough to allow the engine hoist to lift body high enough and not hit the ceiling.
Ol Blue

 

[Stingray6974]

Whiplash,
If you still need an a-frame I have one I loan out.
Mike

 

[Whiplash]

You might want to ask the vendors how long their straps are. I used a borrowed lift kit from a friend and it worked fine when in a garage with very high ceilings, but for my current project they were waaaay too long to be of use with the engine hoist. See picture.

I used some tie down straps with hooks on one end to go under the rocker rail. The other end I threaded through some tie-down ratchets so I could shorten them enough to allow the engine hoist to lift body high enough and not hit the ceiling.
Ol Blue

Got the straps from Mid America today. They're 70 inches for one pair and 68 inches for the other pair. I've got 10 ft ceilings and the hoist extends about that high. I think that will give me about 4 ft of lift. It should work. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Whiplash]

Whiplash,
If you still need an a-frame I have one I loan out.
Mike

Mike,

Wow. That's a very kind offer. I bought an engine hoist from Harbour Freight that extend to almost 10 ft high. It's got a long enough arm to lift the car to the full height without the sides hitting the hydraulic ram.

I put larger casters under the dolly with a little extra spacing to allow for the hoist to roll under the dolly so I think I've solved the problem.

I had the AC evacuated this afternoon so I'm ready to start disconnecting pieces tomorrow. I'm hoping to do the lifting in the afternoon.

Do you know if I have to take the radiator out for the lift or if I can leave it in? The shroud I have requires me to remove the upper A Arms to get the radiator out. I'd like to get away without pulling the radiator but I'm not sure if the flex in the body will cause a problem or not.

Thank you very much for the offer.

Jon

 

[Stingray6974]

Hi Jon,
The only problem with leaving the radiator in is the extra weight on the front end. The fenders will bow out at the top of the fender lip. You'll need to add some support to the nose when lifting. Give me a call if you need a hand.
Mike

 

[Whiplash]

Hi Jon,
The only problem with leaving the radiator in is the extra weight on the front end. The fenders will bow out at the top of the fender lip. You'll need to add some support to the nose when lifting. Give me a call if you need a hand.
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the insight on the flexing due to weight. I've got 5 guys coming over to help during the lift. Well 3 will help, the other 2 will be in the way but they're more curious to see it happen than anything.

I'll make sure to have the 3 that know what they're doing support the front during the lift.

I'm a little nervous about the lift as it's the first time I've done this. I think the key is to take it slow and watch everything that is going on. I'm pretty anal about things so it should work out fine. I see it as a sort of right of passage. Now if I could only do body work and paint myself!

I'm going to go crazy with pictures and maybe a short video clip of the actual lifting. I'll put it all together and post sometime in the next week or so so I can give back a little to everyone who helps me out here.

I should be sleeping now so I can get an early start but I'm too wired thinking about it. This is going to be fun.

 

[Stingray6974]

Where are you located in Dallas? I'd like to come over and take a look.
Mike