72 K5 Blazer Body Removal

[Robin]

When I take the hard-top off the doors stick, so I assummed that the body to frame mounts are weak. (surely the frame is strong enough to not depend on the hard-top to keep the body from sagging?) Anyways I have the engine/transfer case/transmission out for a rebuild. Started to cleanup the engine compartment which lead to pulling everything off the front clip but the fenders. So now I'm thinking I should clean-up the frame and wouldn't it be nice if the body were off and the body bushings are proabably weak...

So the question is: What's the best way to pull the body off and roll the chassis out from under it to work on it?
- is there a way to jack it from underneath?
- is there a way to lift it from above?
- if from above, what are good lifting points?

 

[kilomanjaro]

here is what i did and it seemed to work pretty well, WITH THE TOP ON THE TRUCK bolt the end of 2 chains or straps into the bolt hol right on the front bottom of the tub(it is where the bolt that bolts through the inner fender goes into. then you can lift from those two point and secure it to the ceiling, on the rear i just put a 4X4 through the wheel well and used two jack stands to hold it up but i imagine that you could put a lag bolt or something into it if you wanted to suspend it from the ceiling then i rolled my frame out from under it. hope this helps.
kilomanjaro
p.s. I said to make sure the top (doors too forgot to say that)was on so that you don't distort the body at all when lifting in the front.

 

[SilverJim]

I jacked the front up and slid a 2x6 under the front part of the body, in between the frame and the body and under the windshield. I did the same in the rear under the wheelwell. Put one guy on each end of a 2x6 and one guy in the back in the tailgate area.

1970 GMC Jimmy 502HO/SM465/NP205 doesn't run just yet!

 

[JungleBoy]

Robin
You might want to talk to Bob Brown at TLC in Boerne, his shop is right off I-10. He recently lifted my 71 Jimmy tub and now has it on a rotisserie. If you are close enough (I see you are in Texas) you can go see him. If you want to talk to him, post here so I can send you his number.

Others have made good points here about maintaining body strength while lifting. without the top and the doors, the only thing holding the tub together are the rocker boxes and the floorpans, and they are under a bending load. You will also want to check the integrity of the cab floor supports and the bottom end of the bertical members fore and aft of the doors. If you take the rockers off you'll see what I mean...

Bob has welded a couple of angle iron supports from the windshield header to the bulkhead behind the seats to maintain cowl stability with doors and top off while the tub is off the frame. I have heard about guys doing this in teh door openings also.

Bottom line, plan and execute.

Good luck
JB

 

[Robin]

Great comments!

Does anyone know how heavy the body components are?
- body (without seats, top, front clip) --- __Lbs.
- top (double wall) --------------------- __Lbs.

 

[kilomanjaro]

just estimates
body--400+
top--175+

 

[72Blazerod]

It could just be me but couldn't the sagging be due to rotten rocker boxes and not the body mounts? Just a thought.

Rod

<a target="_blank" href=http://communities.msn.ca/72BlazerodsOldChevyTruckPage/photoalbums.msnw>http://communities.msn.ca/72BlazerodsOldChevyTruckPage/photoalbums.msnw</a>

 

[frito]

yeah i would have to agree if your rocker boxes are pretty well gone your firewall,dash, and windshield will wanna fall back twords you witch would bind up the doors

in my truck with no top the doors will pop open and sometimes be hard to shut and my rockers are 100% soild no rust but that only happens when im wheelin with no roof with a roof my doors dont come open and under every day driving my doors act normal without a top

ohh and also my body mounts a mostly shot on my truck and that might be a good reason why my doors come open without a roof
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by frito on 11/02/01 09:47 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Robin]

Just to let ya'll know that I succeded in getting the body off this last weekend. Jeff Tevonian &lt;[email protected]&gt; came through for me big time. I followed his example that he has on his website and it worked great. I'll post some pictures sometime. Thanks again Jeff.

Thanks to everyone for your noble efforts.

 

[ZZ4x4]

No problem Robin. Glad to help. I was hoping I told you enough so nothing terribly wrong would happen, but I'm sure you had to figure out a few of the technical aspects yourself. Hope to see your photos soon!
JT (Jeff)