Body and frame separation

[jimmyleetn]

A little background before the question. I plan to separate the body and the frame on my '88 Blazer literally any day now. I do not have the top. The tailgate and doors have been removed but I did keep the windshield in. The body is very solid. I'm basically done with rust repair. I intend to put the body on a rotisserie so the floor can be mobile blasted in the driveway. My question is, do I need to brace the body or bed in any way? I see where some people do and some don't. I had decided not to brace it and then my neighbor, who's going to help me, asked if I thought I should and it got me second guessing.

 

[Wes Harden]

I would do the bed at the tail gate opening. Cab roof and B pillar "should" be enough, but I have never done this so............

 

[tarussell]

Usually the need for bracing is when the body is seriously degraded and additional support is needed to keep the structure from deforming under the rotisserie stresses or in a better scenario just to keep the tolerances where they need to be when panels are removed.
To be on the safe side you could triangulate a brace from the two door hinges and connect to the striker to add some rigidity to the body and help avoid some sagging.
If your jig is supporting from the front cab mounts and under the floor at the rear mount locations with a body in sound shape and condition ( plus not being a full top K-5 ) I would think it should be fine but maybe some of the experienced body repair guys will chime in for you on this.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I should probably mention I plan to do a full convertible conversion, BUT only after the body is back on the frame. I mentioned that to say this, the cab has been strengthened with 2x2 square tubing.

 

[dyeager535]

I just took a k5 body off a trailer. Two 4x4's under it, pried up on each one individually to insert more material to raise it, each corner, many times. Never caused a problem.

Need to be extremely careful about dropping the body and how you lift it though. The bed floor is fairly weak and will bend if weight is concentrated on it, and the rear fenders will be the first thing to hit the ground and bend. The body is not light when doing stuff by hand. Also oddly shaped, since the floorpan is stepped up in the rear. Not blatantly obvious until it comes time to get the frame out of the way.

Anything through the rear wheel well to lift or hold (like a 4x4) needs to be spaced away from the body otherwise the fender lip will take all the weight.

 

[CT-BLAZER]

Mine was suspended with Six Chains/ turn buckles.... Back of bed had a brace to keep the sides from moving ,???? May have had a brace at mid point.....

Mine was sand lasted with the body raised on (2x4) blocks ... Moved to clean under the blocks...

Never saw such a large body on a rotisserie..... Seems overkill & extra expensive....

 

[jimmyleetn]

Mine was suspended with Six Chains/ turn buckles.... Back of bed had a brace to keep the sides from moving ,???? May have had a brace at mid point.....

Mine was sand lasted with the body raised on (2x4) blocks ... Moved to clean under the blocks...

Never saw such a large body on a rotisserie..... Seems overkill & extra expensive....

Well the last time I talked to the guy at the restoration shop, he said I could borrow a rotisserie. He wanted it out of the way anyways. That's going to cut down on a lot of my cost. I won't argue that it's overkill though LOL. I'm going to make a rotisserie for the frame using two engine stands. That way I can turn around and sell those when I'm done with them.