Moving body from trailer to trailer

[loganbook201]

I just bought a 86 blazer body to swap out for my rusted one. It's a few hundred miles from me and sitting on a trailer. I was wondering the best way to lift it from trailer to trailer without damaging the body. Would a few guys be able to lift it? Or maybe 2 engine hoists? I'm kinda lost without knowing how much it weighs too.

 

[skunked]

from another thread

I probably won't be much help, I'm swapping body's, so I stole this frame idea from someone on here . I built the frame and used a chain hoist to pick up the body and roll the frame out.

 

[loganbook201]

Hmm that's an interesting idea. I might have to give it a try.

 

[blazinzuk]

It's alot heavier than you think.

I would say 8 guys could lift it. Problem is there is nothing to grab onto. Best solution I could see is have some 4x4s and some 2x4s can't just put em under the rocker. They will bend it. Use the 2x4s to stack up to the main floor.

Anyway ya slice it it's a huge pain. And if ya drop it and the body is good it really sucks

 

[nvrenuf]

See if the seller has access to a shop with a lift, pick it up and swap trailers. Even if you had to slip someone some cash for the favor it would be well worth it. When you put it on your trailer set it on blocks or something so it's "easy" for you to unload.

 

[dyeager535]

Think the chain hoist idea is the best, if the top is off I would probably use 4x4's bolted to the bed rails (lengthwise) as a secure lifting point.

I like the hoist idea, do most of the work from the back half, and use a lighter duty jack (or just muscles) to pick the front end up enough to block it.

I've done this before with no hoist, just stacked wood, and as mentioned, when you drop a pristine body (or it gets unbalanced and falls), it sucks. Which is exactly what happened.

 

[loganbook201]

The seller actually has a lift but the trailer he has the body on won't fit between the posts on the lift.

 

[mckustomfab]

Might not help much but when i swapped frame I ran 4X6 boards under the pinch welds, it didn't do any damage but I wouldn't do it very close to the wheel openings. The way i did it was a huge pain in the a$$ but its they only way i could have done it given what I had available.

Video

 

[diesel4me]

We built a wooden cradle with four 6" heavy duty casters to put car bodies on at the junkyard,so we could roll them inside for storage while the frames were being restored..bolted the wooden 4x4 post framework right to the body mount locations..used steel flat stock to bolt the posts together..used two casters that were "fixed" and two that were steer-able..

We let a few customers use the cradle to transport a few truck cabs and car shells home on their trailers,they just winched it up on the trailer and when they got home,used an engine hoist to lift each end up and block it up,and then roll the cradle out from under it..while it was being hauled,they jacked it up so the casters were off the trailer floor,and they used wood blocks under the posts,so the cradle couldn't roll ..

 

[Upstate]

Done it over a dozen times in the last six months. I found a home made gantry crane is cheap and very effective. If you would like I have some pictures and could make you a check list of what to pull.