Total body removal in one day?

[lt303scoutin]

I am going to do the Auto to Manual swap soon. I had several people suggest pulling the motor & reinstalling everything together.

I am thinking of doing the opposite. How hard is it to remove the entire body, leaving just the running gear. That way I could really have excellent access to motor, tranny, tranfer case etc....

Is total body removal hard. Any tricks or things to watch out for? My dad has a 50 ton overhead crane and a 10 and 20 ton Forklifts at his shop, so going up with it is no problem. From looking at it , it seems like once every thing is disconnected I could lift it straight up.

I am smoking to much herb or is this do-able.

Thanks
Ben

[Overkiller]

I've taken plenty of bodies off trucks in my day. The problem I have is putting them back on. <IMG SRC="smilies/emb.gif" border="0"> I always decide that as long as I have it off I may as well_____ then after that since I have such good access I might as well______, and gee it would be silly not to ______. So while it's not very hard to remove a body I think you'd be creating a lot more work for yourself unless you need to take your body off for some other reason. You have to disconnect everything that connects the body to the frame, short list: Steering, wiring, gas filler, brake lines, fuel lines, heater lines, A/C lines, shift linkage and of course body mounts. I think it'd be a helluva lot easier to do your swap the old fashioned way though.
Travis

[tsm1mt]

Originally posted by lt303scoutin:
<STRONG>I am going to do the Auto to Manual swap soon. I had several people suggest pulling the motor & reinstalling everything together.

I am thinking of doing the opposite. How hard is it to remove the entire body, leaving just the running gear. That way I could really have excellent access to motor, tranny, tranfer case etc....
</STRONG>

When I pulled a body off, we first stripped off the front clip (inner/outer fenders, hood, radiator).

Then we disconnected the fuel line, rag-joint (steering), body mount bolts, unplugged the wiring harnesses, disconnected the clutch linkage..

Then jacked the body tub up, set it on saw horses, and rolled the frame out from underneath.

We were changing out a bent frame. Took 12 hours to lift the tub, roll the frame out, swap in the new frame, and then put the tub back onto the frame - but that was starting with everything "ready to go" and ending just like we started.

I've also changed out engines/transmissions in a SII more often than I care to admit.

My '77 SII has had a 196, 304, 345, and 345. It's also had a 3spd, close 4spd, and now a wide 4spd.

IME, I would pull the transfer case, then slide the 727 back n' down n' out n' away.

Then bolt just the front bellhousing from the manual to the engine, THEN lift the transmission into place.

That seems to be the easiest.

On my other '77 SII I built a tilting front clip and deleted the inner fenders.

On that one, I pull the hood-pins, remove the hinge pins, and lift the front clip away. Then unbolt the radiator mount and toss it aside. Roll the hoist in and lift the engine and transmission out the front as a unit. It *IS* easier to bolt the 727 to the 304 with it hanging from my hoist in this case, but if it wasn't so easy to remove the entire front clip, I probably wouldn't do it.

'course, the other factor is I *have* an engine hoist, but DON'T have a transmission jack. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Scoutman71]

Well, Unless you have dual exhaust running in the stock positioning, it's easier to install the tranny with the bellhousing attatched to it. with dual exhaust (like mine) it is too tight to get the bellhousing through without button-hooking it. I did a T-19 wide to T19 close swap, side by side and the one that the bell stayed on took me about 45 minutes less

[tsm1mt]

Originally posted by Little Humping Bear:
<STRONG>Well, Unless you have dual exhaust running in the stock positioning, it's easier to install the tranny with the bellhousing attatched to it. with dual exhaust (like mine) it is too tight to get the bellhousing through without button-hooking it. I did a T-19 wide to T19 close swap, side by side and the one that the bell stayed on took me about 45 minutes less</STRONG>

The way I've done it is with an engine hoist through the pass doorway and a rope/chain/strap around the transmission up through the trans tunnel cover.

The first one I did with the bell attached to the transmission and spent THREE DAYS (evenings/nights) trying to get it to line up.

This last time I put the bellhousing onto the engine, then lifted the transmission up. When you're using a hoist to suspend the weight and you're manhandling the transmission into final alignment, it's a LOT easier to move it around w/o the extra lbs of the bellhousing attached to the transmission.

Granted, if you have a bonafide transmission jack, it'll be a lot easier - but I didn't. I was also doing the swap in my gravel driveway, so a trans jack was useless anyhow.

That's changed now. Can't wait to finish the new shop. I can actually roll my engine hoist around w/o using a winch..