Taking body off of wagon

[Bonsaichuck]

I am looking at my new project and am thinking to do it right I need to take the body off the frame. Am I probably right? If so what is the safest way to go about doing this? Any suggestions? And is it possible to do a descent refurbish job without taking it off. I really dont want to.

[gmwillys]

Look through some of the photos that I have posted in the 63 wagon refresh.

I removed the body because there was rust in the floorboards. To answer your question, yes you can do a descent job without pulling the body. I chose to because I wanted to be difficult. It was a challenge to engineer the Ballance points. It was fairly easy, and will be fun to put back together.

[Bonsaichuck]

I checked out your pictures. Very helpful so thank you. Can you work inside by being in it on those saw horses? And how did you get the body up that high? A lot of friends?

[gmwillys]

The saw horses allow me to keep the body inside, then roll it outside on nice days, for better light. The saw horses are heavy duty enough to hold the body, and eventually the frame and body all at once. I may need to upgrade the casters to some heavier duty ones when the time comes. The body was raised up off of the frame by slowly lifting and cribbing each end with the engine hoist. The frame was on car casters, so it could be moved in any direction, when the body was raised. It took a couple of hours, being that I work alone. The cribbing consisted of a concrete blocks stacked and some descent 6 ton jack stands.