[grouch]

I'm not far from lifting the body off the frame of my '49 Olds, but I have no clue how much weight to expect to have to deal with. Anybody have a guesstimate? Also, is there much danger of warping this thing if I don't support it at each body mount point?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Deuce]

I would guess it is pretty heavy ...
It takes three fellows to lift my coupe body ...

And that's with everything that can be removed ... taken off.

Because your car is a post model ... I do not believe you will damage it by picking it up. But will need a hoist or a bunch of friends...

I have used a pair of engine cherry pickers before ... but be careful ...

 

[grouch]

Ah, that helps. Thanks Deuce. Seeing your coupe body sitting there, I'm guessing this Olds body is half again heavier from width, length and the back fenders being non-removable. Figuring 5 people, each being comfortable with 80 - 100 lbs, so 400 - 500 lbs. Even double that for a good safety margin, my hoist can handle it. I was more worried about hanging it from the 6x6 posts my garage is built on. If 3 people can lift your coupe body, those posts will stand the Olds body swinging from them.

The only things left to remove from it are the doors and the trunk lid.

 

[yekoms]

Hey Grouch,
If your not sure about the hoist, or hookin' it to the hoist,you could hoist the front and lift, jack,or cherry picker(engine hoist on wheels) the back enough to roll the frame out from under the body.
I was one of six that lifted a Chevelle body off for a friend. We maybe could have done it with four but, At least half of the weight on a hoist would be way more stable. Lifting high enough to clear the tires and not rollin' over toes is a problem. Gettin' six guys to do the same thing at the same time was the real hard part. You know what I meen? A lot of guys can lift the furniture but, can't figure out how to get it in the door.
It sounds like you know what you're doin'. Have fun...Smokey

 

[grouch]

[...] It sounds like you know what you're doin'.

Oh, if only that were true!

The reason I'm a little worried about warping is that I'll have to do it all myself, lifting with a single hoist. I've seem them lifted by straps under the roof and by cables to the four corners lifting at body mount points. Any opinion on which way is best?

 

[home brew]

Are you going to lift one end and then block it up and then go to the other end or lift the whole thing up and let it swing while you roll out the chassis? Not knowing where your body mounts are I can't give an opinion. I would just make sure you are not putting stress on body panels as you lift it. You may be looking at more body work if you do.

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[grouch]

Are you going to lift one end and then block it up and then go to the other end or lift the whole thing up and let it swing while you roll out the chassis? Not knowing where your body mounts are I can't give an opinion. I would just make sure you are not putting stress on body panels as you lift it. You may be looking at more body work if you do.

I really want to lift the whole thing and leave it hanging while I pull the chassis out. This looks like a good time to link to some reference photos

Body: http://edge-op.org/1949_Oldsmobile/index.php?page=58
http://edge-op.org/1949_Oldsmobile/images/058-1.jpg

Frame: http://edge-op.org/1949_Oldsmobile/images/062-1.jpg

In that last one, the front of the body mounts just about flush at the firewall at the two dots showing just rearward of the two Ys in the frame behind the front crossmember. The text, way back somewhere in the "Body" section, says that the body is held on by 22 bolts.

Do you think a couple of nylon straps through the window openings would damage the top? Maybe use wooden stretchers to keep from any crushing force inward?

 

[redsdad]

A quick and dirty way to guesstimate the weight of a bare body is to measure the length (L), width (W), and height (H). Then plug them in.

(2*L*W+4*L*H)*0.048*0.3=approximate weight

I have attached a photo of using one hoist to get the frame out from under my 41. The bar is 2 x 3 rect. tubing.

 

[BillyShope]

That's certainly an interesting equation! What's being assumed is that the body is equivalent to an open ended tube with a rectangular cross section defined by the width and the height. The top and bottom are of 16 gage steel and the sides are of 11 gage. That's probably as good an assumption as any and will certainly get you in the ball park.

 

[home brew]

From the look of the body mounting tabs on the frame I think I would try to place 4X6 timbers under the front mounts ( by the firewall) and under the rear mounts by the rear crossmember. Then use webbing to your hoist. You may have to cross brace ( and triangulate) the 4X6 timbers with 2X4's to stop them from sliding around. You may have to build up the back timber so it doesn't hit the rear fender. If you go to this trouble you might as well use jacks to lift it up until you can roll the frame out. Don't forget to block the body so it doesn't move.

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[redsdad]

That's certainly an interesting equation! What's being assumed is that the body is equivalent to an open ended tube with a rectangular cross section defined by the width and the height. The top and bottom are of 16 gage steel and the sides are of 11 gage. That's probably as good an assumption as any and will certainly get you in the ball park.

Thanks Billy. Before everyone starts screaming about the 11 ga., I made the assumption that most of the sides are double walled, hence the "4" in the equation. The firewall, dash, rear roll pan, and braces are made up by the missing doors and trunk lid.

One note, if you have a station wagon with a triple thickness floor, change the "2" to a "4".

 

[grouch]

A quick and dirty way to guesstimate the weight of a bare body is to measure the length (L), width (W), and height (H). Then plug them in.

(2*L*W+4*L*H)*0.048*0.3=approximate weight

I have attached a photo of using one hoist to get the frame out from under my 41. The bar is 2 x 3 rect. tubing.

Thanks! I'll get numbers and plug into that; hadn't even thought about trying to calculate the weight, even roughly.

home brew: If I hoist it, I'll use some scrap steel at the corners. It may be more convenient to just jack it up since I have a low ceiling on one side. I hope to have enough room to try building a rotisserie for it to make it easier to work on the bottom.

 

[home brew]

If you are going to build a rotisserie you might as well design the body brackets that will fit on the rotisserie and attach them to the body now and use them to lift the body. Save you work and time in the long run.

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[grouch]

If you are going to build a rotisserie you might as well design the body brackets that will fit on the rotisserie and attach them to the body now and use them to lift the body. Save you work and time in the long run.

Good idea. I need to make some for my '59 4CV, too, so it only requires swapping brackets on the rotisserie when the Olds comes off.

Didn't feel like running out to the garage to measure the body, so I used Gimp with a head-on view and side shot to get rough measurements for Redsdad's formula. Wheelbase is 119.5" and in the side shot that's 1024 pixels. The body is 1160 pixels, so it's about 136" long. Height is 470 pixels, or about 55". Head-on, I had measured the headlight opening before at 7" and it was 82 pixels in that image. Width of the body is 771 pixels, so it's about 66" W. That yields 689 pounds. I think I can still play in that ballpark.

 

[BillyShope]

Just to save some keystrokes on the calculator, the equation simplifies to:

est. weight = 0.0288*L*(W+2*H)

 

[robs ss]

Four old camper jacks, two under each rocker should work.

Rob

There are questions to be answered, and answers to be questioned"

Chassis, Body Jig, Trunk Pan Pics.
http://webpages.charter.net/2manitowoc

Paint booth, Ventilation, etc.
http://www.2manitowoc.com/paintroom.html

 

[grouch]

Just to save some keystrokes on the calculator, the equation simplifies to:

est. weight = 0.0288*L*(W+2*H)

I came up with .028L(W+2H) when I first tried simplifying that, lost 19 lbs and figured I was just too rusty in algebra to trust my altered formula. The problem was that .0008 dropped because I used "scale=3" instead of 4 when calculating. It's not often you can weigh the significance of digits.

Redsdad disturbed some cobwebs.

 

[grouch]

Bumping this because I'm trying to figure out a rotisserie to handle that body weight. Been scribbling and reading all through Monday Night Football.

The stands with pivots are no trouble; just mimic the design of several engine stands on the market and the designs of rotisseries found in the forum. The main problem appears to me to be avoiding flexing the body while rotating it without a frame under it. 'Shine' posted something about not trusting body rotisseries that only support at the ends of the body. He built a perimeter framework to support the body in his rotisserie. (Discussion seen here: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/tilter-rotisserie-ramp-79099.html located using the Hotrodders Knowledge Base: http://www.hotrodders.com/kb/ (thanks, Jon!)).

My measurements of the image of the body instead of the body itself weren't far off: Actual length is 136" same as image, width is 72" at the old girl's hips instead of 66", and height is 54" instead of 55". Plugging those numbers into BillyShope's simplified version of Redsdad's formula yields ~705. Since the body narrows from rear to front, it's likely less than that, but 650 - 700 is close enough.

According to http://www.alvinindustrial.com/info/info_02.htm a 2" sch. 40 pipe supported at both ends will carry 1074 lbs, evenly distributed, on a 10'-0" (120") span. I'm assuming that's a dead load. If I make a rectangular frame out of that pipe, 54" W x 136" L, with brackets from it to the regular body mount points, that gives me access to a lot more of the underside of the body than using the car's frame in the rotisserie.

Anybody care to give opinion on whether that pipe framework will support the body properly throughout rotation? I've never attempted anything like this before, so I don't have any past experience on which to base a judgement.

 

[home brew]

As usual you have done your research and answered your own question! My opinion. Your veracity must be contagious.

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[grouch]

Home brew, thanks for the chuckles. When I don't have the skinned-knees experience on something, I do tend to go a little nuts on the research. I'm pretty confident the pipes will support the body in the upright position, but when I roll it over and it starts hanging from those 18 points, that has me worried. The transition from upright to upside down is also a little scary. Am I overlooking some dynamic stuff that an engineer would see as obvious?

Some of the mounting bolts don't go all the way through the underside of the body. For those that do, I can run them through small plates to spread the force out over whatever amount of flat space is there. Would it be better to bolt the brackets to the pipes, so I can take each one out individually to clean an area? Or should I repair all of the floorboard before even trying to mount it on a rotisserie?