Packhorse,
Being independent...I have torn my whole truck down..by myself. I work nights and not many people are home during the day to come over and help me wrench.
If you have a pair of hands to help, it comes in handy, but being a little bit of a loner at times, I like to figure out how to do stuff alone.
To remove my cab, I used the rafters in my garage. I got as close to the wall as I could for strength and then put 4-2X6's across 4 rafters to spread the weight over a very large area. I ran a tow strap through the door openings of the cab (doors removed). I then used a come-along to raise the cab up high enough and then rolled my chassis out from underneath. Then..I built a little dollie, like a carpet roll mover to set the cab on so I can roll it around my garage.
I took everything out of the cab including glass, dashboard, seat etc. Once everything was removed, it was not too bad as far as weight went.
If you can get your truck to a shop with any kind of hoist, I recommend doing it that way instead.
My disclaimer...yes..I know, wooden rafters are not the prefered method for lifting.
I would not use your wooden garage rafters for much more than a couple hundred pounds...if that. I am careful to make sure they are not overloaded causing them to break. Breaking the rafters would put me in the doghouse for quite a while while putting me in extreme danger of wrecking the truck and myself.
I have it from a very reliable source that you can pull a 216 using a single wide garage door header made from 2x8's or 2X10's. It was an older house made back in the day....now that is one thing I would NEVER try again...but hey..I was 16 and it was not my garage...Besides..It worked.
But it was very unsafe!
