The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop remove fenders and cab together?

anybody ever remove front sheet metal and cab as a unit? Aren't there like 6 bolts holding the whole shebang to the frame on an AD truck? Do i jave to take off the front sheet metal first?
unbroke

Well, You also have some wiring ,linkages,fuel line(on some)clutch and brake pedals and the steering column.
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WHat do you plan to lift it with?

i was thinking about 6 or 8 people could do it, or maybe with a winch and rope thru windows. weighs maybe 700 pounds? all the other stuff has to be disconnected either way you do it, no?

Unbroke: I think that you may have to change your name to Broken if you try to lift the whole front of the truck as one piece/lift. It's very awkward without the support of the frame and even with a dozen people, lifting all the weight of the entire sheetmetal and cab of the truck would put a lot of strain on the unsupported sheetmetal. I think you're inviting trouble.

It takes practically no time to pull the fenders and inner fenders and then you can lift the cab. You can have the whole front end off working 100% alone in an hour and half and then can lift the cab separately.

I think if you try to lift the cab and fenders together without the support of the frame, you'll flex and bend the innerfenders, the fenders themselves, and have a very heavy large awkward assembly to then handle. Another issue is where do you park the whole assembly. You can pull the front end as one and the cab as one but I recommend against it for the reasons stated.

Prudence in my view is to take it down the same way that it went together at the factory; piece by piece.

Just one man's opinion...

it's not only possible to remove it all together, it\'s how the factory did it , at least w/ task force series, and I'd bet w/ all since mr.phord developed the technique.
but why bother? not recommended for the backyard, cause as kook says, how ya gonna store and move it around? and if ya really do it - leave everything xcept steering col and motor/frame wires - it's too heavy for people power alone.

Bill

Wouldn`t it be absolutely cool to have a body lifting apparatus like that

Hey Squeezer - GMC assembled '47-'59 trucks piece by piece. The only factory photos I have on the web are the '47-'54 New Design trucks. Here they are for reference:
GMC Assembly Line Photos

Maybe Chevy handled the NAPCO drive panels differently, but I have Blue Chip (GMC's version of Task Force) assembly line photos of trucks going together piece by piece.

not convinced of that, kook - if you look at those pics more closley yu'll find that the cab being put on the chassis is completely finished, tho' minus the front clip [because the steering col is on frame] - look at the size of back springs - appears most likely a cab/chassis model which will get the different front fenders of more limited production.

and the cab and the panel body being assembled are not on frames but on jigs. ya can't think that all the welding sparks are flyin around on complete, painted chassis that will then be sold?

three lines: chassis assembly; body assembly; final assembly. that's how the cabs were the same basic unit for any size truck.

Bill

well, i my be broken when i'm done, but I'm gonna try it. The rust on all bolts and nuts as well as the sheet metal make removal of the fenders almost impossible, anyway. my plan is to build a frame on my 8 foot wide snowmobile trailer. then we are going to winch and lift, roll the frame out and put trailer under. if it crumbles, i'll drink a few extra beers. the truck is in a barn at my vacation cabin 270 miles away, so I get to come home and conjure on it. I just got back from several days of fighting rust.
unbroke

I would set up 3 or 4 4x8 or 4x12 boards on stacks of blocks.Have them about 10 to 12 feet long.Slowly raist the body off the frame.Roll the frame out from under the body.Park the trailer under the body and lower the body assembly on the trailer.

Kook, Squeeze- From what I can see in the pics and from a mass/weight distribution stand point- I believe that you are both correct.

Kook's picture shows a one ton or larger truck being assembled because of where the gas tank is located. Their pivotal purchase "balance" point is as normal, through the cab via the open doors. If the front clip were on that cab it would be "weighted" forward and they would need a different "balance" point. The COEs could have the front clip on because it isn't that much forward weight to consider and COEs have more sheetmetal to the rear of the cab.

Squeeze's picture is showing how they would assemble a Burb or panel. They would have more weight out the back, as comman sense would dictate, there-by needing the front clip installed to balance the pivotal purchase point.

Removing or installing the front clip, including inner fenders, as one unit, is the only way to go on pickups and conventional trucks.

Okay, slightly off topic: those pictures that Kook posted show the roof being installed for the Panel and Suburban bodies. I haven't dug far enough into my 1-ton to check this yet, but are the roofs welded or bolted into place?

GMCpanel - yes they are welded. there's 3 pieces that spot together there - the top and side, w/ the gutter piece between and used for sealing the joint.

oly - re-read my previous post. the chassis receiving the cab is a 2ton+, if ya look at the rear springs and drums [looks 5ton IMO] - 1 and 1.5T would still have the gas tank inside I believe. also the cab is tilted because there's 3 guys reefing down on the front of it to fit the steering col, shift lever and hand brake thru the floor without damaging anything.

if the front clip were on, it would have another line attached at the hood latch to maintain a stable position and the steering col would be put in after the whole "cab assembly" was in place. on the panel, you'll notice that the body has a lift attachment at the back doors, so I doubt they "need" the front clip to balance anything. I'm sure the lift arangement in relation to "mass/weight distribution" of the cab and of the panel are not accidental, but very well planned.

I'm still waiting for someone to come up w/ pics showing any light truck being "pieced together" on the finished chassis.

Bill

well, I'm not broken and neither is the truck!!
We took the cab and fenders off as a unit today, and the unit is now sitting on the trailer on the wood frame we built! We took pictures, so I gotta figure out how to post them. cool. The best part was towing the truck to my friend's barn so we could hoist the cab off, because we didn't have enuff headroom in my barn. because we had no brakes (everything disconnected) we had to have a towing vehicle and trailing vehicle to keep it from running into towing veh. not that it mattered, because they were both f@rds! i was a chevy sandwich on f@rd. Since we had already loosened the steering wheel, and the nut was not there, i had to push down on the wheel to keep it on as i steered - it is spring loaded and pops off. real keystone cops stuff!
yeehaaa
unbroke

Oh Man,,,,If we could only get the video
Glad it worked