The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab removal

I am removing the cab of my 64 GMC. Do you have any suggestions other than getting several men to lift it up and set it on some pallets. Have no room for a hoist.

A friend of mine has a garage with low headroom so he didn't have room for an overhead hoist either. To get the cab off the frame, we centered and strapped down a 4" x 4" long enough to extend out both door openings to the top of his roll around engine hoist.

After a couple of small lifts and adjustments to find a good balance point, we strapped the ends of the beam together across the top of the cab. Once that was snug, it was just a matter of jacking it up from the inside of the cab far enough to clear the frame, roll it over and set it down on the cab dolly we made.

Throughout the whole process we only needed expend a little effort to steady the cab. Saved both of our creaky old backs from trying to lift it and walk it off the frame. And we didn't have to recruit half of the neighborhood to help.

Check out my pictures and you will see how I got
mine off. Paul

I got the cab off my TF by myself using an engine hoist and some lifting straps attached to the cab mount holes. The doors were off (a very important step - they weigh a LOT) so I just stuck the hoist in the interior, and lifted it off.

I ALSO LIFTED MY 57 CAB USING AN ENGINE LIFT AND CHAINS TO THE 4 BODY MOUNT HOLES.
SOMETHING ELSE I DID DUE TO A VERY SMALL GARAGE WAS BUILT 2 LARGE SAW HORSES OF 2X2 TUBING SO I COULD SET MY CAB ON THEM AND STILL MOVE MY CHASSIS IN AND OUT AS NECESSARY, WORKED OUT GREAT.
GOOD LUCK.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The truck I am working on is a 1964 short GMC stepside custom. It was purchased new by my Grandfather in the spring of 1964 from AR Dyer Buick in Hardinsburg Ky. I purchased it from my Grandmother in 77 and have had it ever since. There is not a nook or cranny I do not know about Ol Blue. I decided that since I was a football coach, I just enlisted the help of several linemen and had them lift the cab while I pushed the frame out and then had them set it upon a series of pallets that I bolted together with castors for easy movement.

I took the body off a jeep by putting it up on ramps and then putting a bunch of blocks under the body. Then I let the air out of the tires and pulled out the ramps, which dropped the frame down, and rolled the frame right out from under the body. No hoist necessary.