Thread: suspension help

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Is that roll around gizmo shown a body stand/lift device?

I was gonna ask about the scrub line, but it looks like the bags/cylinders will take care of that.

Does the car get up high enough to be able to open the back doors?


Yeah, it is called a "gantry" I think. Last fall I was lifting the body of my '39 and my bicep tore loose. (Old age is a bear) Had to have surgery. So we decided there must be a better way to lift bodies, etc. Dan had found this thing in the dumpster by our shop, and we didn't know what it was, he actually picked it up for the tubing it was made out of. But one day we put it together and found out it was a rollaround lift. The shop that abandoned it used to sell floor tile, so I guess they used it to move pallets of that around.

Anyway, we went to Harbor Freight and bought two 120 volt 440 lb lift capacity winches, and rigged them up on top. The gantry was too long and very narrow, so Dan made it wider and shorter. Now we can roll a car under it and by pushing the buttons on the control, we can lift up to 880 lbs. It makes lifting this stuff so much easier and safer.


As for the scrub line, that is a little dicey. He can raise the body up off the ground 8 inches, but wants to have it at about 4 for normal driving, so it might be close there. As for the back doors opening, no, they are too close to the tires, but he has hinged them and put bearclaw latches on them. If he needs to get them open for maintainance, he just pulls 2 quick connect pins on the hinges, unlatches the bearclaws, and the door lifts right off.

Ralph Nader would HATE this car, but I think it is pretty cool. Everytime I go to the shop I have to stop and look at it, because he keeps doing something new all the time.

Thanks for asking about it.


Don


PS: Pat, I think you are right about the bead roller being a one man job. At first I tried to help by guiding it while he fed it, but the next day he did it by himself and it worked better. We also were trying to do it in 2 passes, and found out you do it in one pass, because it won't follow the same path the 2nd time.