Skip
As of last night there is now a TR250 body doing a trapeez act over the
frame in my garage. My son and I did the initial lift with the engine
crane and then we hooked up a come-along and jacked it up to the
rafters.
Based on what I learned on this list and what I found as dissassembly
took place there are A couple of things I did and that I learned:
1) Make sure ALL fasteners are unbolted. I used the TRF and VB catalogs
as a guide to make sure I got them all. Many of the floor pan bolts were
so rusted I had to grind the heads off. When everything was off I
jiggled the body slightly to make sure everything was loose. But, don't
do any jiggling until you do the next step.
2)Weld in some braces. I took off the doors, bonnet, boot lid, and all
other body panels as part of the dissassembly. Once everything is off
and only the body tub remains, it probably weighs less than about 200
lbs. If you lift it without support between the A and B post I think it
will fold like a piece of paper. Especially given the state of rust on
my floor pans. (My rockers are bad, but not so bad that they don't give
some support. I welded in angle iron (a 40" length) on each side of the
car between these posts, about 8 inches down on the B post and leveled
to find the spot on the A post. After tacking these in I took my time
and did the best weld I could on top and bottom of each attachment
point. (These welds are going to have to be able to put up with a lot.)
3)Place one lifting sling under the front tire area just toward the rear
where the frame bracket angles up from the horizontal frame. I lifted
the front of the body and my son fed the sling through. Place another
sling through just above the differential. Attach sling to lifting
device and you are in business.
The only reason this worked for me is that my rocker panels are in
reasonably good shape. If they weren't I would have had to weld in
additional bracing. (YMMV)
Some PO had installed the additional support brackets for the
steering/front suspension where these are prone to cracking, so I'm good
there. I can't find any additional brackets or supports for the diff and
I wont be able to tell if anything is cracked there until I get some of
the grease, dirt, and rust off. The frame has a lot of rust, but most
looks like surface rust and I cant find any weak or thin spots.
Basically a major milestone. Sounds like I'm only a little bit ahead of
where you are.
This week is start pulling pieces off the frame.
Good luck
Mark
CD 2807 L (now a circus act with out a net)
CD 4834 L (wants to be next under the knife 'cause now there's an OD a
waitin in the wings)
CD 7412 L(organ donor)
-----Original Message-----
From: skip@calendar.com [mailto:skip@calendar.com]
Sent: Friday, January 15, 1999 3:03 PM
To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Body removal - TR250
I'm beginning to plan for the eventual removal of the body on my TR250
to
repair some front suspension breakage. I've scoured the net but
couldn't
find anything that looks like body removal/refit instructions or
checklist.
I'd appreciate some input on this topic. I'm also interested to get
inputs
on related stuff I should take care of or take a look at while the body
is
off. For instance, I seem to recall seeing information on one of the
brit
cars lists about diff mounting points also being prone to
breakage/rust-out.
Thx,
Skip Montanaro | Mojam: "Uniting the World of Music"
http://www.mojam.com/
skip@calendar.com | Musi-Cal: http://concerts.calendar.com/
518-372-5583
|