I'm thinking about tearing my truck down for a frame off restoration. What is involved with taking the body off. Does it need to be reinforced to keep from warping? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I just took my cab off, I took off both doors front and rear glass and the seat.you have to pull the tank to get to the rear cab bolts. I then took a piece of 21/2 X 21/2X 1/4 thick angle and cut them 32'' drill to match the seat bolt pattern. Bolted them in so the long end goes fwd. then brought my engine hoist in, attached a high strength rope and found the balance pt. to be approx. 71/4 '' fwd of the front set of bolts. these are definitely front heavy. I haven't taken the bed off yet, so can't help ya there. From what I heard you shouldn't try to pick them up by the roof because it can distort it. I then lowered it onto a couple of dollies so I can move it around. I'm no pro at this...Just my input.......Good luck with the resto.

 

Bed is easy, BUT, have some friends. 4 guys total and you just lift it off once the bolts are loose. Be very careful with the bolts -- if you spin the carriage bolt heads, you will have round holes instead of square. Best is to cut them off and replace later.

The front clip can be removed as a unit as well, keeping the radiator core support, inner/outer fenders all together. Of course, you may still want to disassemble all that for a good and proper sandblasting. Getting the grill and valences off of the core support is a pain. Go slow, apply heat/penetrating oil and lots of patience. Once you spin the clip nuts, you have to either get ahold of them with a vice grips or cut them off. When possible, grab them with a vice grip before they spin and tear the clip up.

 

I removed the bed on my 67 Chevy stepside by myself. I put sticks in the end tubes, looped rope over them, "X'ed" it across the bed, and used a "come along" type hand hoist attacehd to a tree limb to lift it right up, drove the truck from under it, lowered it back down onto some saw horses. Re-installed it solo the same way. I used bolt cutters to snap all the bed bolts off (it had a wood floor that I ripped out)- a cutting torch would do as well. For a bed without "tube" rails, you could use the stake pockets.
I agree that lifting by the roof is bad practice. I'd consider jacking from four or six points to lift it enough to get cross timbers or beams under the body, then jack those up (those tall Farm Jacks that jeeps seem to love come to mind). Cross brace so nothing tips! Whatever you do, a spotter for wires, lines, and brackets will always be very nice to have...you'll ALWAYS fail to disconnect something! Sounds like you are really going to do it the right way! Best of luck, and spend a lot of time on every bolt, replace every bushing, etc. on your chassis. Degrease, Grind, sand and paint it to perfection...you'll hate to cover it up! Elbow grease is free!