Weak mind..................

[RSRXION]

As most of you know I acquired a couple of parts trucks recently and today I decided to get busy on the 71 Chevy. I was going to put up the small block 400 for future use and I needed some of the a/c parts for my hauler so ...... I decided to take the cab off the chassis to store in my shop. My neighbors are really very tolerant of my old car hobby/habit but I hate to push the envelope. I needed to get this thing disassembled and gone. Now, back to the subject of this thread.

When I first moved the truck into the shop I stood looking it over for a few minutes trying to decide my plan of action. First the front clip , then the engine and trans together as a unit. Easy enough I thought. Nothing that a strong back , a weak mind and a trusty floor jack can't handle. BOY WAS I WRONG !!!! If you ever decide to attempt this feat by yourself call the chiropractor in advance , leave a note for the EMS folks with your blood type and known allergys and GET YOUR WEAK MIND EXAMINED !

The clip came off without much difficulty and the parts I needed were better than I'd hoped. I was tickled. The small block I was hoping would be a 400 turned out to be exactly that. BUT , I should have realized I was in trouble when I realized that this truck had originally been a big block truck and someone had butchered a set of big block mounts to make the small block work. Cutting and welding the mounts looked like heck ! Then I tackled the big job, the cab.

I unbolted the mounts and admired how good the cab looked from underneath. Rockers and cab corners were rotten but much of everything else looked pretty good. The cab has a dented passenger door and my plan was to jack it up on the drivers side and slide it off the chassis to the floor , tilt it up against some tires and roll the chassis out from under it .

I jacked it up, it slid and everything came to a halt. There was no budging it as it came to rest against the right front tire. Somewhere between %$#!(&*^ and *(&^$%^&* I realized this bastard was HEAVY !!! The following 1.5 hours was spent wrestling , jacking and making repeated trips to the shop fridge for a cold beer. Maybe I should have started my day with several beers and I'd have left well enough alone. ( Refer back to the weak mind at this point and insert joke of your choosing. )

At any rate I finally got the darned thing wrestled loose and on the 4 wheel cart for storage and moving ease. The moral of this story is many fold.

First and foremost, THESE THINGS ARE HEAVY ! Especially with all the glass, both doors and a full set of interior seat , door panels , steering column etc... Remove some of this stuff before wrestling.

Second , never hesitate to call a friend over to witness your insanity and explain what happened to the coroner if your brainstorm goes down the crapper.

Third , use an A-frame for cab removal. If you don't have one, borrow one !

Fourth , start the day with a couple of ice cold beers of your choosing. I think I would have scrapped my whole effort if I'd done this first. After all, beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. It would have been a great day to ride the Lazy-Boy and watch the NFL.

I hope that I have in some way brightened your day. More importantly I hope that I have saved you the grief of committing my mistakes.

Well that about sums it up. I'm off to the fridge to finish what I started, Dean