Body turn/roll

[zeroaxe]

So to you out there that have done it before... I need advice. How would one go about turning/rolling a Beetle body that has been stripped clean and taken off the chassis? I have seen a few pics on the net of a Beetle 'on it's head' on those workhorse thingys, but how did they go about it? Bear in mind that I dont have an army to my disposal to help, it would probably only be me and one other person...

Thanks in advance!

[yetibone]

I'd seen this done most often with two engine stands, and pine 2"x8"s, or two engine stands and some fab work using 1" square pipe.

We set up a rotisserie to work on a friends race car this way (with the 2"x8"s) and it worked Ok, but wasn't what I'd call a sturdy structure. It did keep the uni-body off the ground, and with 4 people, we could flip the body upside down.

Attachment points on a Beetle would be the issue though. Maybe with a 16 foot joint of schedule 40 pipe passing through the windshield opening, back through the rear window opening, and braced into place with some 2"x4" truss work in both the front, and rear window openings, and an engine stand on both ends would be suitable. I'd never tried it like that, but that's 'bout the best home-grown VW rotisserie aparatus I can visualize.

[wrenchnride247]

Here's one type of "rotisserie" for car's (I know Zero it's me again ) I'm building one in the next few month's starting with two engine stands (body is on "saw horses" right now) will look like the one in this link.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.net/p-11...otisserie.aspx

Another I've seen (no link's or pic's) is a type that is two "hoops" that fit around the car, and basically make it into a giant hamster wheel. I'll see if I can find some pic's. I think I saw a pic of one on here last year sometime.

[zeroaxe]

Well, I got a dolly similar to this one

I use it for the chassis. When I first made it and got the chassis up there, the steel plate I used squealed under the weight of the chassis as soon as I turned it upside down. So after some extra bracing in place, it doesnt bend as much as before. Although it works for the chassis now, it wont work straight 'out of the box' with a body. The body will hit the upright posts like the pic above. I need it to go the full 180°.

wrenchnride247, although those hoops(I ahve seen them before too, and they seem great) will work, I dont have the space to roll the body over. Plus, it is not as 'portable' as a dolly, unless you somehow rig some wheels to it to push it around once it is rolled over.

yetibone, I am with you on this one. The only way to safely turn the body over without ripping the dolly supports(that attaches to the body) or mounting points on the body itself, is to rig up some extra bracing through the body itself, and then some triangulation on the dolly supports to spread the load. Thing is, this needs carefull planning, as the triangulation braces might hit the ground or the horisontal bar between the legs



Hmmmmm......

[wrenchnride247]

You got the right idea Zero :agree: . Another thing to think about is the center of gravity for the body. What I mean is, the balance point for the body when you "flip" the body around to get to the bottom. So the body doesn't "flip" to fast and uncontrollable, and cause body flex also. The point where the rotisserie pivots, needs to be as close to the center of gravity of the body as possible. Hope this makes sense (I'm confused now )

[zeroaxe]

I agree, but I think if you want to get to the lateral(?) or horizontal line through the body where it will turn only on 'demand', you will have to go through panels. if you put a horizontal bar through the windows, the bottom would be too heavy compared to the top. The way I see it is the only way to turn the body safely beyond the point where it 'falls over' in the direction of the turning, will have to be some kind of braking/friction system.... Am I close?