M109a3 van body removal

i just thought id share this...last weekend i set about the task of removing the van body from M109a3 for resto purposes. ill add some pix later when i get home. anyhow, i bought 4 2K lbs heavy duty camper jacks for this that have a 36"-60" lift. they have tripod stands at the bottom with feet for each foot as to not sink. i started by drilling 4 holes in the supports underneath the corners of the body to attach the jack brackets and used grade-8 bolts. once i did that, i removed the mudflaps and pioneer rack. then took to the long arduous process of undoing the frame bolts...by hand. once that was done i positioned the truck where i wanted the box, took off the 4 outers and undid the last 2 frame bolts and jacked the body up. i set the jacks on 2x4's for more footing as i have really soft soil at my house. once the body was aboout 4 inches off the frame i removed the wood slats and drove out from under it. i lowered the jacks as low as they go but kept the body level. it was a little bit of a lengthy process but all in all not to hard. an aircompressor and some impact tools woulda made it alot easier though. the next step is to somehow lower the body down onto a frame of railroad ties so it wont move when i start tearing it apart. the chassis is almost done and is about to get a fresh coat of 383 CARC..gonna look badass...anyhow i didnt have any safety issues while doing this i just wanted to say if you attempt this, please be sure to take precautions. id hate to hear about a box falling on someone or damaging ur MV. lord knows not many ppl can afford extra work on their MVs...i know i cant. if anyones interested in more detail, pm me and ill tell you all about it. thanks for reading

heres a couple pictures of my progress....i was glad that it fit in my garage

Good job. Paint the jacks OD and leave them on.

Nice work! It had never occurred to me you could take off the outers to clear stands under the edges of the box. That has given me a lot to think about. Someday I'd like to rig some sort of cradle that allows me to swap the M109 box with a bed.

Best of luck lining it up when you put the box back on. I'd like to hear how that goes.

Katahdin said:

Nice work! It had never occurred to me you could take off the outers to clear stands under the edges of the box. That has given me a lot to think about. Someday I'd like to rig some sort of cradle that allows me to swap the M109 box with a bed.

Best of luck lining it up when you put the box back on. I'd like to hear how that goes.

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lol you know, i only took the box off so i could work on it seperate from the chassis..but once it was off i actually thought real hard about leaving the jacks on and getting a bed too just so i could have both...but i also thought about some easier method for the frame bolts lol...like some sort of quick disconnect thing...maybe someday

Thank you for taking the time to document this. I am awaiting EUC approval for a well used M109 and was wondering about safe box removal other than a crane.

Where do you get the tall trailer jacks? - a camper sales/supply buisness?

Thanks

Jacks mounted on the 109 box and jacks mounted on a bed. Now you need a quick way to hold them down on the frame and switching will be pretty fast.

x-ray said:

Thank you for taking the time to document this. I am awaiting EUC approval for a well used M109 and was wondering about safe box removal other than a crane.

Where do you get the tall trailer jacks? - a camper sales/supply buisness?

Thanks

Click to expand...

i dont remember exactly what company i got the jacks from. i just googled "camper jacks" and sifted around till i found these. they are classed as heavy duty, as they have a 2 thousand lbs lifting capacity. thats why i got them because i had no idea how much the box weighed. i wasnt sure how to secure them to the box until i got them and had a chance to hold the brackets to the frame. i could look around and see if i have a receipt somewhere or sipping document and could let you know who made them and where i bought them. pm me and ill let you know.

I like what you did very nice.

I would like to pull my bed to some day. Excellent job

heres a link to the jacks i bought:


Tripod Camper Jacks by Rieco-Titan Products


rieco/titan is the manufacturer...cost me bout 600 for the set of 4.