Sometimes if you have an adjustment you can back off the adjustment and bring the shoes closer together. Most of the time the drums will have an edge on them from wear, that catches the edges of the brake shoes and hang up severely.

The lift arm I built for the shop crane worked like magic. After much thought and studying the car body as well as seeing others lift their bodys without bracing, tested checked measurements and tested the lift process, just to make sure it could be done without using the bracing I normally do. This particular body I guesstimated to be 700-800 lbs as is in the pictures.

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It's been a few weeks since I really got any time to work on this project with all the other work coming in the door, but I did have time to strip the outside as seen on the roof above, and put a coat of captain Lee's metal conditioner on it so it doesn't flash rust on me. Here is the results of that process on the tub.

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Here is mine

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That picture is a woodward fab. or HF bead roller. These work so-so as is, but with a little modification can be much better. The first thing is that there is to much flex in the plate steel under pressure. I welded square tubbing to mine to stiffen it up and works much better. I also made a tipping wheel for mine and as Ross said get rid of the crank handle and put a steering wheel on it. I used a steering wheel of of an old cub cadet and works well. The problem with the crank is, that if you end your bead, flange or whatever with the crank handle in the upright possition, the weight of it wants to bring it down to the 6 o'clock position with gravity, and makes it hard to control with only one person on some parts your trying to make. All in all, this tool is a must have in my shop.

Hey, your moving along on this project! Is your inner body bolts phillips? When I first noticed Henry's were, I got the PB Blaster on them for a week or so, every one came out without to much trouble.
How many hours do you think you have into the disassembly process so far?

Either the front corner or the rear where it would rest on the cowl.

Ken, believe it or not neither methods. We have used lots of PB Blaster and very few bolts or screws didn't come out with to much of a problem. We did break a few though. The door bolts were though because of them being a #3 phillips head, but I got them all out.

I've been waiting for a body cart to show up that I ordered, but in the meantime, I fabricated an adjustable lift arm for the shop crane to hopefully lift the body after it is braced. If this doesn't work, we'll have to use the backhoe I guess. When these cars were built at the factory they used straps through the door openings from what I was told, so I hope this works.
They do make arms similar to this, but I made mine stronger and cost 1/4 of thier price

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After

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