This part of the process took much longer than anticipated. There were so many rivets holding this thing together it was ridiculous. I lost count of the broken drill bits.
I made the decision to get the shell off mainly to be able to really check the frame. As I began removing the belly pan it became more evident that the frame was in worse shape than I originally thought.
I made a simple pair of gantries to lift the shell off of the frame. This was a good idea and worked well. I can’t take credit for it. I saw other Airstream rebuilders do the same thing and it seemed easier than bracing everything up and lifting the shell with jacks.
Once the shell was cleared from the frame I pulled the frame out from under it with my truck.
This whole process took three weekends to accomplish. I am glad that I did it.
Scott's Stuff 