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Old 01-16-2014, 10:33 AM   #21
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Re: Removing those seats

Quote:
Originally Posted by nat_ster
My fist bus I was so excited I forgot my tools, so I used man power and pulled the bolts right through the floor. Most snapped and shot off in any direction. Some pulled right through the floor, a few I had to later cut the heads with a angle Grinder.

My second bus I used my 3\4 corless Milwaukee impact from underneath. Removed all but about 5 that weren't accessible from underneath . Angle grinder fixed the rest.

Nat
You all had it too easy.

On a Thomas bus the heads of the bolts are recessed in the seat feet as I call them. I could not just cut the head of the bolt off. I had to cut an X in the head from the top and use an air chisel to break the heads off. This was a very long and painful job.

My arms where not long enough to reach the nut under the bus to use my impact wrench to break them loose. If I had a second person, it would have been easier.

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Old 04-13-2015, 05:08 PM   #22
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Old thread, but I thought I would add to it. I just got done pulling all the seats and flooring out. I got my stepson to help me, he went under the bus with an offset 1/2" wrench, and I used a cordless impact driver. We had most of the seats out in about 3 hours. About 5 of the bolts were too rusted so I used a 7" grinder with a metal wheel to cut them out.

For the flooring I unscrewed all the metal trim and then we took a circular saw and set the depth of the blade to just less than the combined thickness of the plywood and rubber floor. We then ran the saw right down the middle of the aisle and cut each side into little 3' sections and tossed them out the back window. Taking the floor out was done in about an hour and a half, excluding removing the metal trim.
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Old 04-22-2015, 12:11 PM   #23
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Very surprised that will all this good advice floating around about the seat removal no one has thrown in some juicy info about the under-seat heater removal.
I used a 4.5" angle grinder w/ grinding wheel and seemed to have no problem at all getting all of the seats out by just grinding the head of the bolt down to the floor and then banging the seat's leg with a rubber mallet until it broke lose. Now the only problem I seem to have is the under-seat heater.
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Old 04-28-2015, 08:29 PM   #24
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On mine I used 1/2 in impact gun had my seats out in less than 45 minutes
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Old 04-28-2015, 09:52 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by allwthrrider View Post
On mine I used 1/2 in impact gun had my seats out in less than 45 minutes
Same here. Didn't even need wrench back-up on the other side for most of them. Thank you Blue Bird for leaving those bolt heads accessible!
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Old 04-29-2015, 12:25 PM   #26
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We used a sawzall....
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Old 04-29-2015, 01:32 PM   #27
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I've been grinding them out; switched from a 4.5 to 7 inch angle grinder (the 4.5 just didn't have the balls for it), and the bot heads get knocked down in a couple of minutes each, then its just knock them through with a punch and hammer
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Old 07-23-2016, 04:05 AM   #28
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It took me 2 days, 5 hours per day. Working alone. First day I took all the bolts off holding the seats to the walls. A few wouldn't come off so I used Milwaukee angle grinder laying on my back...

Second day I ground off the bolt heads on the floor and just yanked the seats out one by one.
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Old 07-23-2016, 10:30 AM   #29
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Yeah, I'm still working on getting my seats out. It's a heck of a job especially in the heat.
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Old 07-25-2016, 01:50 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu & Filo. T View Post
On mine I used 1/2 in impact gun had my seats out in less than 45 minutes
Quote:
Originally Posted by family wagon View Post
Same here. Didn't even need wrench back-up on the other side for most of them. Thank you Blue Bird for leaving those bolt heads accessible!
As did I... I used a Ryobi 18v impact driver and a socket. Had about an 85% success rate the first pass.... second round after the seats were mostly loose I'd just hold the seat forward or backwards as needed to put a little bind on the feet and backed out the rest.

For those not familiar with using an impact driver.. they're great for about any application dealing with screws also.. in or out.... reduce stripping the head immensely. On a side note.. should your project be taking place in your yard and you use this method.. you may want to run a magnet back and forth over the area a few times. Keeps the neighbors from getting excited the next time you cut the grass.
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Old 07-25-2016, 07:56 PM   #31
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3/4 inch electric impact for 75% of the cot through floor bolts with no wrench on bottom. 24% needed wrench on bottom, and 1% needed cutoff wheel because they were above rear axle/torsion bars, exhaust pipe, and air bags.


There were 30 seat belts attached to L brackets & chair rail, so..... 30 nuts & bolts for the ratcheting belt end, 30 nuts & bolts through the floor, and 30 bolts & nuts to the chair rail.

Gonna have a sale on grade 5 nuts & bolts! I've got about 30lbs
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Old 07-25-2016, 11:23 PM   #32
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3 days

3 days with a regular old wrench and a daughter with another wrench. The seats are out. I'm exhausted and i hate green vinyl like its political talk.
I may need therapy but the #^&@(*&@ seats are out.
I would post some pics but the site still wont let me.

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Old 07-26-2016, 08:24 PM   #33
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I'm just starting my conversion but I opted to use a cutting torch with a 00 tip very quick and easy process. I did have a fan behind me for proper ventilation


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Old 07-30-2016, 06:49 PM   #34
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Yup I plan to burn mine off as well. Maybe put a pizza pan under the bracket & over the floor to keep floor from Melting. I'm keeping my floor hopefully but small burn marks won't matter. Helps having machinists for friends
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Old 09-15-2019, 05:33 PM   #35
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After fighting with our bolts for our seats for about 5 hours today and only getting 3 seats mount bolts completely out of the floor, we've decided to meetup with our buddy tomorrow to use an Acetylene torch to burn 'em out. He laughed at me, said he can do the whole thing in about an hour. I'll follow him and punch 'em out after the head is melted off. I'll get back with you guys to let you know how it went! He said ez pz!

We used a band saw and cut the seats out down to the mount plates with the bolts. We were able to use a pneumatic to pull the bolts out of the side mounts, ez. The bus is compeltely wide open with just the plates and bolts in the floor. We'll get those suckers out tomorrow!
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Old 01-04-2020, 03:48 PM   #36
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We had a really hard time removing the seats since ours were really rusted on. We ended up using wrenches, WD40, a Sawzall AND an angle grinder. I just made a post about what methods worked for us here:

https://minibusbigadventure.com/2020...ool-bus-seats/

Hope this helps and good luck!!
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