3 foot roof raise in Northern Arizona

[zoomy]

Originally Posted by Mash

Good job !!! What made you choose that way to raise the roof as opposed to using a jack like option ??

What I had on hand mostly. Also wanted it under the barn....or partway under as we where headed in to rainny season.

[Mash]

Gotcha. Keem em coming !!! This is EXACTLY what we want to do. Be our guinea pig :P

[zoomy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gETJXkq0BI

reinforcements

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBc6zlIfpFg

Zen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Uxw3D_eH0

Santa's helpers......... the invitation for free labor is still open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Uxw3D_eH0

Triangulation and a bunch of other stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkHP9qJ1ooc

Priming the new metal


IMPORTANT ONE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcdQ0_IrA2M

Exit door bypass....finally


sorry it took so long to upload the videos hopefully it will be easier to keep up on them now.

[jazty]

Great progress!
I'll put a vote in for the main door being installed on the curb-side of the bus. It's no fun to have to walk out into traffic if you're stuck on the side of the road for any reason..

[Tango]

Absolutely on the curb side!

The other is also known as...the Sui-side.

[zoomy]

At this point it is on the curb side but even if the main house door had gone to the sui-side im keeping the factory door in for travel. Ill have a board that will turn the stair well in to level floor and the house door will be for use while stationary. Im even thinking about a deck that will fold up and protect the house door during trave. Thoughts on a deck? Thinking small 5x6 on a hinge either a repurpoesed freeway sign, aluminum bleacher seets side by side, or aluminum industrial grates like they use for stairs at ski resorts to clean off boots befor you get inside (I would want it for the same reason)

[zoomy]

Used the bus screws to screw a tarp to the windshield ledge way better than masking tape to protect the windshield during painting.



Soooooo..... took a hasty measurement and thought i had to skin over my back ambers to put in my arch.


Marking out the plugs from some other bus skin we no longer need



Rough cut with the cut off wheel.


Plug cut and wire wheeled for weld prep


Welded in


Traced the window and cut out a pattern.



Taped up template and used spray paint to trace



The trace. Guess what didnt need to fill the ambers in


We ended up marking and cutting 1.25 inches in from the trace line then making cuts every 3.5-4" so we could use the hand held sheet metal bender to form a window sill. Then we welded them back together and added some 90*bends on the corners



The almost finished product




So for the front raised section i will be geting alot of wind resistance and i dont have a tube bender so this is what I did.


Cut a bunch of slots every 3/8" on 3 sides of the tube for the distance of the radius in this case 3 1/2"-7 5/8"


Bends perfectly


Tacked while in position then fully welded on the ground



All welded in

[Mash]

Job well done !!!

[Tango]

Sweet! Love the new front window.

[zoomy]

Got it for $10 at Habitat for Humanity. I love that store!

[Tango]

And a perfect match to the roof curve. How cool is that!?

[bansil]

Wow, love this build, will that window handle flex?are you going to tint it atleast clear?

[zoomy]

I ran my hand along the top edge and from the middle to the ends thers only about a 1/4" difference. I was so stoked

Originally Posted by bansil

Wow, love this build, will that window handle flex?are you going to tint it atleast clear?

Will the window handle the flex??......ask me again in 1-2 years, un till then here is a hope and a prayer and a butt load of ahesive caulk and screws that it stays in place and dosnt break. The corners kind of pull back so I'm either going to have to put in sothing to take up space or put in 1/2" of caulk. Ill post a pic tomorrow but i want your guys opinion. Tint I'm playing by ear once its done.

[bansil]

even clear tint would contain the glass if it ever broke

[Mash]

Originally Posted by zoomy

I saw on your thread that you want your skoolie to live in while you build. Not sure what the time frame is but doing a roof raise to accommodate a loft will easily double your build time for the skoolie and I don't think you want to have as much time in your bus as your brick and mortar house. If you need a shorter build time but still need room for kids I might recommend a loft over bed like

or and adult bedroom and bunks like the Good News bus

just some food for though. If your going to have a longer time frame a roof raise is a pain in the butt, but rewarding.......at least I hope it will be when its done.

The von Thompson actually raised their bus 27" ....

We are getting closer To.buying our bus so ... we want more updates !!!! This is so interesting.

[zoomy]

Here is another view of the window. You can see on the top 2 corners there is almost a 1/2" gap, entire bottom is flush and top center is flush. What do you guys think, lots of caulk?


Like a box of puzzle pieces


The new skin cut to size and some of the old panels geting sourted out and put in thier area for skinning day(hopefuly thursday or friday)


Cutting a large tractor innertube in to 3/4"strips to dampen vibrations and prevent galvic reaction between the aluminum skin and the steel frame. Did the math and if i put it on all the mating surfaces of steel to aluminume (x2 on hat channel because of the 2 wings) im going to need 1,000 linear feet. The pictured innertube got me a little over 400 feet.

[RHOMBUS]

Hey, zoomy, quick question about welding. Did you disconnect all of the ground cables from the engine and transmission computers or is that a non-issue if the batteries are completely removed? Is there any risk of feedback into those systems when welding on the body and frame?

[Tango]

It is indeed necessary to completely disconnect the battery (hot & ground) before welding anywhere on a unit that has any computers on board. Some may survive, but many critical systems can be instantly fried. Allison, for example, dictates this approach for any vehicle with any of their electronically controlled trannies. They can be zapped in a heartbeat. $$$$$$$

[PigPen]

So just disconnecting the battery is enough?

[Tango]

According to Allison it is. I am an electrical dunce but the problem appears to be associated with current "leaking" into the computer systems via extant connections to the battery. Please...anyone with more electrical savvy than I (which could be anyone)...chime in here. I do know that welding is a common cause of major damage to automotive electronics.