Removing rub rails?? are they needed??

[ddpartybus]

Hello,

I have a party bus and i am getting ready to re-do the paint as it has lost it's nice black gloss. I am wanting to remove the ribs / rub rails along the bus to leave me more of a clean surface to lay my graphics out on. my thoughts are they are there for EXTRA support and not needed support for the integrity of the bus. I will leave the top rail as it is built with the window rails. I would like to remove the rest or only the 2 that are between the top and bottom leaving me a large area to sand and prep and lay a slick paint job on and then go crazy with the vinyl. Any thoughts>??

[baadpuppy]

Rub rails provide extra protection in the event of scraping and side collisions. It does increase the structural integrity by quite a bit. On the other hand, a school bus is incredibly over engineered. You can remove a TON of the extra structural integrity before being anywhere close to the same safety level as a traditional stick and staple RV.

I personally believe removing the rub rails will be just fine for you. I'm planning to do the same myself.

I'm not an engineer, so take my opinion as worth every penny you paid for it.

hope this helps,
jim

[ddpartybus]

Jim,

that has been my thoughts. When i cut out a panel for access when i installed my onan , I removed the rub rail in that section and found that it came off nicely and as we know the rub rail does add extra support, the panel was still solid as a rock! School buses are a tank! I cant believe why more people don't take the extra effort to remove them. It will be such a clean look and get away from the "school bus" look. Keep me informed and let me know how it works out for you!

thanks for your impute.

Jeff

DDPartyBus.com
"you do the partying, we'll do the driving!"

[fishphart]

Originally Posted by ddpartybus

Hello,

I have a party bus and i am getting ready to re-do the paint as it has lost it's nice black gloss. I am wanting to remove the ribs / rub rails along the bus to leave me more of a clean surface to lay my graphics out on. my thoughts are they are there for EXTRA support and not needed support for the integrity of the bus. I will leave the top rail as it is built with the window rails. I would like to remove the rest or only the 2 that are between the top and bottom leaving me a large area to sand and prep and lay a slick paint job on and then go crazy with the vinyl. Any thoughts>??

YES, they are not rubrails...this is NOT a boat. they are actually Stiffeners and help keep the sides from buckling.
Remove at your peril. especially if any weight on the roof or bouncing down rough road the sides will buckle and look like a washboard....

[wtd]

My bus, a TransitLiner comes from the factory either way.
Oddly this one horse town I live in has both versions. There's a prison at the other end of town that uses a TransitLiner, just like mine for prisoner transport. It doesn't have rub rails.
I looked it over pretty good one day when I found myself fueling on the other side of the same island as the prison bus. All the riveting is the same, just no rub rails.
So I guess it doesn't have anything to do with body strength, maybe just better crash protection.
I left mine, mostly through laziness - it's easier to paint it than to grind off a coupla hundred rivets and then patch a coupla hundred rivet holes. They worked into the paint scheme pretty well and kept it from looking like a huge Tylenol.

[fishphart]

Originally Posted by wtd

My bus, a TransitLiner comes from the factory either way.
Oddly this one horse town I live in has both versions. There's a prison at the other end of town that uses a TransitLiner, just like mine for prisoner transport. It doesn't have rub rails.
I looked it over pretty good one day when I found myself fueling on the other side of the same island as the prison bus. All the riveting is the same, just no rub rails.
So I guess it doesn't have anything to do with body strength, maybe just better crash protection.
I left mine, mostly through laziness - it's easier to paint it than to grind off a coupla hundred rivets and then patch a coupla hundred rivet holes. They worked into the paint scheme pretty well and kept it from looking like a huge Tylenol.

NO "rub-rails" on prison buses. They dont want anyone climbing on or off these vehicles except thru the front door.
Nice smooth sides make it more difficult to ..."Improvise".... an unannounce exit.