Roof raise sheet metal?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by DeMac

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That's how ECCB found me. GAVE me several precut patches for the hatches, strobe, vent, & eight warning light deletes. All that, from filling out my profile. Good people found me.

(*Thanks again, Charlie!)

No problem, man!
Let me know if you need anything else I can always try to get it cut. My step dad isn't going to be working there a lot longer.
Thinking I need to hold on to my 6 sheets of 18ga 4x10's. The top sheets have rust/scale but compared to todays prices I don't think I could afford to buy it again.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i know a beach is a beach?
yall could always get together and head towards NC.
i have access to a full sheetmetal shop that buys the metal in 1000' rolls for there autoformer duct machine.
we could roll off a full 5' wide buy whatever long sheet as needed.
and if planned might be able to meet in the middle and transfer.
weight isnt that big of a deal for a 40' piece because i can roll it up and make it roll from trailer to trailer or truck to truck.
prices will be buy guage and length for that.
everything i use so far is out of our scrap bin so dont even ask for that and i can grab it before it goes to the big dumpster.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

No problem, man!
Let me know if you need anything else I can always try to get it cut. My step dad isn't going to be working there a lot longer.
Thinking I need to hold on to my 6 sheets of 18ga 4x10's. The top sheets have rust/scale but compared to todays prices I don't think I could afford to buy it again.

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5x10 cut sheet = retail rate + freight/packing. $$$

You should hold on to it, to install it. On yours or for profit.

That material would will harvest more income, if installed by you, as part of a raise. Your labor, plus your material adds huge value. You even have rivets and a reputation.

Are you currently accepting offers?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by DeMac

-----------------
5x10 cut sheet = retail rate + freight/packing. $$$

You should hold on to it, to install it. On yours or for profit.

That material would will harvest more income, if installed by you, as part of a raise. Your labor, plus your material adds huge value. You even have rivets and a reputation.

Are you currently accepting offers?

I lost my welder friend. I can do the non-aesthetic welds but the dainty stuff like a transition I needed Eddie. The friend who died of cancer. I couldn't even finish the raise we started once he died.
I'd help a friend do a raise but I wouldn't take money for one until I had another one under my belt.
I've thought about buying a cheap auction bus and raising the roof to sell. But my bus playing money is all gone these days. My bus(es) are in hibernation until some jobs I've got coming up.
If you were down to help I'd probably take on a roof raise. Your skills would definitely boost my confidence.

[DeMac]

I'm into it.

[Veloc]

Eventually, when I get a bus and do a raise, I was considering picking up a 48/53ft tractor trailer. The ones that are worn out and have some damage go for next to nothing, and they are covered in large sheets of metal pre-drilled for rivets. Harvest what I need for the bus, scrap out the rest. There's one for sale not far from me for 1500 bucks, and it's 53ft long. It has some wall damage, and the floor's basically rotten wood, but there's plenty enough that isn't damaged to do a 40ft bus and there's no real market for them because nobody is going to buy one if they don't own a big rig.

I've even played with the idea of ditching the bus body altogether and set a semi trailer body on, but I've got to get in and around both with a tape measure before deciding anything like that would be feasable. But, it would get me a squared off roof as high as I want, with no ribs cut in the middle. From what I've seen in pictures, the semi trailers and bus bodies are assembled in the same manner, and are about the same width, so it might be doable.

Just a thought.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

trailers do not hold up in an accident like bus bodies.
they usually collapse on there self in a roll over.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Veloc

From what I've seen in pictures, the semi trailers and bus bodies are assembled in the same manner.

I don't think they're constructed in anything like the same manner. Here are some videos showing how bus bodies are typically built:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBcU..._channel=ICBus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxZB..._channel=ICBus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wx1...irdCorporation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNnq...rStateMagazine

The keys to school bus body strength are the ribs formed from single bent pieces of steel hat channel (so no welded or bolted corners which are weak points), the chair rail structure that attaches the ribs to the floor and helps provide strong resistance to side impacts, and the "rub rails" on the outside that tie the ribs together and help spread out the energy of an impact over a wider area. Semi trailers have none of this, which is why they're like a mobile home in a tornado in an accident.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by DeMac

I'm into it.

I'd at least have a waiver/disclaimer like "for offroad/agricultural use only". CYA type thing.
Unless its someone I know and trust.

[Veloc]

Mind you, it was just pictures, but it looked like both were constructed with metal loops with walls attached. If you guys say they're not the same and the trailer is nowhere near as safe, that's good enough for me. That being said, anyone know if the exterior metal on a trailer could be used to re-side a bus? Might be a money and time saver if it can.

[RamRod4]

Originally Posted by Veloc

Mind you, it was just pictures, but it looked like both were constructed with metal loops with walls attached. If you guys say they're not the same and the trailer is nowhere near as safe, that's good enough for me. That being said, anyone know if the exterior metal on a trailer could be used to re-side a bus? Might be a money and time saver if it can.

Ive worked on and sold many trailers. Buses are definitely built heavier/sturdier without a doubt. On principal alone, buses carry passengers while trailers do not.

Trailers also use aluminum skins a lot of times. I wouldnt skin your bus in aluminum from the cost standpoint, but also because its way less rigid than steel and will oilcan worse most likely.

[Veloc]

Originally Posted by RamRod4

Ive worked on and sold many trailers. Buses are definitely built heavier/sturdier without a doubt. On principal alone, buses carry passengers while trailers do not.

Trailers also use aluminum skins a lot of times. I wouldnt skin your bus in aluminum from the cost standpoint, but also because its way less rigid than steel and will oilcan worse most likely.

I have a lot of great ideas that sadly do not survive the reality test. Can the trailer skin idea. Appreciate it.

[Anon Ent Titty]

Originally Posted by fo4imtippin

I just bought a 5x10 of 18g galvannealed for $225.
For reference, 18 Cold rolled 4x10 is $216.
16g Hot Rolled 4x10 is $156
11g Hot Rolled 4x8 is $226


This is from the lowest steel supply in town. My quotes at Alro and Metal Supermarkets were about 50% to double.. But they are great for partial lengths of material.

Yikes! I've been pricing out galvanneal in SoCal. Definitely got quoted prices like that (and much higher) from a few places, but eventually sucked it up and drove 2.5 hours one way this past week to Temecula to pick up from a shop that would order from a manufacturer for me. Got 16 guage sheets cut at 28" x 120" for $180/sheet. (ordered 6 of them for reskinning after my raise)

A lot of places said our order was too small, and a suprising number of sheet metal shops had never heard of galvanneal.

I know prices fluctuate over time, but I think region-specific metal sourcing deserves a sticky of it's own.

The cheapest place I found was a site called onlinemetals.com. I ordered the 16 guage A60 galvanneal from them for $104.77 after an online coupon I found with a quick google search. Retail price was $123.26 for the above mentioned pre-cut size. Unfortunately they sent my order to somebody in Connecticut. I'm in California. I got a notification saying my order was delivered, went outside and it certainly was NOT. They assured me that kind of thing never happens, and they tried to re-order it but didn't have any in the warehouse, so their lead time was a bit too slow for my timeline. Moral of the story, I'd order from them again simply for their prices, but got effed by some random system error. They use R&L shipping for $250 if you're not located near one of their warehouses.

[TaliaDPerkins]

A quick reality check, for a nominal 18" roof raise, a 24" wide piece of steel can be riveted in just fine, and will likely need the width trimmed a bit along it's length, correct?

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by TaliaDPerkins

A quick reality check, for a nominal 18" roof raise, a 24" wide piece of steel can be riveted in just fine, and will likely need the width trimmed a bit along it's length, correct?

Depends on how it was cut. Keeping windows and raising from a cut under your windows? Possibly, Bumpers are 3-5 inches on average, so you got 6 inches of steel past your 18 inches, cut that in half, 3 inches to fold under two bumpers.

If not keeping windows, and raising 18 inches, you need 18 + window height. Your windows are how tall? + 18 inches just to cover the gap, and that provides no overlap. 24 inches of steel won't be enough if not keeping the windows with an 18 inch raise.

[TaliaDPerkins]

Ah. I was intentionally neglecting widow height, because I can measure that. It's width of the strip inside the wall above and below the windows I've not measured yet. So, ? + window + 18" + ?. I'm pretty sure that width is less than 3", but not by a lot.

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by TaliaDPerkins

Ah. I was intentionally neglecting widow height, because I can measure that. It's width of the strip inside the wall above and below the windows I've not measured yet. So, ? + window + 18" + ?. I'm pretty sure that width is less than 3", but not by a lot.

Yeah so with Window deletes, it's 18" + 3" for hiding under bumper + Window Height in inches.

[TaliaDPerkins]

. . . You !