Tall roof raise.... Why?

[BlackJohn]

Sounds like a bowthruster might do the trick easier. No more crosswind problems.


John

[Smokey's pipe dream]

question everything? yes ! there are no coincidences "Q" ! would parralel park like a dream !

[GWRider]

Originally Posted by RoadsideJourney

We raised my bus 24". I wanted at least a 12" raise, to account for 2-3 inches of spray foam & wood in the ceiling and floor, plus some headroom for the tall people in my family. My dad convinced me to go the full 24" so there wouldn't be any waste in the sheet metal.

We are also going to raise the floor 12" and put the 200 gal fresh water tanks and 100 gal grey tanks in the floor storage ("floorage") so it won't freeze.

There are several posts that mentioned raising the roof on a Thomas bus is challenging because the sides are canted about 6 deg. Did you have any issues or is this a myth?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by GWRider

There are several posts that mentioned raising the roof on a Thomas bus is challenging because the sides are canted about 6 deg. Did you have any issues or is this a myth?

Its not a myth. They're sloped 6 degrees inward from the top rub rail up.
It adds a little complexity but can be done. Making it look good is the tricky part. Easiest to cut below the window line.

[GWRider]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its not a myth. They're sloped 6 degrees inward from the top rub rail up.
It adds a little complexity but can be done. Making it look good is the tricky part. Easiest to cut below the window line.

Was that for certain years? The Thomas owners (that I am aware of) which have raised the roof did not mention having issues with this? For example, watch the roof raise you tube video for “The Bus Life”. I believe their bus is an early to mid 2000 something Thomas Saf-T-Liner Bus. The raise to me did not look any different than one on a Bluebird.

[EastCoastCB]

I don't watch much YouTube bus content. All Thomas buses I've seen have had the 6 degree slope.
The roof can still be raised. It just takes more care.

[RoadsideJourney]

Originally Posted by GWRider

There are several posts that mentioned raising the roof on a Thomas bus is challenging because the sides are canted about 6 deg. Did you have any issues or is this a myth?

It was a bit more challenging, but with the help of my mech. engineer brother-in-law, we figured it out. We could have cut below the windows, and that would probably have been a lot easier. I don't remember why we decided against that (it was back in the springtime), but we cut just below the roof, to minimize the slope. We welded in a 1x2 steel tube to the hat channels. We also bolted the tube at the top and bottom as a backup to the welds. To the tube, we welded 1x1 angle iron that we pre-drilled for the rivets. This pretty much mimics the hat channel shape. We didn't add the flanges to the areas that will be cut out for RV Windows.

[GWRider]

Originally Posted by RoadsideJourney

It was a bit more challenging, but with the help of my mech. engineer brother-in-law, we figured it out. We could have cut below the windows, and that would probably have been a lot easier. I don't remember why we decided against that (it was back in the springtime), but we cut just below the roof, to minimize the slope. We welded in a 1x2 steel tube to the hat channels. We also bolted the tube at the top and bottom as a backup to the welds. To the tube, we welded 1x1 angle iron that we pre-drilled for the rivets. This pretty much mimics the hat channel shape. We didn't add the flanges to the areas that will be cut out for RV Windows.

I was looking at "The Bus Life" roof raise on YouTube which they raised theirs 14" and I did not see anything that caused an issue.

[RoadsideJourney]

Originally Posted by GWRider

I was looking at "The Bus Life" roof raise on YouTube which they raised theirs 14" and I did not see anything that caused an issue.

Yes, their roof raise is what inspired me to do mine. He made it looks pretty easy. I think they may be different in style because his is a rear engine, and mine is a front engine.

[GWRider]

Originally Posted by RoadsideJourney

Yes, their roof raise is what inspired me to do mine. He made it looks pretty easy. I think they may be different in style because his is a rear engine, and mine is a front engine.

I don't know if they are different but maybe someone else knows? I would be doing a raise on a 40' rear engine 1998 Thomas Saf-T-Liner. It has the air conditioner on the rear part of the roof so there might be issues there.