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12-05-2016, 09:48 PM
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#1
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Newbies in PA!
So we just flew to Florida and drove home our bus! It was an adventure in itself! Now we are back and just starting to get to work on the conversion.
We brought home a 27 foot 2003 Thomas EF with a 3126 Caterpillar engine and AD 2000 Allison Transmission. Got us the full 1000 miles without any issues to speak of.
We know we are in for a lot of hard work to complete this. It's only day two for us and already we are tired and sore. It will all be worth it in the end!
Right off the bat, with our bus being wheelchair accessible, we've run into issues with removing the track seating rails. If anyone has any ideas or tips for removal please let us know. I've heard of one person that removed them via drilling but apparently we haven't found the right drill bit for the job or something! Tomorrow is another day and we will try again though!
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12-05-2016, 10:37 PM
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#2
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Bus Nut
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Richmond Virginia
Posts: 932
Year: 1984
Engine: 366 Big block Chevy! :) w/ Stick shift
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Welcome, and good luck!
Btw a member here has a sister who went full hulk smash on her seats to remove the stubborn ones. lol I get a kick out of that.
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12-05-2016, 10:55 PM
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#3
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carytowncat
Welcome, and good luck!
Btw a member here has a sister who went full hulk smash on her seats to remove the stubborn ones. lol I get a kick out of that.
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Haha! Sounds like she had some fun doing that! Though for us the seats are t the problem, they came out easy. These are the rails that we are having a time with.
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12-05-2016, 11:18 PM
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#4
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Music City USA
Posts: 737
Year: 2005
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Detroit MBE906
Rated Cap: 72
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Is that bolt heads I spy next to the ends of the rails? Maybe unbolt or cut those and try again.... if that fails I'd be willing to bet they're bolted on from underneath.... I'd get down there and check into that next.
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12-06-2016, 09:31 AM
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#5
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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That bolt you are seeing is what was holding the wood down. These rails have bolts every 4 inches. They are bolted from underneath as you suspected. Unfortunately only half of them you can reach from underneath and the other half are stripped. Luckily I found a video a guy made on here that explains the drill bit he used to just drill them out from the inside! So that's our next step!
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12-08-2016, 03:48 PM
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#6
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Utah
Posts: 266
Year: 1990
Coachwork: BB
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: Cummins
Rated Cap: 25.999K
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drillbits
Most drillbits that you can buy at an average hardware store are absolute junk, the bolts will kill them quickly. The best way to get them is with a carbide center-drill, then use a carbide ball-endmill to drill down into the bolt shank. Carbide stuff is expensive, if you know of any machine shops, they might give you some old ones. To do this with some home-depot Cobalt thing is going to make a long day unless you are only talking a few bolts.... Good luck, and welcome to the coolest site on the web!
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12-08-2016, 08:26 PM
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#7
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Pensacola and Crystal River, FL
Posts: 647
Year: 1998
Coachwork: AmTran International
Chassis: 3800
Engine: Navistar 7.6L
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If those rails are installed like mine...they are flat head allen bolts.
Hard as diamonds and drill bits do not like cutting into them.
The hex key hole tends to break the edge off of the drill bit really easily.
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12-08-2016, 08:36 PM
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#8
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SDR76
Most drillbits that you can buy at an average hardware store are absolute junk, the bolts will kill them quickly. The best way to get them is with a carbide center-drill, then use a carbide ball-endmill to drill down into the bolt shank. Carbide stuff is expensive, if you know of any machine shops, they might give you some old ones. To do this with some home-depot Cobalt thing is going to make a long day unless you are only talking a few bolts.... Good luck, and welcome to the coolest site on the web!
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Thanks so much for the info! We will try out what you mentioned and see what happens!
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12-08-2016, 08:37 PM
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#9
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleO7
If those rails are installed like mine...they are flat head allen bolts.
Hard as diamonds and drill bits do not like cutting into them.
The hex key hole tends to break the edge off of the drill bit really easily.
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Yeah we've been breaking almost everything we try. Did you eventually get yours out? If so what worked for you?
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12-09-2016, 11:59 AM
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#10
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Skoolie
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 164
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when things get tough a gas wrench, sometimes called a hot wrench, can work wonders.
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12-12-2016, 08:37 AM
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#11
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Pensacola and Crystal River, FL
Posts: 647
Year: 1998
Coachwork: AmTran International
Chassis: 3800
Engine: Navistar 7.6L
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasquatters
Yeah we've been breaking almost everything we try. Did you eventually get yours out? If so what worked for you?
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Mine are staying in because they are great for securing cargo like having e-tracks.
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12-12-2016, 09:15 AM
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#12
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleO7
Mine are staying in because they are great for securing cargo like having e-tracks.
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They are also good for transferring cold air from under the bus into the floor. If you want to use them put them in your sub floor.
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12-12-2016, 10:12 AM
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#13
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Pensacola and Crystal River, FL
Posts: 647
Year: 1998
Coachwork: AmTran International
Chassis: 3800
Engine: Navistar 7.6L
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasquatters
They are also good for transferring cold air from under the bus into the floor. If you want to use them put them in your sub floor.
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Yes, but not going to be living in it.
Did you happen to get your Thomas at auction from Escambia County Schools?
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12-12-2016, 10:17 AM
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#14
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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No. The bus came out of a VA school district.
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12-12-2016, 01:35 PM
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#15
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,845
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
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I wish my bus had seats like that... you could keep the rails and then use the seat frames to build stuff out of in a modular fashion that could be removeable!!
-Christopher
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12-12-2016, 01:43 PM
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#16
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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You have to put a sub floor down. The rails could be used on top of the sub floor but the bus is only 27' so we won't have space to move things around. That would work in a 40' bus I suppose.
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12-17-2016, 01:55 AM
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#17
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 13
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just bought a '99 Thomas EF 5.9 / 545 in Portland that I think will have the same issue... following...
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12-17-2016, 09:38 AM
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#18
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 261
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas EF
Engine: Cat 3126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBuffalo
just bought a '99 Thomas EF 5.9 / 545 in Portland that I think will have the same issue... following...
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I am getting some heavy drilling equipment on the 24th. We got a lot of the bolts out, but there are more in than out since the underside of the bus covers the majority of them. Either way it will be nice (hopefully) to have to drill out less that all of them.
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01-27-2017, 08:06 AM
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#20
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Essex, MD
Posts: 3,738
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: Blue Bird TC RE 3904, Flat Nose, 40', 277" wh base
Engine: 8.3L Cummins ISC 260hp, MT643, 4.44 rear
Rated Cap: 84 pax or 1 RV; 33,000lbs
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Congrats!! Where at in PA? The gf is in Elizabethtown outside of Harrisburg. Went to a bus dealer in Duncannon. Found a nice low mileage bus but it's a rust bucket.
Pictures? Where are the pictures? In case you aren't forum savvy, you can add pictures by....
[img]web address[/img]
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