Benny and Marissa's Bus

[Benny]

So we've been working on floorplan, motorhome design theory and acquiring conversion related items. I want to get the ceiling insulated and paneled. So, we dropped all of the factory lights and thought about where we wanted lights placed. Some lights will stay in there locations, some will end up on the sides as sconces and some may be omitted. I picked up some yellow and brown wire out of our salvage electrical area from work (family building supply salvage biz).
All the lights will be consistent then with brown as ground and yellow as hot. The red insulators are really nice silicon, so I saved them for future use. I'll sell the lights at work and the only thing I'll throw in scrap copper are the splices and a few inches of wire. We've picked up a lot of great RV stuff in the last week by trading and asking about a "boneyard" at the RV place next door to Uncle Benny's(My work/ family business).

[Benny]

This is over the driver.

[browncrown]

Looks like you're moving right along

[Benny]

Worked on the wheel wells! The PO had already gutted the cabin for us and cut out the arches! I was concerned about wheel travel at first, but I measured it and found enough room for maximum wheel travel. It should be fine unless we catch air! In the pics you'll see a sanded, applied rust converter, painted, welded, painted, caulked(with permathane) and rubberized the underside. I was concerned about water leaking in under the floor while driving through heavily wet conditions for long periods.

The metal is 14 gauge, from Craigslist! Came pre-primed 3'x4' $22/sheet. Permathane caulk from Uncle Benny's, it was starting to harden so two of the tubes I had to cut open and use a putty knife to apply. Spray paint and rubberized aerosol from my garage stock of "stuff".

[Benny]

Two tubes of permathane adhesive caulk per wheel well. I plan on spray foaming the cavity between the outside body and the new inside section I welded in for insulation and to eliminate that area filling up with mud and junk.

[Tango]

Hmmmm...If I'm seeing this right, your wheel well/cover is now flush with the floor and only a couple of inches above the tops of the wheels? I have yet to see a bus that did not allow for a great deal more wheel travel. Like eight to ten inches. Might want to check the specs on wheel travel for your unit before going too far. My previous bus (BB All American) had about ten inches of clearance and my '46 chevy has nine above the floor with the tires maybe two below that. Just sayin.

[Stuff]

ya im seeing floor being torn apart...

[ol trunt]

Good obs Tango. I once built a trailer which I hauled from North Carolina to Calif that didn't have enough wheel clwarance and had it not rained the whole way the entire triler would have burned up. As it was, the bed frame which rested on the trunkated wheel wells had been turned to char by the frictional heat of the tires rubbing on the inner fender

It should be simple enough to check for proper clearance by measuring the distance between the axle and the bumper stops above the axle as a good guestimate. if you then mock up the rear axle and tire height and tire width and apply this measured distance you will know if you have enough clearance. Remember that when you go up an aprin (like at a gas station) one wheel pair will go up while the other will go down. The result of this is that the outter of the raised tires will be even higher than the distance of travel you measured. A little monkeying around with your mock up will give you a complete picture of just how much clearance you have/need

[chev49]

if the bus pictured has air bag suspension, and it is down, then the flat wheel well thing would probably work.. that's my guess. mine raises up about 4-5 inches.

i dont worry about trailer tires rubbing on the wheel wells anymore. I discovered almost 10 yrs ago that by using radial tires, one can just weld the axle solid in the frame with no suspension required. it works great esp with cars with suspension systems. is way more bumpy if i am hauling lumber or something like that.

[Tango]

I think it's safe to say that all of us would love to have a flat floor and recover that space. It's also safe to say that the manufacturers engineers left the proper amount of minimum clearance for good reason. As noted by ol Trunt...the axle can indeed move as much as whatever the clearance is between the axle and stops. Check the specs. I'd hate to see a lot of hard work put into building on top of them get eaten by the first big pothole.

[lornaschinske]

Can you say .... FLAT TIRE?

I know what it looked like when my jeep slung a tire while David was dragging it down the road (I was behind him watching my Jeep fall to pieces!!! My poor baby!!! I could hear the tire beating the fenders). I have been beside (and very quickly not) when semi trailers with no wheel wells had tires come apart on them. I had a rear tire on the Class C come apart and it beat the wheel well so hard to came apart at one end and rendered the furnace inoperable (beat all the rust loose so easy fix once we figured it out). I think you made a mistake. Not only is the space there for wheel travel but to contain a blow out while traveling down the road.

Floor Layouts: You put things like closets, cabinets and seats over your wheel wells. Then you set your plumbing in place so that the toilet has a straight (or almost straight) drop if using an RV/marine style toilet. THEN you put the rest of the stuff in starting with your most needed (bedding) and working your way up to the least needed (in case you can't fit it in).ALLOW THE ABILITY TO REMOVE LARGE APPLIANCES THAT WILL NOT MAKE IT THRU THE FRONT DOOR!!! Other wise, you pop out your front windshield. It is doable to fit everything around the wheel wells. I have my LP gas dryer planned to sit on top of one of my rear wheel wells (pass side) with the computer planed for next to it (towards rear). Washer sits on the floor towards the front of the dryer. Part of our closet space is over the other wheel well. The water closet (toilet) sits in front of the wheel well (towards driver with the sink being the closest thing to the wheel well in case of blow out). Our bed (removable to allow appliances in/out) covers the rear exit door. We did keep the emergency access windows in the bedroom. We actually put the toilet $& shower in place first. Then shifted the shower after I discovered I could fit a full size washer and a gas dryer in by moving a few things. The front wheel wells have my chair and an small rock maple end table bolted to the top of the boxed in wheel well behind the driver seat. Opposite next to the entry, we boxed that one in as well and installed my cut down Craftsman mantle with the TV installed in it. An electric heater will go in the fireplace (looks like a wood stove but plastic and light weight). I even have room for the old rocking chair (will have to trim the rockers down a few inches). We have a 40 ft bus so we has a good amount of room. But our method of layout is how to layout any bus (or house) You have to work around the structural and non movable elements. Figure out what can go in/around/over the problem areas. Get your plumbing stuff placed. Then you put in your must haves. Then your "wanna's". I WANTED to install my 30" house range and the 43" wide triple bowl Kohler sink (enameled cast iron... it weighs a ton) and we NEEDED the full sized freezer. As it is my kitchen (double sided galley) has about 99" runs on each side. We have no dinette because we find it a waste of space for us. You only have some much space to squeeze in what you need and want. Some of your wants may not make it in.

[Benny]

Ok, I heard all of your comments about the tire clearance. I fully understand axle articulation, bump stops, my 18 ton load rating and your concerns about all of it. Like I said in my post I WAS concerned also BEFORE I purchased the bus. The previous owner cut out the wells. I was talking with him trying to reason why there was so much space between the tires and wells when there was only 1 7/8" of space between the axle and the bump stop. We came to the conclusion that it must be for tire chains and chassis/ tire variations. It is leaf spring suspension and I am really amazed that it only has 2" of wheel travel. Down the road I may bag it for the ride. So it'll only get higher. I wouldn't want it to ride any lower it sits a bit low for my comfort. So, to settle this once and for all. In the event that a cumulative force of several tons bottoms out the suspension you and I can all be rest assured my tire won't blow through the floor because there is more room between the top of my tire and the bottom of my floor than there is between my bump stop and the top of my leaf springs. Whew.
The only thing I would be concerned about is a large animal or ? getting rammed up in there after running it over, but I'll take my chances on that one. I also don't plan on using chains, if the weather is that bad we'll be camping out or hopefully already where we want to go. I'll also ad that it has been driven around 100 miles on the highway without any rubbing (of course that is unloaded, but we're not even going to put a dent in it's capacity.)

Oh, I do appreciate constructive suggestions, so thanks for reading. Thanks for the positive comments and suggestions.

[Benny]

You guys got me thinking about it so much I went out and measured again. The bus isn't sitting on level ground. The rear side that is being compressed slightly has a bit more than 2" between the tire and lowest point. The bump stop has 1 1/2" of space to the leaves. So that allows for some axle articulation or bump stop compression. One of the front wheels has 4" of space between the tire and floor and 1" to the bump stop. The other wheel in the front had 3" between the tire and floor with less than 1/2" of travel to the bump stop. The front bumps are longer, softer and allow for more travel. The rear stops are rock hard rubber. I noticed some brand new school buses in Denver last week that had flattened wheel arches on the outside and when I looked closer under the arches they had much smaller wheel wells. Seems like they are styled similar to a downtown bus with angular-flat-topped wheel arches.

[bansil]

first off,pics of you "flex'n" the bus out(4x4..joke )

Next if an animal got wedged while driving......what would be left would be like jerky or bbq w/o sauce.....good thinking outside the box for basic survivor technics

[Benny]

Thanks Bansil.... Now that you mention it, I am tempted to run my corners up some ramps just to laugh at my articulation measured in inches!

[atcc77]

Benny, I think your on to something, been thinking of encroaching on my wheel wells also. There's 10" of clearance minimum above the tire, and 11.5" front/rear of well, there's 5" between axle and frame. Sure could use some more real estate inside for a 32" shower instead of a 24"(I'm 6'4"), elbow room means alot, and besides, when that back tire needs to move more than 4.5", I'll have bigger problems to deal with. Please post more on this, would like to know how it works out.

[Benny]

allen- thanks, will do. I probably wouldn't have messed with it if it wasn't already done, but I am really happy to have a flat floor and space. The further toward center your bump stops are the greater the wheel travel ratio will be... so, an inch on the bump stop doesn't necessarily equal an inch at the tire. The front axle has the ... BS more toward the center of the axle, while the rear BS are closer to the leaves on the outside of the axle.

[chev49]

i will go check mine now. i almost made flat wheel arch areas on mine because i realized it was extra high for the chains. i have air bag suspension, will be interesting to see how much travel i have before the stops..
i dont ever plan on running with chains.. had to chain up too many times while truck driving, and hate getting them out in the blowing snow, loosing the chain hook in the snow... if its bad road conditions im gonna park....

[Benny]

Yeah, in my bay window(VW Westfalia) with studded snows, we'd blaze through any blizzard at 55mph with no problems. Not worth it in the bus. We'll park it and camp comfortably without chains. I've had plenty of adventures .

[MikeyBskunk]

All i can say is that it is the first time i have seen someone do that on this website. And it shure is a creative idea