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Old 04-12-2019, 09:44 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by inhof009 View Post
I've not yet decided on the exacts, but we plan to completely rip out all of our windows, raise the roof, and put in new windows. I measured, and the gap right now from the rub rail below the windows to the roof, including space to place rivets, is about 2'. We're considering either 1' or 2' raise, so that we can simply buy 3'x10' or 4'x10' and not have to worry about cutting.

Of course, this is all dependent on what we find from the interior demo this weekend, so we'll see what we decide!

Are you looking to obtain windows? As in, you would want mine after we remove them?
Yeah, I would want your old ones (at least the four emergency exit variety and a couple of normal ones for spares - I've already sort of mangled one of mine removing it twice). I'm happy to come down and work on your bus in exchange for them, in fact I've been trying to locate local skoolie projects to help out on with not much luck.

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Old 04-12-2019, 09:53 AM   #42
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Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
Yeah, I would want your old ones (at least the four emergency exit variety and a couple of normal ones for spares - I've already sort of mangled one of mine removing it twice). I'm happy to come down and work on your bus in exchange for them, in fact I've been trying to locate local skoolie projects to help out on with not much luck.
We're going to need a lot of hands for raising the roof, looking at next weekend, so you're more than welcome to come down, help raise the roof, and leave with as many of the windows as you want. I'll know more about our schedule after this weekend and PM you to work out a plan.
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Old 04-12-2019, 11:29 AM   #43
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...... it started raining on the inside of the windshield. Directly in my face. That was a problem, and we will definitely need to fix that in the future.
What was the reason for the water leak? Rust, panel seam, window seal?
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Old 04-12-2019, 11:35 AM   #44
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What was the reason for the water leak? Rust, panel seam, window seal?
dgorila1,

That is a VERY good question. I don't know where the leak is at this time. I'm hoping that when I pull off the interior I'll see something obvious, but if I don't see a big hole I'm not sure what I'll do. Maybe spray it with the hose to try to get something or go for broke and seal the entire windshield with some 3M Dynatron 550? Seems to come highly recommended around here.
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Old 04-12-2019, 01:59 PM   #45
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Originally Posted by inhof009 View Post
We're going to need a lot of hands for raising the roof, looking at next weekend, so you're more than welcome to come down, help raise the roof, and leave with as many of the windows as you want. I'll know more about our schedule after this weekend and PM you to work out a plan.
I might have a work gig over next weekend, but if not I will definitely come down and help. I have a bunch of tools and a MIG welder I can bring. I may come even with the work gig, since that's the same distance from you as Philly is, and I'd really love to participate in a roof raise.

This is kind of like an Amish barn-raising, I think.
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Old 04-13-2019, 05:06 PM   #46
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Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
I might have a work gig over next weekend, but if not I will definitely come down and help. I have a bunch of tools and a MIG welder I can bring. I may come even with the work gig, since that's the same distance from you as Philly is, and I'd really love to participate in a roof raise.

This is kind of like an Amish barn-raising, I think.
Basically an Amish barn raise, yeah. Just get a bunch of hands together, raise it up, run around and quickly secure the supports, then everyone exhales collectively.

Looks like it's not going to be next weekend. I was hoping to complete the interior demo this weekend and have the local metal shop manufacture pieces for me, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it'll probably be delayed another week.

More in-depth post coming with today's update.
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Old 04-13-2019, 05:29 PM   #47
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So, today was a BAD day. I made a VERY BIG mistake. Looks like it's not going to be costly, but it was a lot of hours, hard labor, and mental strife.

Start with yesterday, it went well. I got the rear heater out, looped back some pipe to keep it clean, and turned off the coolant lines. I won't be using the heaters any time soon, and I have big plans for the existing lines. Removing the metal covering on the lines wasn't easy, but some "proper application of leverage" did the trick well on the stubborn screws.
Metal covering off, front:

And back:

Completely removed:

Setup for now, should just keep the lines clean, won't actually run coolant through:


Like a poop sandwich, I'll put the bad news in between good news.

Good news: I have a VERY in-depth understanding of my backyard now. Every time it rains, it's a swamp.
Bad news: I seriously messed up my back yard and got the bus stuck for about 2 hours.
Good news: Bus is safely parked in my driveway.

Today started out well, a bit of rain, but we were in the DMV getting plates! I now have a registered private bus. When we got home, a neighbor told my wife about a sale on peppers and tomatoes at Lowe's, so I figured let's take the bus for a spin to run it a bit and grab some supplies to improve the backyard parking while we're there.

Soon as I backed it off of the pallets, the front left tire sunk. Up to the lug nuts deep. There was a root in front and a pile of mud in back. I tried to move it, put some boards under, dig it out, etc. without success. Just spun my rear tires. Without the weight of the seats, I had no traction in the muddy yard.

So we grabbed our little Ford Escape, put it in the driveway, and attached a tow cable. We were able to get the front tire out of its hole, and detached the Ford. Only to find that the front tire was in ANOTHER hole. Actually, while in this hole I had one set of rear tires completely on plywood, but due to the lack of weight and amount of mud on it, the tires just spun on the plywood. So we pulled the bus completely onto the driveway with the Ford. Here's the damage:



Edit: I counted all of the nails in the pallets, no worries about any being in my tires, so thank God for that.

It's bad, and may take some true landscaping to make it good again. Tomorrow we will re-evaluate and see if we can put it back. I've got some gravel to put down and a bunch of 2x10x16s to walk each wheel back and keep us from running into the same problem:


I did a bit of work this afternoon-evening to pull up the puke mat and see what we're working with underneath. I got about half of it up with my neighbor's nicely loaned pry bar (found mine while digging out the wheels, surprisingly enough, but his is better). The front plywood looks good:

But the stuff around the wheels is pretty rotted. No surprises there, though, as it's usually the worst there. We actually do have a hole in our floor used to access the fuel tank, so that'll help if/when we install a coolant heater! More pics to come tomorrow on what I've removed as I'm tired and my back hurts so I don't want to go out and take more pictures. I'll make sure to snap a few before I start to show you what I've done!
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Old 04-13-2019, 08:16 PM   #48
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Too much fun! We had a short outing this week and thought about you since we were actually "down by the river". All the work is worth it. What a great hobby.
Jack
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Old 04-14-2019, 06:04 AM   #49
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Cool

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Originally Posted by ol trunt View Post
Too much fun! We had a short outing this week and thought about you since we were actually "down by the river". All the work is worth it. What a great hobby.
Jack
Jack,

We're looking forward to the day when this bus finally gets to spend some time down by the river!
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Old 04-14-2019, 09:58 AM   #50
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I can relate

I got my first bus stuck so bad that even with two 4wd trucks pulling we could not move.

Wound up borrowing a huge 4wd tractor from the John Deere dealer to pull it out.
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Old 04-14-2019, 11:36 AM   #51
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I can relate

I got my first bus stuck so bad that even with two 4wd trucks pulling we could not move.

Wound up borrowing a huge 4wd tractor from the John Deere dealer to pull it out.
I've been reading up some more on the posts of people who got stuck and came across your story about the "brand new" tractor you "borrowed" for the job. Luckily, I never had to go that far (this time)!
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Old 04-14-2019, 11:54 AM   #52
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Lovely Norfolk and its rain + poor drainage has left my backyard to be a continual swamp. So looks like I won't be putting it in back today at all. I spoke with my neighbor, who has been giving me pointers about how to better park it in back, and is the one who the other neighbors say will be the first to call the city about it, and he said we should wait a few days before trying the ground. Right now there's still standing water:

So we're going to give it time to harden up. We'll try angling the bus slightly differently to avoid the existing ruts. That will make new ruts, but that's a problem for future us.

Got up early this morning to do some more work on the floor. Parked in the driveway as it is, we can't get an extension cord to it. In addition to that it's super hot and humid today so I'm looking for excuses to take today off. Got about half of the puke mat up:

And the plywood still looks good. More pictures of the questionable stuff around the wheel wells:


There's also a soft spot in the middle of the floor, so I decided to rip up the soggy and rotten plywood to see what we're working with. Looks great, and no obvious rust:


Since we'll be leaving the bus in the driveway for a few days, I decided to pull off the stop sign now instead of later as I had planned. I cut the wires for the bulbs, split them, and then ran some electrical tape all around to prevent short circuits. In addition, I decided that, since I was in the area, I removed all of the plug from the flasher control:

I don't think this will cause any issues, and now nothing bad can happen even if the buttons are accidentally hit.
Pretty simple to remove the stop sign, just 4 nuts and it's off:

I'll be leaving the assembly on for now, but at least it's obvious I am not trying to use it to stop traffic:

Bonus in that picture is you can see the cut wires with some electrical tape on them, pushed back up in the assembly.

Some more rain tonight, then give the yard a few days to dry. We'll probably leave the bus there until Tuesday at the earliest, and may push it back to Thursday at the latest, with MORE rain expected on Friday.
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:22 PM   #53
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Wait till you see the storm heading your way that just went through here, monsoon.
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:24 PM   #54
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Wait till you see the storm heading your way that just went through here, monsoon.
Yikes, that's a wall of water. Maybe I should install a sump pump in my backyard...
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:31 PM   #55
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Yikes, that's a wall of water. Maybe I should install a sump pump in my backyard...
It'll hit hard, moving 50mph. It came through here and now it is clear out, but expect some more later today.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:39 PM   #56
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For the driveway solution it will take some work and extra money but look into green driveway gravel or grass .
I have installed the expandable looking option for both gravel and and grass using the same dirt and with a sod cutter the same grass that holds heavier equipment with a smaller foot print quite well.
When you get it? You want to say what? But once installed and filled you will be surprised.
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:53 PM   #57
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For the driveway solution it will take some work and extra money but look into green driveway gravel or grass .
I have installed the expandable looking option for both gravel and and grass using the same dirt and with a sod cutter the same grass that holds heavier equipment with a smaller foot print quite well.
When you get it? You want to say what? But once installed and filled you will be surprised.
check this out - it;s what I'll be using the next time I have to gravel a place with soft ground - they use the same idea to create parking lots for large trucks on ground that the truck would disappear in otherwise

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Old 04-14-2019, 07:07 PM   #58
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My friends in Hawai'i (where it rains a LOT) found some old conveyor belt material. Thick and tough, woven with a wide-weave, so water passes right through so no puddles build up, but your foot or tires won't sink in the mud. 4' or 5' wide, 20'-30' long. They parked their daily drivers on it for the 5 years I knew them, and I never saw any wear and tear in the "mats".
Anyway, they got it used for free. Maybe you could find some?
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Old 04-17-2019, 09:12 AM   #59
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Still sitting in the driveway. I've been checking the yard daily and the ground is still a bit squishy yesterday. We're going to try to put it in the back today, tomorrow at the latest. It's been a pain shuffling cars with it, but so far no angry neighbors, letters, or police-people, so that's good news!

I have scheduled an inspection for next week, so there's at least one more in-and-out of the backyard planning. Going to get the state inspection for $51 and have them do a "used vehicle inspection" and give me a laundry list of what's wrong. I don't expect much, but there is some gunk on the underside above the rear of the transmission that could be old or new that I want them to check out.

I've been spending my idle time thinking about solutions to future possible problems. Even though we live in moderate climate (I think it froze once this winter), I do want to be able to survive in sub-zero F because I'll likely end up there and don't want to re-work the entire configuration. Looking into a 10kW diesel coolant heater. I'm considering the ideas of isolating it from the engine and having a reservoir being an old water heater versus a 55-gal drum that I've wrapped aggressively in insulation. Pros and cons of each, including purchase cost, replacement cost, ease of use, etc. Versus saying "screw it" and pipe everything through the engine. Versus isolating the engine and hoping I don't short-cycle the heater too much. Any opinions here are appreciated, I won't be buying anything for a while and so can ponder on it some more.

Additionally, I'm thinking of adding in another diesel tank. Thinking of running to the local scrap yard that has a few buses, dropping one out, and hooking it up on the opposite side of my bus (balance), having an auxillary gauge, and having a 12v pump that will fill the primary from the secondary on a switch for the driver. Would it really be as simple as that? I had thought of mounting it next to the original tank and just putting some regular tubing so I don't have to fiddle with manually pumping and filling a second tank, but that might not be as easy and it might throw off balance. Opinions here appreciated as well.

So far work has been going well without any major hiccups, but even the small setbacks are fine because I am loving even the planning stages of this!
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Old 04-17-2019, 09:16 AM   #60
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223 View Post
For the driveway solution it will take some work and extra money but look into green driveway gravel or grass .
I have installed the expandable looking option for both gravel and and grass using the same dirt and with a sod cutter the same grass that holds heavier equipment with a smaller foot print quite well.
When you get it? You want to say what? But once installed and filled you will be surprised.
This actually looks like it's the best solution to my problem, if only a bit expensive. Seeing as I have problems with drainage and tearing up the grass, this would probably be my best bet.

Unfortunately, I'm not made of money yet and I'm only renting this place for another year max, so I'm going to try to limp along with using solid wooden planks. Something to consider for future use, though, thank you!
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