New beginnings - My skoolie build

[o1marc]

Do you feel gaining an inch by removing the plywood is a plus? What do you plan on replacing it with for flooring or insulation? You'll need some sort of subfloor to secure the top floor.
I always stock up on HF grinders when they have weekend sales and you can get corded grinders for $5. I have 3, 2 still in the box.

[david.dgeorge07]

It doesn’t work for everybody but for some people if you take a breaker bar and tighten the bolt the head will shear off pretty quickly and easily. It tends to work best in situations where there was enough undercoating applied to once you start to tighten the bolt kind of binds into place. It’s worth a try at least for sure. I think you’ll find it if you can get it to work it will make the whole project about 10 times faster.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by david.dgeorge07

It doesn’t work for everybody but for some people if you take a breaker bar and tighten the bolt the head will shear off pretty quickly and easily. It tends to work best in situations where there was enough undercoating applied to once you start to tighten the bolt kind of binds into place. It’s worth a try at least for sure. I think you’ll find it if you can get it to work it will make the whole project about 10 times faster.

Not a job I'm looking forward to, so I'll put this method in the back of my mind.

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Do you feel gaining an inch by removing the plywood is a plus? What do you plan on replacing it with for flooring or insulation? You'll need some sort of subfloor to secure the top floor.
I always stock up on HF grinders when they have weekend sales and you can get corded grinders for $5. I have 3, 2 still in the box.

I originally thought it was rubber on steel so I thought that I'd lose 3/4" of height because I AM putting a subfloor in. Being that there is already wood there, I realize I will maintain my current height because I'm not adding something that wasn't there before.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I originally thought it was rubber on steel so I thought that I'd lose 3/4" of height because I AM putting a subfloor in. Being that there is already wood there, I realize I will maintain my current height because I'm not adding something that wasn't there before.

Still sounds as though you have no plans for insulation on the floor, if so, you haven't been paying attention to how important that step is.

[jjhwick119]

I plan on insulating the floor. Not as much as some to retain headroom, but after ripping out what's in here I'm gonna do 1 inch insulation with wood. Will also be insulating the walls and roof

I could have explained it better. When I said maintain my current height, I was meaning my current anticipated height for the build. Not as the bus is now.

[plfking]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I'll just wait until another set of hands

I had to do some of mine by myself too. Get a few cheap channel locks for the topside, then crawl underneath and unbolt. It's a great ab workout also.

[TrailLifeBill]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Loosen both bolts per foot.

Use a pry-bar under the foot to keep pressure on the nut while you use the impact wrench.

Unless the bolts are very rusty, this will get most of them out.

I used a nut driver in my battery operated drill. Using light pressure, I was able to get over half of the bolts out without a helper below. If only the rivets in the ceiling panels were that easy!!

[jjhwick119]

I took advantage of rusted out welds and a little leverage and wiggling back and forth and all the posts are snapping off from the bases. Impact and crowbar wasn't getting me anywhere.

Got all the upper window trim removed, and the vinyl padded boards running the sidewalls under the windows as well

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by plfking

I had to do some of mine by myself too. Get a few cheap channel locks for the topside, then crawl underneath and unbolt. It's a great ab workout also.

I think I'll do this tomorrow. Didn't think about it. Won't help on the ones I already broke off, unless the lower nuts are by a frame and I can put channel locks there.

Thanks for the tip

[plfking]

Originally Posted by TrailLifeBill

If only the rivets in the ceiling panels were that easy!!

If you haven't started your ceiling yet, check out the video in the thread titled "Quick and Easy roof panel removal".......there can't be an easier way to do it. Literally took me 1 second to punch and 2 seconds to shear.

[jjhwick119]

My Thomas body has screws in roof and side walls. My dewalt should make good work of those

Edit-Just took out one row of screws to see. All came out fine, 5 minutes for the row

[TrailLifeBill]

Originally Posted by plfking

If you haven't started your ceiling yet, check out the video in the thread titled "Quick and Easy roof panel removal".......there can't be an easier way to do it. Literally took me 1 second to punch and 2 seconds to shear.

Thanks - that is how I have been doing it, but I think I need to tweak the grind on my flat chisel head. It's taking me 20 seconds or so per - and is giving my air compressor a workout (10 gallon compressor).

[Thomas1985]

Mine also has screws. It's a big win!

[consti2tion]

Which batteries did you angle grinder have? I have the large Dewalt batteries and they work great.

You could buy an inverter for a couple hundred dollars and just idle the bus.

[consti2tion]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I think I'll do this tomorrow. Didn't think about it. Won't help on the ones I already broke off, unless the lower nuts are by a frame and I can put channel locks there.

Thanks for the tip

I think he might have meant Vice Grips.

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

Which batteries did you angle grinder have? I have the large Dewalt batteries and they work great.

You could buy an inverter for a couple hundred dollars and just idle the bus.

The slim 20v. And I know them as vice grips, but I've heard them called channel locks as well so understood what he meant.

[plfking]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

The slim 20v. And I know them as vice grips, but I've heard them called channel locks as well so understood what he meant.

My bad.....I always do that and confuse people. Channel Lock (the company) was the first tool manufacturer to make vise grip pliers, and we always called them channel locks back in the day.

I need to get with the times.......you know the one about old dogs and new tricks.

[plfking]

Originally Posted by TrailLifeBill

Thanks - that is how I have been doing it, but I think I need to tweak the grind on my flat chisel head. It's taking me 20 seconds or so per - and is giving my air compressor a workout (10 gallon compressor).

Yeah.....I really think grinding the chisel as he shows in his video is the key.....the rounded side pushes the chisel cutting edge away from the ceiling, so you're actually cutting the mandrel straight across vs. at an angle. And the cutting edge needs to be as thin as possible. My six window had rivets in all the wall and ceiling panels, and the chisel cut them all without re-sharpening.

I've got an 8 gallon compressor, and I could shear about 20 or so before I had to stop for about 30 seconds to let the air build back up.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by plfking

My bad.....I always do that and confuse people. Channel Lock (the company) was the first tool manufacturer to make vise grip pliers, and we always called them channel locks back in the day.

I need to get with the times.......you know the one about old dogs and new tricks.

You're confused ... I'm confused.

In the UK we call the Mole Grips (Mole is the company that makes them).

Still, I'm trans-Atlantic now so I got it.