The Murder Bus...

[banman]

Originally Posted by Native

I love your pictures. Ours is also flat black (spray can primer) with a bit of artwork on the passenger side. I do not have a picture handy or I would post it. Of course, we did not get the full color treatment that yours got.


I also had to recondition the battery box. The bearings were shot so it was sliding bearing shaft to shell ... not easy to move. After the reconditioning, I am able to slide the tray in and out, even with four batteries in there. The cables make it hard to close though. I have a local guy that manufactures the bearings. Let me know if you need some.

My wife wishes the facility manager hadn't "murdered out" all the colorful graffiti -- the whole bus was as colorful as the windows -- but there were just too many neon penis' for the facility guy...

Wait what?! The battery tray is supposed to be on bearings! Mine just 'slides' on powered rust... I don't think it would move with the weight of a 3rd battery on it. I'd love to see pix of what the bearing part is supposed to look like. I figured at some point I'd put a teflon strip in for the tray to slide on.

How's your parasitic drain? I quickly learned I have to leave my battery's disconnected of I'm down to ½ charge in a week -- annoying but I'll sort it out eventually...

[banman]

Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe

Sounds similar to what we are working on. Our plans are a 14' open rear deck (to haul the Jeep on)... 12' of "living space" and 3' behind the driver's seat for permanent mounted captains chairs with proper belts (likely on swivel mounts).


To get this to work out, we are having to add a 3' tail to the rear of the bus which we are going to dovetail it a bit to ease loading of the Jeep.


Good luck with the build!

Mine's 38' which is just a bit longer than yours.
I will probably change my rear end to something close to what Redd did with the Mule Bus. Then figure out how to "stash" ramps under the skirt for storage. The idea of a ramp on a winch (or hydraulic) cable will be a way future iteration if it happens but the ability to load bigger items is a must...

Now that I understand the "dove-tail" concept = sloping downward...
How much ground clearance will you lose in the back with that?
Concern with "approach" and "departure" angles? I know it's been done before... I'll be curious how you fab your ramp as well...

[banman]

Originally Posted by Native

SNIP...
I also had to recondition the battery box. The bearings were shot so it was sliding bearing shaft to shell ... not easy to move. After the reconditioning, I am able to slide the tray in and out, even with four batteries in there. The cables make it hard to close though. I have a local guy that manufactures the bearings. Let me know if you need some.

Any chance you have wiring diagrams you can send as pdf or similar?
There's an awful lot of wiring I can't make heads or tails of yet...

I removed one buzzer thing from behind the control panel on the left...
So many things buzzed when I first got it I couldn't hear myself think!!!

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by banman

Mine's 38' which is just a bit longer than yours.
I will probably change my rear end to something close to what Redd did with the Mule Bus. Then figure out how to "stash" ramps under the skirt for storage. The idea of a ramp on a winch (or hydraulic) cable will be a way future iteration if it happens but the ability to load bigger items is a must...

Now that I understand the "dove-tail" concept = sloping downward...
How much ground clearance will you lose in the back with that?
Concern with "approach" and "departure" angles? I know it's been done before... I'll be curious how you fab your ramp as well...

I'll only lose ~6" of ground clearance.


Departure angle however will take a significant hit from 13* down to 8* if I do what I'm planning.


I'm picking up material today so in the next few weeks, I'll mock things up and see how I like it. I wont be taking this bus off the pavement so as long as there are no steep/sudden grade changes, it shouldn't be an issue.

[banman]

Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe

I'll only lose ~6" of ground clearance.


Departure angle however will take a significant hit from 13* down to 8* if I do what I'm planning.


I'm picking up material today so in the next few weeks, I'll mock things up and see how I like it. I wont be taking this bus off the pavement so as long as there are no steep/sudden grade changes, it shouldn't be an issue.

Fair. Love that this forum exists to bounce ideas around and see what's worked and how well from other folks.

Even my wife's MiniCooper has seen it's share of rough dirt roads!
I know I'll wanna do dirt roads and fields with my bus -- I know I don't want the hassle of getting it stuck in mud -- that includes my back yard!

[Mr4btTahoe]

Without the dove.. just an extension really decreases the hit to departure angle.

[cadillackid]

my red bus sits on 19.5" wheels.. even with a shorty i have to think about departure angle. I really wouldnt add much to the back of a bus unless you can run air springs that you can pump up when you are in some steeper situations.. I have never scraped my red bus, however when I got it the exhaust pipe was pretty flat so others had been scraping.. I run mu air springs 1 inch over spec which gains a couple inches by the time you reach the end of the bus.. it does have a bit of a "hot-rod rake" now.. if I was building an off-road rig I wouldnt use anything smaller than 11R22.5 tires..

-Christopher

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

my red bus sits on 19.5" wheels.. even with a shorty i have to think about departure angle. I really wouldnt add much to the back of a bus unless you can run air springs that you can pump up when you are in some steeper situations.. I have never scraped my red bus, however when I got it the exhaust pipe was pretty flat so others had been scraping.. I run mu air springs 1 inch over spec which gains a couple inches by the time you reach the end of the bus.. it does have a bit of a "hot-rod rake" now.. if I was building an off-road rig I wouldnt use anything smaller than 11R22.5 tires..

-Christopher

Is it factory air ride or did you add bags to be able to lift the back of the bus with the stock springs in place?


I'm curious how much "droop" the rear suspension has so how much height I could gain going that route and airing up only when needed... hmm..


Sorry for the off-topic.

[cadillackid]

mine is factory bagged.. id have to let the air out to see how low it goes... simce factory bags take the place of springs, it sits on the stops when its emptied of air.. as far as how high you go i think would be more of a product of the maximum allowable air pressure in the bags... most have a maximum around 100 PSI.. the spring size you use obviously dictates how much pressure you need for a given load.. the factory springs are designed to be set somewhere in the middle of their ride height.. the most common factory spring found on school bus rears are Good year Rolling Lobe air springs.. im not sure how tough it would be to add some as "helpers" to raise the rear or kneel it ..

[Native]

Originally Posted by banman

My wife wishes the facility manager hadn't "murdered out" all the colorful graffiti -- the whole bus was as colorful as the windows -- but there were just too many neon penis' for the facility guy...

Here is what our "graffiti looks like.

Originally Posted by banman

Wait what?! The battery tray is supposed to be on bearings! Mine just 'slides' on powered rust... I don't think it would move with the weight of a 3rd battery on it. I'd love to see pix of what the bearing part is supposed to look like. I figured at some point I'd put a teflon strip in for the tray to slide on.

Here is what the battery tray looked like before refurbishment:



And after:

Notice the bearings are no longer rust!



And the fruits of my labor:

Originally Posted by banman

How's your parasitic drain? I quickly learned I have to leave my battery's disconnected of I'm down to ½ charge in a week -- annoying but I'll sort it out eventually...

If does drain out rather quickly. However, I keep the GoPower converter/inverter plugged in to keep the batteries healthy.

[Native]

Originally Posted by banman

Any chance you have wiring diagrams you can send as pdf or similar?
There's an awful lot of wiring I can't make heads or tails of yet...

I removed one buzzer thing from behind the control panel on the left...
So many things buzzed when I first got it I couldn't hear myself think!!!

I have been able to find most all of the wiring diagrams using the DTNA login. There is an icon called "EZ Wire" from which you can retrieve the diagrams. I usually view them, then select "print" and have it save it as PDF.

[banman]

Originally Posted by Native

I have been able to find most all of the wiring diagrams using the DTNA login. There is an icon called "EZ Wire" from which you can retrieve the diagrams. I usually view them, then select "print" and have it save it as PDF.

Our buses really are twins!

You've mentioned the DTNA to me before...

Now that I've "paper-work" proving it's my bus I guess I'll try again.
There's also a Freightliner in Cheyenne where I frequently go for work trips so maybe I'll have better luck registering there...

I was about to say our battery trays look different but probably I'm just missing the parts that the bearings would attach to -- it's not my biggest priority but it's on the list...

[Native]

Originally Posted by banman

Our buses really are twins!

You've mentioned the DTNA to me before...

Now that I've "paper-work" proving it's my bus I guess I'll try again.
There's also a Freightliner in Cheyenne where I frequently go for work trips so maybe I'll have better luck registering there...

I was about to say our battery trays look different but probably I'm just missing the parts that the bearings would attach to -- it's not my biggest priority but it's on the list...

You really should look into the DTNA login. It is surprizing how much information you can get sitting in front of your screen.



If you are missing parts for the battery box, you should consider getting them from a junk yard. The dealer wants over $200.00 each for the slides. That is why I rebuilt mine. I seem to recall the bearings were less than $2.00 each ... even that may be more than they really cost.

[banman]

Taking a short break from my starting/voltage issue...

Got the 'new' tail light lens on -- better?
At least it looks more like it could be legal now...

[Native]

Looks much more legal now.

[musigenesis]

That battery tray is straight-up rust pornography!

[banman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

That battery tray is straight-up rust pornography!

Oh, I've got some sections of sub-frame that will look all too familiar to you...

When you realize you could collapse a section of 2½" square tubing that's 1/8" thick with your bare hand like a soda can -- it's only a few short sections -- but I'm sure I'll find more when the floor comes up...

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by banman

Oh, I've got some sections of sub-frame that will look all too familiar to you...

When you realize you could collapse a section of 2½" square tubing that's 1/8" thick with your bare hand like a soda can -- it's only a few short sections -- but I'm sure I'll find more when the floor comes up...

If I'm a contender for any skoolie awards, it's "Rustiest Bus 2019". I hope you're not going to take that away from me.

[banman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

If I'm a contender for any skoolie awards, it's "Rustiest Bus 2019". I hope you're not going to take that away from me.

You are, and (geez I hope!) and I'm not...

[Native]

Originally Posted by banman

You are, and (geez I hope!) and I'm not...

Yeah, I think we should let Musigenesis keep tha honor!