Bus Floor

[Snoopjohnny5]

Hello All
I have a 2003 Thomas (Freightliner) Bus, I am in the process of converting.
Does anyone have any secrets regarding ripping out the floor?
What is the floor made of anyway? Seems like its as hard as a rock and also wondering if its worth ripping out.

Any input is huge..

Thank you all.

John

[nikitis]

For ripping up the Floor, this is all you need.
https://www.amazon.com/Spec-Ops-Tear...hlbWF0aWM&th=1

As for rust, it's good to rip up the floor to stop the rust from spreading as much as possible to give your rig the longest life without issue.

If your undercarriage has no rust then it's a decent chance there isn't any on the top, however it could just be on the top, but likely it tends to bleed down some and you'll see it on the underside as well. If you have a lot of small rust spots on the underside it's probably a good idea to rip up the floor.

[Snoopjohnny5]

Sounds great.
What have you found that works the best with treating the rust?

[Snoopjohnny5]

Is the floor Glued, Screwed or both?
How thick is the floor?
Seems like when I try to screw into it, its like steel.

[Robski]

From the top down in my bus:
*Rubber coating 1/8" or so glued to
*Plywood 3/4" +/-, screwed down to
*Steel pan about 1/8" +/-

*Rip the plywood out. Not easy... On some of the screws I used a die grinder with a cut off blade to cut the screw head off. pops the wood up easier. (Side note: keep a fire extinguisher around for the entire project)
*Cut the steel pan out in the rusted area's. Rust-Oleum the cut edges. Replace with new steel pan to match the existing.
*The remaining steel pan, we painted with a Rust-Oleum product that fights rust. It's called reformer. That was good enough for the next decade we will use the bus for.

Keep your chin up, you have started down a long, not so easy sometimes road!

[Snoopjohnny5]

Yes. This is my second one. I didnt get as crazy with the first. I have a lot of custom fabricating in my pocket so I was just wondering about other products others have used. This is great!

[Robski]

Nice! I did had some rust at all the wheel wells for sure. Also where door was as well. Likely from people getting on the bus with wet boots. I’m from Michigan and the bus was too. Luckily the bus had an undercoat on it which seemed to keep the bottom of the steel in decent shape. I just kept the rust reformer around and whenever I open up something I normally hit it with some reformer while I’m in there. Is it doing anything? Maybe?? Does it make me feel a bit better. Heck ya!

[nikitis]

What I did, I didn't have much rust at all which is rare for a 30 yo bus, was to use rustoleum Automotive etching primer. (Grey or green), Then bought some rustoleum Black oil based enamel. The Etching chems help neutralize the rust, and the oil based enamel locks in rust to prevent exposure from Oxygen which is required to spread rust.

On sale now too: (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CT498A...efix=rust&th=1

and this:
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-77...ls%2C87&sr=1-2

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by Snoopjohnny5

Hello All
I have a 2003 Thomas (Freightliner) Bus, I am in the process of converting.
Does anyone have any secrets regarding ripping out the floor?
What is the floor made of anyway? Seems like its as hard as a rock and also wondering if its worth ripping out.

Any input is huge..

Thank you all.

John

---------------------------


The bottom is steel, then plywood is screwed down. Glue is applied over plywood and screwheads. Rubber in top, with some steel trim & edging.
I used a razor to cut the rubber to remove only the strips over the screwheads. Then razored the glue from each screwhead (weirdo here)


I removed every single screw. Didn't pry or cut any if the plywood. All whole pieces & I have a can of stainless screws. I only treated & primered the rusty areas of the floor for rust. The rest was cleaned and painted only.


---------------------
The central Florida bus above was 12y/o at the time of these photos. Similar to a TX or GA bus, not as good as AZ or CA, while several salted states are known to be worse.

The plywood seems to trap moisture onto the metal, meanwhile the workers perforate the floors as they screw down the wood. Note the rust patterns in the photo above. The self tapping screws also create metal shavings which are intentionally left in between to help speed up the oxidation. Mine smelled like p!ss underneath. Maybe just kids being kids. Idk 🤷

Not all buses have the plywood layer, but most do. Use a good magnet🧲. You ought to be able to tell if there is 1 full inch of plywood & rubber OR just rubber & glue, which is about an 1/8" thick.

The buses without plywood, just rubber glued down, seem to fair much better. I like to speculate: maybe it's the lack of screw holes & ergo shavings, which make the difference but also, simply gluing the rubber directly to the steel, keeps the metal dry. No wick gaps.

You haven't told us the region you live nor the location where your bus was in service. Service life makes a huge difference on your decision to investigate further.
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throughly clean the floors, treat any rust with Ospho & a wirewheel, then paint with rusty metal primer and/or implement paint, depending on the rust damage.


At this point, most builders seal up the floor. Before you install any insulation or new flooring, solve the water intrusion, leaks, condensation, including wet/dirty workers" shoes/boots.

The larger sheets of plywood can be repurposed for a mower shed or kids playhouse. I made a chicken coop.

[Robski]

I did the solid insulating sheets under the new plywood with stainless steel screws. I didn’t plug any holes that existed. I figured if I spring a leak it would allow it to drain out. Also I figured the air gap would be good for drying any possible moisture up. The solid sheet insulation under the plywood was my moisture barrier.

Also note. You should make sure you leave an access to the fuel tank pump if it exists already. Just for future service. That access might play into your layout of the bus too. Ours ended up under a kitchen cabinet. Perfect spot.

[Ross]

It sounds like you're asking for how to remove the plywood from the floor. I agree, it's a good idea. I have a 2005 Thomas, and the plywood was NAILED to the steel substrate. My bus was from Alabama, so no road salt, but there WAS some surface rust on the floor pan at the back corners. I think the bus got flooded from leaving the escape hatches open in a rainstorm or two.

I set the blade depth on a circular saw to just ALMOST cut through the plywood and rubber, and sawed the plywood up into manageable pieces (about 2 ft x 2 ft) then pried them up with flat bar and crowbar. The plywood was not useable afterward, as the nails mostly stayed in the floor with the plywood tearing up as it came up. There were wheelchair tie-down rails that were a bit troublesome to get out, but getting the plywood out of the way helped that process.

Sandwiched between the steel below, and the rubber above, the plywood was quite wet and funky. I'm glad I got it out of the bus.

I pulled the nails out with a long crowbar. They flew like bullets when they popped loose. Wear your safety glasses.

Got after the floor pan with a coarse knotted wire wheel; Ospho'd what remained, then painted with good oil base primer.

It's always good to know what you're starting with. Good luck on your build.

[nikitis]

I did those too Demac, with a side of silicon under each one.

Floor was cleaner before I put them in. Got dirty afterwards.

[Mekanic]

There is a better product than plywood to put back down.
Advantek flooring, basically it’s water proof OSB.
Has a 50 year water damage warranty
In 2001 it was put in my new house for flooring, back then it had a lifetime warranty.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Mekanic

There is a better product than plywood to put back down.
Advantek flooring, basically it’s water proof OSB.
Has a 50 year water damage warranty
In 2001 it was put in my new house for flooring, back then it had a lifetime warranty.

ive not used waterproof OSB.. but i wouldnt even consider putting regular plywood back down.. id only put back down marine grade if plywood is used...


waterproof OSB sounds interesting if it can truly hold up.. marine grade plywood is what was used on solder city busses and was often exposed on the underside and lasted decades...



its tough to get a bus 100% sealed that will hold up in a blinding rain on the highway esp if it has all of its original windows.. you have a decent chance if you replace the bus windows with good quality RV windows