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03-01-2018, 07:11 AM
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#1
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
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Bus gutting tools
Alright guys, so I'm picking my bus up from Missouri tomorrow, and was going to make a weekend out of it but now I'm thinking I'll just drive it straight home and spend the weekend working on gutting it, and try and get my diesel guy to come take a look at her
My question is, what tools did you find best for removing the floors? My game plan was pull the seats, strip floors, strip interior panels / old insulation, most likely in that order (obviously seats are first no matter what). Also, any tips don't hurt
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03-01-2018, 07:29 AM
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#2
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
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The two most helpful tools I used were an air impact wrench and an impact screwdriver (I have screws not rivets). For rivets I would have bought an air-impact hammer.
Oh, and an angle grinder.
The demo part requires some finesse, but most of it is just hard work and perseverance.
Seats, Luggage Racks, Ceiling, Walls, Floor, then I stripped out all the unused wiring.
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03-01-2018, 07:44 AM
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#3
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Skoolie
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 111
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Most of the screws in my floor wouldn’t come out so I cut the rubber with a razor blade to expose the seams and pried it up with a crowbar. Ceiling and end caps came out with no problems just removed screws. Side walls under the windows I removed the screws and it still didn’t want to come out. I ended up grabbing that as close to the windows as possible with vise grips and ripped the metal. Peeled it back like a can of sardines and smoothed any rough edges with a grinder. I have no patience with rusted screws, my grinder doesn’t either
I think at least with a Thomas your supposed to start with the floor which makes it easier to get the metal under the windows out but do to my situation I had to start with the ceiling and work down.
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03-01-2018, 07:48 AM
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#4
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
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Will I need any kind of pry bars or crow bar type tools to rip up floor? I believe mine has screws as well. Am I being unreasonable thinking I can strip seats and floors in 2 days? I'll have to make trips to the dump while working too as I can't pile everything up at the rv storage lot
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03-01-2018, 08:00 AM
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#5
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjhwick119
Will I need any kind of pry bars or crow bar type tools to rip up floor? I believe mine has screws as well. Am I being unreasonable thinking I can strip seats and floors in 2 days? I'll have to make trips to the dump while working too as I can't pile everything up at the rv storage lot
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Two of us removed all the seats from a 40' Thomas in 4 1/2 hours. We had no rust to deal with but still had to cut a few of them out because access was tight.
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03-01-2018, 08:13 AM
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#6
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Skoolie
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjhwick119
Will I need any kind of pry bars or crow bar type tools to rip up floor? I believe mine has screws as well. Am I being unreasonable thinking I can strip seats and floors in 2 days? I'll have to make trips to the dump while working too as I can't pile everything up at the rv storage lot
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I didn’t have a helper to get under the bus to hold the nuts from turning so I ground all the bolt heads off. I had the seats ready to come out in a couple of hours.
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03-01-2018, 09:23 AM
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#7
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
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I've got 20v dewalt drill, picking up impact and battery powered angle grinder since I won't have electric plugin at rv lot. Also getting a cheap crow bar. Should be enough for the gutting process I think
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03-01-2018, 09:49 AM
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#8
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Wright City MO
Posts: 280
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Bluebird
Engine: 5.9 Cummins/Allison
Rated Cap: 74
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Make sure you have plenty of batteries for your tools drills and impact drivers aren't bad the angle grinders are power eaters.
It took three hours to get the seats out,combination of nut/bolt and grinding about three hours to get the floor trim and heaters out(worst part of job so far) about hour to pull the puke mat and two hours to scrape loose paint and rust scale off of floor vacuum and lightly spray rust converter.
__________________
Its hard to be wrong when you live in Wright City!
There is no mechanical problem that cannot be overcome by a skillfully applied combination of brute force and ignorance!
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03-01-2018, 09:54 AM
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#9
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
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Personally, I much prefer corded grinders. As noted, they suck batteries dry very quickly. Drill/drivers are OK since you don't usually run them non-stop for long periods of time the way you do a grinder.
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03-01-2018, 09:57 AM
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#10
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango
Personally, I much prefer corded grinders. As noted, they suck batteries dry very quickly. Drill/drivers are OK since you don't usually run them non-stop for long periods of time the way you do a grinder.
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I don't have any electrical hookups on site at the rv lot, so I'm working with what I got. Already have 2 20v batteries, but will be getting 2 more so I have 4 on hand. Should be good. Gonna get everything I can with the impact and use grinder when necessary
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03-01-2018, 10:02 AM
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#11
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
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You could go ahead and get a generator now and plug into it (?).
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03-01-2018, 10:52 AM
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#12
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
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I actually didn't even think about that, lol.
Just hit bit of a snag. I didn't think to ask about being able to work on the bus at the storage lot because it was 24 hour access, but turns out they don't allow power tools...gotta figure something out. She acted like minor work or quiet work was fine, but she's gonna talk to the owner, I told her I wasn't going to be removing anything out of the bus, I would pile the trash inside and make trips to the dump so it wouldn't trash up their lot. Crossing my fingers
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