Seat Rail Dealies

[sampatch]

Hi, Everyone! Do any of you have expert with these seat rails that bolt seats down? I can’t get them up; the bolts just spin.

[Shamoke]

An angle grinder is your friend here. Cut the bolt heads off and punch the rest on through the hole. What kind of bus is this? I have not seen these kind of seat mounts before.

[sampatch]

Originally Posted by Shamoke

An angle grinder is your friend here. Cut the bolt heads off and punch the rest on through the hole. What kind of bus is this? I have not seen these kind of seat mounts before.

It’s an International CE200. It was a handicapped bus.

The bolts are down deep in the groove. I guess we’ll be prying up it up bit by bit and grinding away. I don’t know yet how deep they are, if they’re through to the metal or just in the wood.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by sampatch

It’s an International CE200. It was a handicapped bus.

The bolts are down deep in the groove. I guess we’ll be prying up it up bit by bit and grinding away. I don’t know yet how deep they are, if they’re through to the metal or just in the wood.

It seems a good way of getting these tracks up is to get a hole saw that just fits in the circular opening around the bolt head and cut down through the track. You can then pry the track up easily and deal with the remaining bolt heads separately, without the track in the way. I saw a video of this a while back but haven't been able to find it again.

[sampatch]

Oh, great idea! Thanks so much!

[Danjo]

I removed 40 feet of this stuff.

Got an angle grinder? Use a metal cutting blade and have really good eye protection like the glasses with the foam gasket or a full face mask is better.

The easiest is to cut the bolts from underneath if you can. If not cut down through the top of the bolt, angling the blade side to side. It will cut through it. About 4 minutes per bolt

[Vineyardseashell]

If it is a handicap bus and you have a second or raised floor, that top floor may have been pre-assembled and then installed over the lower floor, which will not give you access to the nuts underneath. My Girardin was built this way, so I am leaving my tracks in place and using 1/4 luan to match the height of the tracks, then cover with insulation.


Clyn

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by Vineyardseashell

If it is a handicap bus and you have a second or raised floor, that top floor may have been pre-assembled and then installed over the lower floor, which will not give you access to the nuts underneath. My Girardin was built this way, so I am leaving my tracks in place and using 1/4 luan to match the height of the tracks, then cover with insulation.


Clyn

I considered doing it that way, but then I started cutting and I wasn’t gonna let it beat me!

[witchywoman]

I used on angle grinder on its side, ground down until I saw the circle of the bolt, then punched it through the floor with a punch pin and a hammer. It took about an hour per rail for me. I had 8 rails with 13 bolts per.

[Vineyardseashell]

Originally Posted by Danjo

I considered doing it that way, but then I started cutting and I wasn’t gonna let it beat me!

In the interest of time and my wrist...unless I can find someone to grind them out, I am just going to keep them.


Clyn

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by Vineyardseashell

In the interest of time and my wrist...unless I can find someone to grind them out, I am just going to keep them.


Clyn

Oh yeah. I was commenting in jest because those things are buggers to remove! Since I had 40 feet of that stuff to remove, if I hadn’t burned through a dozen drill bits and a pack of cutting disks before thinking of shimming, I would have given in to my stubbornness and done just that.

I hated grinding them out so much that I procrastinated until I absolutely had to do it.

[Vineyardseashell]

Originally Posted by Danjo

Oh yeah. I was commenting in jest because those things are buggers to remove! Since I had 40 feet of that stuff to remove, if I hadn’t burned through a dozen drill bits and a pack of cutting disks before thinking of shimming, I would have given in to my stubbornness and done just that.

I hated grinding them out so much that I procrastinated until I absolutely had to do it.

Lol! I got the gist. I am a stobborn woman...but have learned to be selective when picking my battles

[sampatch]

Have y’all found that all the hex-head bolts go through the bus floor? Or just the ends? I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but it doesn’t look like there’s nearly enough bolts through underneath for every one of them to be through.

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by sampatch

Have y’all found that all the hex-head bolts go through the bus floor? Or just the ends? I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but it doesn’t look like there’s nearly enough bolts through underneath for every one of them to be through.

All mine did. I just couldn’t get to them all underneath

[peakbus]

Originally Posted by sampatch

Have y’all found that all the hex-head bolts go through the bus floor? Or just the ends? I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but it doesn’t look like there’s nearly enough bolts through underneath for every one of them to be through.

Yes, They are mostly through-bolted. One person can hold a wrench underneath and one can turn the bolt on top. As Vineyardseashell said, some are not accessible in some areas or under some busses and grinding will be needed. I used an adapter with a hex wrench head into my impact driver.