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Old 09-26-2021, 10:53 PM   #1
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Shorten a bus?

I've looked, are there any tutorials on shortening a transit style, snug nosed front engine bus from 40' down to 34ish? I'm already planning on a roof raise since I'm fairly tall, and figured at the same time if I shortened the length I could potentially take it more places.

Are there any issues with this? I don't plan on moving the rear axle, the general plan is to remove the rivets from the end cap, remove the rear and shorten the frame, then reattach the rear skin.

Thoughts?

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Old 09-27-2021, 12:27 AM   #2
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yup, that is how I would do it....

when you do... you might be able to install rear axle with lower gross vehicle weight rating....and install springs to match. I think you will also be increasing the weight on the front axle...... The weight you take off on the rear of the bus behind the axle will reduce the "teeter totter" effect and add some weight to the front axle.... do you physics force diagrams and figure out how much this will change things.


oh, weigh the bus... get actual front and rear axle loadings in the current state


william
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Old 09-27-2021, 04:38 PM   #3
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I had thought about this myself with a long skoolie. Long or full size Skoolies seem to be more common and it seems you could take 8-10 feet off the back. The teeter-totter effect is something that has never crossed my mind. I am just a newbie who hopes to convert a bus one day.
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Old 09-28-2021, 01:37 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magnakansas View Post
when you do... you might be able to install rear axle with lower gross vehicle weight rating....and install springs to match. I think you will also be increasing the weight on the front axle...... The weight you take off on the rear of the bus behind the axle will reduce the "teeter totter" effect and add some weight to the front axle.... do you physics force diagrams and figure out how much this will change things.


oh, weigh the bus... get actual front and rear axle loadings in the current state


william
These are interesting thoughts. I suppose I will keep looking for information... I guess intuitively I didn't think much on it because I never recall bus drivers moving kids around to redistribute weight... and I figured the skin and seats wouldn't make a relatively large weight difference.
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Old 09-28-2021, 03:57 PM   #5
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"Bobbed" Buses

I don't know about the teetering. I've personally, not witnessed a forward endo with a school bus, so I cant offer true testimony there. I did see these cool pics of "bobbed" buses. Both flatnoses, too. The second pic (dirtygoat) seems to be stock. His thread is below.





(dirtygoat's dirty bus thread)
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f27/t...ybus-5718.html
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Old 09-28-2021, 05:01 PM   #6
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Thomas, Amtran, and bluebird have all made shorties in flat nose... they are neat little busses but they do ride a bit rough being heavy on the front axle.. turn on a dime though.. theres a few still in service (thomas 8 window) in my area..
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