2004 Gillig low floor bus

[dogeron52]

Ive been researching gillig low floors, and like lostranger i think it is a good base.(with some shortcomings) i would like to cut holes in the stainless steel surround tub, but I would like to know I wont cause problems like in a monococque chassis. I am replacing the "Hole" with hot water heater, furnace to replace the stability. So anyone wish to comment? I dont think this would be a problem but I would NOT want to be going down the road BULGING in the middle!


marty

[nightanole]

https://nomadicista.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2541

The "hole" was not for the faint of heart. I think the bottom stainless is 1" thick.

[TomA]

The Gillig LF isn't a monocoque, and it isn't all stainless, either.


It has a pretty standard ladder/lattice mild steel chassis from the back up to behind the front wheels, where it becomes more of a stainless sheet bulkhead and parallel tube structure. The skin is unstressed everywhere.


Lostranger had a hard time drilling holes through the rear bulkhead/firewall, which is a stainless alloy semi-structural sheet around 3/16" thick, and hard as hell. Sadly, all his pictures are gone from that very fine thread.



There are lots of places you can make holes in the sides, roof or floor of a Gillig LF and not touch any structural steel. The floor is plywood as well, no steel sheet above or below it.

[dogeron52]

Sometimes you can search on the wayback machine for a "snapshot" of the website of years ago. I have been lucky to get some of those pictures even though the current website doesn't have them.

Marty

[TomA]

Originally Posted by dogeron52

Sometimes you can search on the wayback machine for a "snapshot" of the website of years ago. I have been lucky to get some of those pictures even though the current website doesn't have them.

Marty

This is true for flat files and some html pages where the images were archived by the web crawler, but almost impossible even today with pages that are delivered via database calls, that is, threads or pages of same in forums. Lostranger's build thread was almost certainly not publicly archived outside the original nomadicista forums db.

In this case, the nomidicista database is back on line, but the tinypic.com photo site hosting all the images to Jim's build thread has gone down (out of business...)


So much for everything on the Internet staying around forever. Its actually a real problem.

[joeblack5]

Stainless is not that hard to drill with the proper tools, a good coolant and the correct drill speed. Quality hole saws and depending on diameter a low speed works fine.

Regarding pics. A lot of threads are missing their pictures. It is indeed a real problem. Next to weak search engines and improper labeling of posts.

The site owners do not mind..that stuff disappears...it keeps people from writing more and more of the same.. Keeps the add revenue/ profit flowing..

Johan

[nightanole]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Stainless is not that hard to drill with the proper tools, a good coolant and the correct drill speed. Quality hole saws and depending on diameter a low speed works fine.

Regarding pics. A lot of threads are missing their pictures. It is indeed a real problem. Next to weak search engines and improper labeling of posts.

The site owners do not mind..that stuff disappears...it keeps people from writing more and more of the same.. Keeps the add revenue/ profit flowing..

Johan

From what i remember the "friendly amish looking dude" made the 3-4" hole using what appeared to be a cutting disk, using 8-12 "cuts". It was very narley and he did not use a "hole saw" in any shape or form.

Also the cut would need to be made in an upward angle, so i guess you could have a helper squirtin oil every once in a while, or just have a hose dribbling. Or go at it from the inside.

[beachtomountains]

I have a Gillig and while it’s not a low floor I believe it’s the same in every other way. It is not metal underneath. Just wood and a metal support system as someone above mentioned in excellent detail. The wood is extremely well made however, not your standard plywood or subfloor. It is a very sturdy floor. You should put it up on blocks or something and crawl underneath and familiarize yourself with where the metal support bars are and the bolts holding them in place. Personally even tho mine isn’t a low floor there’s not a lot of clearance so I’m not putting anything underneath or weigh it down much.

[video45]

I bought this bus and talked to bus company selling and engine and trans
were changed out about 2017 and AC redone at same time. Engine has about 80K and it runs sweet. Not that I can drive it real well.

Marty