How to remove the wood around these bolts

[cmstrick654]

There are two large bolts in the floor on each side of the bus and they appear to be connected to the air conditioning equipment under the bus. How do we get the wood out without causing issues to the air equipment? Is it ok to just loosen the bolts, pull the wood out, and then retighten and leave installed under the new floors? or would the bolts need to come through the new floors for "Just in case"

[DawgBüs]

You might have to get a shorter bolt of the same thread pitch and diameter. I'd also make sure the air conditioning unit (or whatever the bolts are connected to) is supported with a Jack stand or ratchet strap, etc, before loosening. Unless it has nowhere to go anyway, of course. Keep the bolt length as long as possible but shorter than current bolts. You want as much thread engagement as possible.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i personally would put a jack under the exterior unit to hold it in place and pull the bolts and clean or replace them and put them through the new floor or at least leave access to them or use new bolts and tack weld them to the metal floor to keep them from spinning before i buried them forever.
if you dont have problems with the outdoor unit right now doesnt meen it will never have a problem and wont have to be dropped to be replaced or fixed and the pick of the bolt heads shows carriage head bolts that are already gonna give you a fit to remove if the threads are rusty and the plywood is wore out?
pull one and see for yourself and then think about the man that has to drop the entire cassette to work on it when it messes up not if but when.
i would replace them with hex head bolts and lock washers or nuts regardless because a rust carriage head bolt and rotten plywood almost always need to be cut off.
try one yourself and think of when that unit needs replacing and regardless of who does it what is actually needed to drop that unit?
not gonna last forever and dont want to have tear up floors because the bolts keep spinning and you cant get to the heads and if they get cut from underneath to drrop the unit then you have to replace the bolts regardless.
good luck.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

an opinion.
use the shortest bolt length possible with either a lock washer or a lock nut and the most important part is three bolt threads past the nut.
if its to long past the nut then that is that much extra rusted threads that you have muck with trying to get it apart.

[musigenesis]

Those bolts are through the sheet metal almost dead center between the two floor cross-members (which is where the seams are). Being bolted through a sheet of 3/4" plywood as well as the sheet metal makes for a stronger support (or at least it used to when the plywood spanned the cross-members) than just the relatively bendy sheet metal. I would replace the bit of plywood with a piece of steel plate (maybe 3/16" or thicker) that spanned both cross-members and then re-bolt it. Or at least use much larger fender washers.

Perhaps that fan is light enough that this doesn't matter, I dunno.

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Those bolts are through the sheet metal almost dead center between the two floor cross-members (which is where the seams are). Being bolted through a sheet of 3/4" plywood as well as the sheet metal makes for a stronger support (or at least it used to when the plywood spanned the cross-members) than just the relatively bendy sheet metal. I would replace the bit of plywood with a piece of steel plate (maybe 3/16" or thicker) that spanned both cross-members and then re-bolt it. Or at least use much larger fender washers.

Perhaps that fan is light enough that this doesn't matter, I dunno.

Yep this ^^

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

there is more than just that fan in that box that those bolts are supporting.

[Danjo]

Yeah, you should make a strap out of 3/16” x 3”, 6” longer than the distance between those bolts and then measure and drill for the bolt spacing, centering the strap to the bolts. Use the same diameter Carriage bolt, And a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than the diagonal of the square on the face of the bolt so when you torque it down it cuts and locks into the face of the strap.

Unless your strap lands in a corrugationbor you are adding insulation, you’ll need to hog out the plywood you lay over top, or you’ll have a bump.