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Old 03-27-2023, 07:43 PM   #1
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Lightbulb Idea: Building my Underframe Platform using Straight Side-Walls from Donor Bus Body

As the dollar gets exponentially cheaper on the supply and demand side, I am getting even more ingenious repurposing ideas.

In another thread I described my idea for an under-frame platform superstructure using a welded 1 1/2" box steel frame and a 1/8" plate steel to skin it top and bottom.

I called one metal store for a quote in June last year and it was over $3K for the bare metal. Granted this was a quote from Metals Supermarket, which markets themselves as the Convenience Store Of Metals, and I Expect Convenience Store Prices from a store marketing themselves as the Convenience Store Of Metals.

I'm expecting the prices at Non-Convenience store Metal places to be at or exceeding $3K by now. I live in California if you are wondering about the elevated price levels compared to your state.

So I thought, what if I could use the walls from a donor bus and use that as the platform? Looking at my exposed Wayne body, I saw what was once a super strong box structure. If I could find a donor bus body I could use the wall as my platform.

After being cut out of a bus body, the walls are already most of the way to a box frame, I would likely need to reinforce the "top" and "bottom" of the wall segment with square tube steel. However, the steel is already riveted and welded together, and the sheet steel is already galvanized and painted with quality paint on what was the inside and outside wall. The former rub rails would add major structural support being on the bottom. I would still need tube steel, just a lot less of it. I would probably need a magnet crane to move out a 8 foot wall segment.

Could You Please Put Holes In This Idea? Assuming I found a bus wall on the beefier side, Is it even competitive to building a frame from scratch when factoring in the reinforcing and modifications needed to turn a wall into a platform?

Could I build my platform for less money and labor and get something just as strong as rust resistant compared to building from scratch?

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body work, idea, storage, underbay, underframe

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