Best bus to roof raise?

[melwade]

It seems the International REs have less interior space due to the air intake configuration. Any workarounds for that?

 

[o1marc]

It seems the International REs have less interior space due to the air intake configuration. Any workarounds for that?

Usually where the queen bedroom is with the bed above the engine cover. Leaves room underneath for storage

 

[John 321]

Roof Raise Thomas Bus RE

I’ve had good luck with mine. It’s a 1996, 34 feet long model.

 

[FAC]

https://imgur.com/gS6w0dn
https://imgur.com/bJ1Ldcu
https://imgur.com/pi4EtzF
https://imgur.com/1egSuz7
https://imgur.com/zouJXyE
https://imgur.com/Cib3lTl
https://imgur.com/iPo6Kcn
https://imgur.com/bJ1Ldcu

If you can do a roof raise you can do a roof raise on a Thomas if your a newbie welder buy a straight walled bus! Sure it’s a little bit more thought with the angled walls but if you can fab your not scared of 6*!

 

[kidharris]

I found rivet removal fairly easy: used an air hammer with sharpened chisel bit from the inside to shave off backs of the rivets. After, use the punch bit to pop out them out from the inside. Only took a few seconds per rivet. I found this was faster /easier than drilling all the holes in the sheets.

For any screws that are stripped out, i figured out that cutting a groove with a cutoff disc (on an angle grinder) into the head of the screw, then use a flat tipped screwdriver bit will easily removed any blown-out screw... If i had figured this 'trick' out sooner, I could have saved myself days.

An appropriate sized Roberts will usually work on phillips head screws where the driver slips the slot.



BTW, I read a long time ago that the phillips head was designed to slip to prevent stripping out the threads. That explains a lot.

 

[kidharris]

Owning one, I'm gonna say no.

The trick to raising a Thomas is to raise it from below the window line where the body starts to taper -- this way you're raising the body where it's straight and the insert you make is straight and then the tapered part sits above your raised section.

Do Thomas bus windows leak more than other buses? Sloping the windows doesn't seem like a good idea as far as waterproofing goes alltho I have never studied the details to have a solid reason to say that. Have to do that someday since I have a Thomas to look at.

 

[Ceno]

https://imgur.com/gS6w0dn
https://imgur.com/bJ1Ldcu
https://imgur.com/pi4EtzF
https://imgur.com/1egSuz7
https://imgur.com/zouJXyE
https://imgur.com/Cib3lTl
https://imgur.com/iPo6Kcn
https://imgur.com/bJ1Ldcu

If you can do a roof raise you can do a roof raise on a Thomas if your a newbie welder buy a straight walled bus! Sure it’s a little bit more thought with the angled walls but if you can fab your not scared of 6*!

Well I'm no pro but definitely not new to welding. Lol