No weld roof raise

[IC08]

Hey all, been planning my roof raise awhile and its going to be winter soon so I need a plan

originally i was just going to copy wes from transcendence for like everything, but as I have no welding experience and don't want to start the other welding projects until later so now im hoping to postpone buying a welder but still pull it off as fool proof as possible. I don't want my roof held up by suspect welds when i can bolt and know for sure its tight.

for this end im thinking custom hat channel at the local shop, and scaffolding for the raise method like nat_ster did. what im stuck on is a method for a "channel slider", wes welded on some all thread but ive seen people just weld square tube inside the channel tightly and kind of tie it to the channel on the bottom half so it just slides up and keeps things straight.

Basically, can I pull off a "channel slider" by just bolting in some square tube as opposed to welding it in? I'm sure this depends on gauge as well..

I've heard about inserts that can help support the square tube from bending around the holes, wondering if i could even just cut some out of 2by4 just to jam them in the ends and give it a little peace of mind. Feel free to let me know how crazy I am

 

[GWRider-SKO]

Hey all, been planning my roof raise awhile and its going to be winter soon so I need a plan

originally i was just going to copy wes from transcendence for like everything, but as I have no welding experience and don't want to start the other welding projects until later so now im hoping to postpone buying a welder but still pull it off as fool proof as possible. I don't want my roof held up by suspect welds when i can bolt and know for sure its tight.

for this end im thinking custom hat channel at the local shop, and scaffolding for the raise method like nat_ster did. what im stuck on is a method for a "channel slider", wes welded on some all thread but ive seen people just weld square tube inside the channel tightly and kind of tie it to the channel on the bottom half so it just slides up and keeps things straight.

Basically, can I pull off a "channel slider" by just bolting in some square tube as opposed to welding it in? I'm sure this depends on gauge as well..

I've heard about inserts that can help support the square tube from bending around the holes, wondering if i could even just cut some out of 2by4 just to jam them in the ends and give it a little peace of mind. Feel free to let me know how crazy I am

I was kind of in a similar situation regarding the lack of welding skills. I ended up raising the roof on our Crown by myself after I studied several raises. I had not touched a welder (stick) since High school, so I practiced with my MIG by making 4 adjustable hydraulic bottle jack assemblies. The assembly itself is pretty basic and made with square tubing inside a larger square tube with plates welded to it that the jack fits between. I even put scribe marks (by inch) on it so I would not have to constantly have to measure until I reached the final height. Each assembly is then bolted to a vertical support (can be reused or sold to someone else). Afterwards, I made my cuts and then proceeded to raise it 16 inches by jacking in very small increments in round robin fashion. The welding part was not as difficult as it seems and by the time the assemblies were done, I was laying down some nice welds. Not sure if this is something your willing to try yourself but thought I would mention it.

 

[IC08]

I am so burned out on researching raises lol. If my brain is still functioning properly then I think you are saying you did something like this?

he installs some L shaped pieces in and fits jacks in them at about 1min, it seemed harder at first but now that I think about it its like a slider and a jack in one could save me some trouble. Of course if im wrong please elaborate.

 

[ewo1]

I have done 2 roof raises so far each time using the "Channel slider" you mentioned.

On the second bus it was a one man job!

check it out -> https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f10/roof-raise-hat-channel-slider-24890.html

 

[family wagon]

I used scaffold like nat_ster did. Didn't use any sliders at all. One scaffold frame at each end with diagonal bracing between the scaffold frame and the roof kept things neatly under control. It's been a long time now but I think I used some ratchet straps too as limiters to constrain how much the roof could move sideways or front/back should things go haywire.

 

[GWRider-SKO]

I am so burned out on researching raises lol. If my brain is still functioning properly then I think you are saying you did something like this?

he installs some L shaped pieces in and fits jacks in them at about 1min, it seemed harder at first but now that I think about it its like a slider and a jack in one could save me some trouble. Of course if im wrong please elaborate.

Yes, that is basically it except I drilled holes and bolted it to the vertical channel instead of welding them to it. This allows them to be easily removed and reused. I also added inch scribe lines as mentioned earlier. Just make sure the square tubing slides easily in and out but also not to loose. This will keep the roof aligned and can only go up or down. The biggest difference with a Crown is that the hat channel faces the opposite direction so my jacks were actually on the outside of the bus instead of being inside like his Thomas. It still worked great and allowed me to do it by myself.