Snow plow on a bus?

[swinada]

just not very practicle unless you only have to plow a long straight driveway. Anything else requires lots of turning and back and forth, which would be very cumbersome with a skoolie. 4x4 really helps with plowing also.

 

[the_experience03]

I suppose if a person were to get a Class C bus in the 36 passenger or smaller class you could do it. You would be limited as to how much plow you could run because the front axle on a bus isn't speced to carry a lot of extra weight because...well...they just don't have to. You would also suffer from a lack of ballast unless you were to chop the roof and mount up a v-box spreader. In the end I don't think it would be a very efficient or cost effective choice...unless you had an old plow just sitting around collecting dust in which case I know I would be welding brackets on just because.

 

[pete c-SKO]

4wd is helpful with plowing because a teeny weeny pickem up needs it. But, ever notice that real snow plow trucks, the ones that keep miles of road clear are always rwd only. when you got a bazillion pounds sitting on the drive wheels, 4wd is not neccessary. So, my guess is that a skoolie, particularly a RE skoolie would be fine for plowing roads. It would suck doing strip mall parking lots though.
As for weight on the front axle, seems to me that it wouldn't be an issue. 70 kids weigh more than a plow.

 

[swinada]

4wd is helpful with plowing because a teeny weeny pickem up needs it. But, ever notice that real snow plow trucks, the ones that keep miles of road clear are always rwd only.

However i doubt that a skoolie owner has miles of road to keep clean, more likely a drive way and a yard in which the short 4x4 excels.
Also, ever notice that the real RWD snowplows also have a few tonnes of sand or other aggregate on the back to keep all that weight on the rear axle. I doubt that anybody would like to fill their skoolie with sand or salt.

My Quad with a 5ft blade does a great job at plowing!

 

[lapeer20m]

one more thing is that if you use your bus to earn any money plowing snow it is no longer a motorhome but falls into the commercial vehicle category and requires the driver to have a CDL, commercial insurance, and commercial registration/plates (in michigan the plates are about $1,200/yr)

however, i agree that a 2wd bus would do a fine job plowing snow in a straight line...as long as it's not a fe tc2000, they suck when it comes to low traction enviroments. My dog nosed buses always did excellent in the snow.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Even though buses are 2WD

In the northern states you can find buses that are 4WD.

 

[the_experience03]

As for weight on the front axle, seems to me that it wouldn't be an issue. 70 kids weigh more than a plow.

I think there is some truth to that although I know my front axle is much closer to its GAWR than the rear is. It would really depend on what kind of plow a person was talking about. If you were just going to hang a 10 foot Boss or Meyer or [insert brand here] light commercial type plow I don't think it would be an issue. I was thinking more along the lines of a real municipal/heavy commercial plow like one made by Falls or Bonnell. By the time you get the undercarriage reinforcements done, the central hydraulics installed, the headgear fitted, etc I think you would be plenty close to the limits.

I talked to a guy that is in management over in the county garage. I guess they have to spec their trucks with smaller, lower HP engines than they would like so that they don't overload the heaviest axle available in the chassis. Interestingly enough they also usually have 1 or 2 more leafs on one side than the other just to compensate for the weight of the shelving and patrol wings. THAT'S the kind of plow I was thinking of overloading the front axle with.

 

[pete c-SKO]

jason,

just mount that overgrown lighter on the hood and melt the stuff away.

 

[lapeer20m]

i think someone needs to mount a plow on their bus! Then we can see how well/poorly it works. One of those medium duty chassis short buses aren't much longer than a pickup. There are plenty of 2wd dump trucks around here that plow snow and they don't have a much better turning radius than a short bus.

 

[dlor1]

There's a guy giving away a snow plow in my neighborhood. We we're thinking today of how we could get it on the bus. We live at 10,000 ft in Breckenridge, CO. Even if it didn't work it would still probably be worth it.

Why aren't TC2000's good in low traction situations.

 

[lapeer20m]

because the engine is so far in front of the front axle, it works like a teeter-tauter pushing the front of the bus towards the ground and trying to pick the rear wheels up into the air. It doesn't actually pick the rear wheels off the ground, but it significantly reduces the amount of weight on the rear wheels which equals less traction.

I would imagine a rear engine bus would have significant traction in the snow, but may not steer so good.

 

[KC10Chief]

Yeah, I sure wouldn't try this on a bus. Most plows that I see around here are mounted on 3/4 ton trucks. The dual rear wheels on the back hurt too. It distributes the weight too much. Then you don't get enough traction on the rear wheels. If you've ever seen a dually stuck in the mud, you'd know what I'm talking about. I just don't think it would be practical on a skoolie. MAYBE a bus built on a van chassis with a diesel and a single rear wheel axle. Even then, I don't think it would work that good.

 

[lapeer20m]

Yeah, I sure wouldn't try this on a bus. Most plows that I see around here are mounted on 3/4 ton trucks. The dual rear wheels on the back hurt too. It distributes the weight too much. Then you don't get enough traction on the rear wheels. If you've ever seen a dually stuck in the mud, you'd know what I'm talking about. I just don't think it would be practical on a skoolie. MAYBE a bus built on a van chassis with a diesel and a single rear wheel axle. Even then, I don't think it would work that good.

don't get me wrong, i think a skoolie would make an excellent "plow truck" when it comes to pushing snow. Although not so good when it comes to maneuverability. Not much different than this truck: (minus the 5 tons of salt he can put in the bed)

on a conventional bus, or preferably shorter i think a skoolie would push far more snow than any conventional 4x4 1 ton pickup truck. I'll gladly hook a strap from my bumper to any 1 ton 4x4 and play tug-of-war with them on snow gravel or dry pavement.

one more negative thing about a plow bus. Getting stuck! Though it probably wouldn't happen often, It's never good to get stuck when you're the biggest thing around. Be careful.

i think you should put the plow on and make a youtube video plowing through 12 inches of fresh snow!

 

[reprobate]

I'd put a plow on my bus as the guinea pig, but we only get 4" of snow a decade.