Straight Bussin, no cap fr fr.

[fo4imtippin]

I appreciate the concern. The welds are okay. They popcorn a bit but upon close inspection they do penetrate the steel deeply

I only have a 110v Lincoln and doing flux core.

Flux core uses a reverse polarity setup which draws it out the weld a little more and makes a popcorn like look. Flux core, it's not clean but it's very strong. The flux in the wire allows it to bond with the steel it's being welded to more than traditional 220v welding, just not as clean looking. It's literally impossible to stack dimes on a 110 flux core setup due to the way it draws up the steel.

I've been pulling a mini-excavator on a trailer I built with the same welds and I check them periodically for cracking. I've not yet experienced any cracks. 12k lbs total weight of trailer + excavator, and it's been holding up great.

I also in addition to using flux core, I also cut a V groove into all of the weld spots with a grinder death wheel so I have a much wider crevice I welded into, so there's deeper welding you aren't seeing in the pictures. So for every weld line you see, I have 2 layers of weld. One in the Crevice, and then another layer on top.

It's not my first time welding stuff, just my first trailer hitch. I've yet to have anything I've welded come apart on me with this Lincoln and I've done a lot of weight testing over the years. That being said, I will pull some lighter loads first with it and inspect it after every pull carefully to be sure, but I'm not worried about it. I'm mostly using the hitch for light loads, not planning on pulling my cars or excavator on it.

I wanna use it for a 200 lb carry cart mostly.

I did push welding

slag=drag.. Try pulling your welds. Dont test that thing with a trailer on it. Your machine and wire is too small for that thickness of metal. attached is a flux core weld at the limit of .035 wire. This was from my hitch. Its got its issues, but it is possible to have nice flux core welds. The worst stuff is thin gauge metal, that will popcorn or burn through.

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

just looks like he needs to turn his wire speed down and heat up and pay more attention to the weld puddle and not the flux puddle.

 

[nikitis]

Lol, you guys are funny.

I'm not redoing it. It's plenty strong. I know what I'm talking about. I'm not a newb at welding. Popcorn welding is acceptable in practice, you just don't see it often because most shops use 220 with gas to look more professional. It's a stigma.

I promise you there's no way in hell this thing is gonna snap on me. Now if My welds looked like that with argon gas 220v welder, then yes, I'd hang up the towel because I'd suck so bad at welding I wouldn't even try it again because you can stack dimes with 220v easily. I'm practiced with flux core. It is a safe weld.

I don't even have electrical hookups yet so I won't be carrying vehicles or anything that heavy with it. The main use for it is a carry on cage, and a 12k lb wench to get me out of stuck situations should my tires ever sink into the ground for any reason. I have a Silverado 1500 to pull the mini-excavator.

 

[Omnibot2000]

nikits.
throw it in the back and bring it down to me and we will run my stick machine over everything.
i hate flux core because it looks like **** over mig with gas or a 6010 root and 7018 cover.

Please take that offer.

I have sticked, mig at work and have a .35 120 volt flux welder and it should look better then that.

I cranked my heat to the max and can form a puddle and lay 3 hot passes on 1/4 steel and yes it will splatter more then mig but will run continues bead.

Not trying to knock you down, just saying in 5 years from now with a trailer on it, it'll likely come apart. I am taking the time in saying this.....looking out for you.

 

[Omnibot2000]

I'm not a licensed welder but this is 3 pass with 35 wire with 120 volt flux core that I scratched up in 5 minutes.

 

[jimmythomas]

Here is a perfect example of Skoolie Build certification.
Would any welding instructor pass those welds?
Just trying to make the world a safer place.

 

[Albatross]

Please don't use this.


Your design is nice, almost worrying, as having metal that thick basically squaring up your frame seems like it would make a rear-impact or a side-impact in the back almost certain to bend your frame rails.


But those welds are woefully insufficient, and although I'm a novice welder, my understanding of things is that pretty much any 110VAC welder is going to max-out on something like 1/4" steel. Essentially, you're welding too cold, so slow down your feed rate, and slow down your push/pull movement. The fact that you're welding some kind of 6" plate also means that you've got enough mass in the metal to suck tons of heat out of the weld, which means that you either need to slow down even more, or spend some time with a torch heating up your workspace.



I would seriously consider taking it someone with a bigger welder, since that should make things an easier job. But we've also got a 440VAC Miller that is currently set up to spray-weld, and also a 240VAC MIG, and a 110VAC TIG/MIG welder, and a couple of spot-welders. Considering the size of that steel, I would use at least a 240VAC machine, and preferably some shielding gas as well.


But mostly, I am just hoping that this is some kind of a troll, because it seems like a Darwin award waiting to happen.

 

[nikitis]

On a trip to Myrtle Beach. Taking the bus with the family this time. First trip together on the 3 box. Got a state park camp ground with hookups ready. The bus only has a 15 amp connection for now. We're viewing this as a steel tent kinda adventure pre roof raise.

I also need to build up the wife happy capital of you know what I mean.

I'll be in posting pics all weekend of the adventure.

On the way we already saw a revolutionary war reenactment and I got to go Park next to 50 modern school buses. The bus drivers loved seeing the 3 box, and I think the 3 box was happy to be with it's grandchildren.

 

[UFO pilot]

I meant to ask about the couch because I can't find the post, was it off the shelf or did you build on something to make it work? Very interested in how your setup works out, my interior build will be "short bus" style with the garage taking half of my 35' interior space

On a trip to Myrtle Beach.........I'll be in posting pics all weekend of the adventure.

Be safe and don't forget a post-trip report! :marshmallow:

 

[nikitis]

I meant to ask about the couch because I can't find the post, was it off the shelf or did you build on something to make it work? Very interested in how your setup works out, my interior build will be "short bus" style with the garage taking half of my 35' interior space



Be safe and don't forget a post-trip report! :marshmallow:

The couch was a Goodwill find. Had 1970 type legs, metal bars that V out, so using circle hooks works perfectly and has one of those fancy style arms on both sides that fold down to make a bed. I was really lucky to find such a thing. I've not seen such a couch ever and doubt you'll find one in a store today like it. I have started see IKEA make the closest type of furniture today to it. I'll look it over and see if I can find some sort of brand name for you

 

[nikitis]

Update on family trip.

Woke up from our Myrtle Beach trip camp site in the metal tent that is the bus. Having a lot of fun in it even in it's incomplete state. It was an unusual temp of 82 outside and got in the bus. There was however a breeze outside and I thought to open the top emergency hatch and rear door for proper ventilation. Worked really well and slept comfortable on my new OSB XPS 4 in floor. Temp of floor was room temp all night.

We drove off the camp site and went to the Renaissance fair. Wife's favorite event of the year. I hadn't seen her so excited on a trip before and it wasn't just the ren fair. She had a grin at the thought of taking the bus to the beach and couldn't believe we were actually taking the bus even though we are a long way from being in a finished state she enjoyed the ability to view the SC country side through 360 degree window views.while sitting on a couch with seatbelts on the way to it all. She was so happy.

This morning the bus almost didn't start. Long crank. Oil pressure was a little lower than before but everything else looked fine. I checked the oil and it seems it was getting low. Not dangerous levels of low but it needed some. I poured about 2 quarts, checked the new dip stick, was full, then she started right up. Easy. The T444E likes to be topped off when cold starting I'm finding out and is sensitive to it. I figured I may have burned a lot of oil since I drove 1000 miles to Florida and back just last weekend and now 300 to Myrtle Beach SC.

Getting ready to prep for the night to go to sleep for night 2.
The temps have changed and it is to be real cold tonight, like 50 with a strong beach wind. The bus is holding the heat well from the warm day so far, and even without our inner skins installed. The floor is doing its job well keeping previous temps in. I anticipate a more comfortable night tonight and am curious to see how long it takes for the bus to normalize to outside temps tonight.

One last thought to those building.a Skoolie, don't forget to take your rig out on trips even in an unfinished state. It will give you more motivation to continue your build and you need to enjoy it along the way. It also helps you realize what's important for you to put into the build and build around your needs. Get out there and have some fun!

 

[DanFrazoo]

Looks like a good time!

 

[nikitis]

So as you can see from the last picture (2 posts up), The lighting situation wasn't great for the camping trip.

This made me think that I should proceed with installing some LED Lighting on the inside.

I don't mind modernizing the inside of the bus since nothing is going to be original there anyway. I will not be installing LED lighting on the outside likely.

Even though I have a roof raise in mind soon, I think I could order some lights and hang them via strings, and go ahead and proceed with the wiring.

Two thoughts came to mind. I will want to use lighting even if my solar batteries died potentially at night. So why don't I hook them up to both the Busses battery main AND the solar batteries when I get them? I could use the existing wiring for the old lights now, and simply replace them. They use the hat channels for grounds, and it's a simple power wire daisy chained throughout the whole bus ceiling. I'll then add a loop on the same positive wire to the solar battery bank (which doesn't exist yet but will and I know where I plan to put it, and loop that wire to a switch at the Bus control panel.

Follow me here. The bus control panel will switch the circuit between the Bus batteries, and the solar batteries so that they aren't both feeding into each other at the same time. It'll be one or the other.

I like this idea because it keeps control of the ceiling lights at the drivers seat in case it's night and I can't see, I can switch them off taking control away from the Family. Driver safety comes first. I can leave the lights on the solar bank the majority of the time, but override it when driving.

That's my idea. I don't know if I'm the first to try this or not, but I have not heard of anyone doing this. Also having light while I work on the bus at night will help if it's already installed. Since we're already taking the bus and having fun with it, lighting would be nice to have already for camping in the steel tent as well. So it makes sense to proceed with installation of the lighting now.

I attempted to buy some 12v LED's and tried to hook one up to the system, and I blew a fuse instantly. I heard it pop somewhere but had no idea where the fuse was. so I had to trace the wire through the harness, and it lead me to the driver side control panel box. I found the old fuse block the wire was traced to. And sure enough 20 amp blown.

Replaced the 20 amp, and figured maybe since this was a chinese made LED, the ground and positive wires were switched causing it to blow. I swapped the wiring. Often times in China the Positive wire is Black. And white is ground. I don't know who's standard has changed these things but growing up BLACK was always ground. White or any other color was POWER. (Green neutral if applicable). But in the last 5 years i've noticed everything I order from China is Black is power, and White is ground.

Anyway I tried swapping them, and fuse isn't blown when I flip the switch but also no light either. (Did I blow the LED light up?) I used a multimeter, and sure enough 12v is going through the light and onto the next older bulb incandescent light still installed and working. I opened the back and found the voltage requirements and they sent me the wrong lights. 120V lights were sent.....

Well I'm not powering up 120V LED's with 12V's that's for sure...... I do have a few lights in my house that could use replacing so I used them there instead. I re-ordered some 12V lights from a different vendor because apparently they can't tell the difference between 120V and 12V's...

It was actually pretty hard to source 12V lights that were puck shaped and 4.5 inches. There were plenty of 2.75in lights, but not larger. All the 4.5in lights were 120V's. Due to also coming from china, and with the Thanksgiving holidays shipping is looking to not arrive until Saturday Nov 30th. A whole friggin week.... I hate our economy sometimes. There are no local shops selling such lights I could find. I searched for a couple of hours. Even at higher prices like Home Depot, the selection of what I required didn't exist.

I needed warm lights. (I dislike the 5000k lighting. I enjoy 2700-3500k lighting), 4.5 inches wide, 12V, and white in puck shape. Finding the lights I need with all 5 combinations was pretty difficult.

I'll update this thread when I get the lights. What do you guys buy for lighting in your rigs?

 

[AlphaHare]

I've been pleased with various LED parts from Partsam on Amazon. They have DOT requirements molded in for some items like tail lights to keep compliant, but look for it, not all do.

I don't have much time on anything yet, so longevity is unknown.

Personally, I'm planning on keeping my starting batteries isolated from the house. The starting batteries will power only what Ford wired them to (plus my now LED running lights.)

If I need power, I'll start the engine and take advantage of the alternator charging back to the house.

 

[nikitis]

Those look good shape wise. They would work on my bus. They appear to be exterior lights. Right now I'm working on interior lighting to replace my existing incandescent ceiling lights. Do they make pick style interior?

Also update on bus build. I got itching to do some more wiring waiting on the lights to come, so I cleaned up the dash a tad. Gave it a wipe down. First one in two years since I owned it.

Removed all of the stickers for Vandalock since it's not there any longer. I removed the system.

I was also looking for an optimum spot to remount my J1708 6 pin connector since international didn't put it back in its original spot because they decided to use that hole to zip tie my new VPM to there instead literally leaving my port hanging in air. I thought I was going to have to make a steel plate to mount the 6 port to but realized on the left side of the gauge cluster there is nothing there but a flat panel. Perfect for some upgrades

Pic below shows my 6 port hooked up to a J1939 adapter and I drilled a hole through the panel and inserted the 9 Port so I can plug the Bluefire into it.

 

[nikitis]

Update to build.

Installed USB-C to the front dash bringing the bus into the 21st century. Also shows my battery voltage.

Additionally. I upgraded my lights to a warm 3700k LED puck light system for my bus battery system. I plan to add a loop and switch so I can switch between using the lights from the front switch board and also hook up the lights to the solar battery bank I'll get soon. This way I can always have lights if my solar dies during night prematurely I can flip a switch and it reroute lights to the bus battery. For now though, it's just hooked up to the bus batteries so I don't have to carry extra lights with us on trips.

They are just temporarily installed using zip ties for now but are now wired and working until I get to the ceiling panels down the road.

 

[nikitis]

Update. 12-02-2024

Just bought a ball hitch. Getting ready to clean out the garage and take the Honda Rancher ES to the 30 acres pulled by the bus. I had a lower 5 3/4 lower extender for the ball mount to lower the height. I don't see that they make even longer ones than that. I'd like to have maybe a 7 or 9 inch lower ball hitch.

May have to custom make one of those too.

It's a bit nippy here in SC now. Decided to plug in the block heater for the first time. I was trying to figure out a good way to know if it's working or not. Once I plugged it in and got under it I could hear a sizzling, so it's definitely working.

I used my new creeper to get under the bus and followed the block heater wire. Looks like it goes straight to the side of the engine where the fuel filter is at. Makes sense because you'd want warm fuel. I guess it heats up the fuel anyway. I know it warms the block but wasn't sure of the fuel.

I know I can leave it in all the time if I don't mind my electric bill. Heating elements are the most costly use of electricity as you know. They say 3-4 hours before you use it should be sufficient for a power stroke, so T444E should be the same.

I was researching real world recorded tests with the block heater and saw that it can bring up from 39 degrees to 80 in 1 hour which is usable and should start. After 4 hours it was at 116 degrees on average if its 40 degrees outside. Two days ago when it first dropped in temps the bus was not wanting to start again so today's test is gonna find out if it will start first crank easily after 1 hour of block heater time. Still got 40 mins to go to the 1 hour mark.

 

[Omnibot2000]

Update. 12-02-2024

Just bought a ball hitch. Getting ready to clean out the garage and take the Honda Rancher ES to the 30 acres pulled by the bus. I had a lower 5 3/4 lower extender for the ball mount to lower the height. I don't see that they make even longer ones than that. I'd like to have maybe a 7 or 9 inch lower ball hitch.

May have to custom make one of those too.


It's a bit nippy here in SC now. Decided to plug in the block heater for the first time. I was trying to figure out a good way to know if it's working or not. Once I plugged it in and got under it I could hear a sizzling, so it's definitely working.

I used my new creeper to get under the bus and followed the block heater wire. Looks like it goes straight to the side of the engine where the fuel filter is at. Makes sense because you'd want warm fuel. I guess it heats up the fuel anyway. I know it warms the block but wasn't sure of the fuel.

I know I can leave it in all the time if I don't mind my electric bill. Heating elements are the most costly use of electricity as you know. They say 3-4 hours before you use it should be sufficient for a power stroke, so T444E should be the same.

I was researching real world recorded tests with the block heater and saw that it can bring up from 39 degrees to 80 in 1 hour which is usable and should start. After 4 hours it was at 116 degrees on average if its 40 degrees outside. Two days ago when it first dropped in temps the bus was not wanting to start again so today's test is gonna find out if it will start first crank easily after 1 hour of block heater time. Still got 40 mins to go to the 1 hour mark.

That filter should be your oil filter, your oil filter is threaded into the rear oil cooler housing. The block heater should be threaded in that same housing. I believe that filter should say B7039 I think for the Baldwin filter. Your picture is fuzzy.

 

[nikitis]

Ah yes you are correct. So it is just for oil and block heating then.

 

[Omnibot2000]

Ah yes you are correct. So it is just for oil and block heating then.

Yes. Generally they were about 1000 watts I believe but some said they were 1500 watts.

I do remember putting in a 1500 watt circulating heater on my powerstroke and the temp gauge was in the normal band when I keyed on. It worked to good and would not cycle my glow plugs long enough. Ended up making it harder to start believe it or not. Plus once started my temp dropped because of the cold engine oil. I ended up going back to the OEM block heater.