Was possibly in an accident?

o1marc said:
I'm failing to see any negative issue here. You have something many of us wish we had and you only see negative. My guess is they pulled a bus body out of the line and modified it to a customer spec with no wheel wells. The tracks lean towards that theory.
So bottom line, what is the concern?
I'd like to see a pic of the wheel well from the exterior.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm sayin! :thumb:
 
Can you step on the bump and it pushes right back down and pops up?
If not then it is probably years of road dirt and gunk stuck under it because the original installer missed a few fasteners in the wheel well delete.
You need to Crawl under the bus and clean that specific area up/out to actually know what's going on.
If it looks good after that then send us a picture and WE will help you secure it properly
 
Pics of the axle and spring mounts to the frame and of the frame in those areas can't help us tell you if the damage you suspect is from an accident?
Is or is not in our thoughts and opinions of your pictures.
I ain't a doctor,lawyer,insurance man/or heavy vehicle frame engineer?
But I/We can look at your better location specific pics and give you our opinion of if the axle/spring mounts,frame have been repaired/fixed/bent due to an accident .
That can only be told in the rear wheel area?
Underneath the bus.
 
My bluebird has 2 foot panels fore to aft except where the fuel tank sending unit is and it is a three foot panel with an access panel with screws in it The other answer is probably yes you could "lose"your wheel wells but you would be giving up speed (smaller diameter tire) If your bus is late model you would probably need a reprogram vehicles that were not engineered for "low pro"tires don't handle as well as designed and tire wear suffers other than that it should be a go. Gene
 
Gdog 5651 said:
My bluebird has 2 foot panels fore to aft except where the fuel tank sending unit is and it is a three foot panel with an access panel with screws in it The other answer is probably yes you could "lose"your wheel wells but you would be giving up speed (smaller diameter tire) If your bus is late model you would probably need a reprogram vehicles that were not engineered for "low pro"tires don't handle as well as designed and tire wear suffers other than that it should be a go. Gene
Click to expand...


I wonder the well/tire clearance of my bus at full compression. Going to a 19.5" only gains you 1.5" in wheel, how much lower profile is the tire? I gotta go look at mine now.

PS not happening, the 22.5's are already taller than the floor.
 
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I know I'm probably going overboard with this, but I've been in situations that's backfired on me. I'm more cautious now. I have no intention as of yet to let this go after putting so much sweat and effort into it. You all have put a silver lining back into this, I appreciate it. I found a guy who does bodywork to take a look at it. Wish me luck.
 
skytz said:
I know I'm probably going overboard with this, but I've been in situations that's backfired on me. I'm more cautious now. I have no intention as of yet to let this go after putting so much sweat and effort into it. You all have put a silver lining back into this, I appreciate it. I found a guy who does bodywork to take a look at it. Wish me luck.
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IMG_7141.JPGIMG_7143.JPG

Skytz, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’ve included pictures of how the area looked around where my wheel wells should have been and mine were a little more rusted there than the rest of the floor. I have a Thomas bus however it looks like Bluebird just does it a little different than Thomas to make a flat floor to accommodate wheel chairs.

The only thing is to make sure once you remove the rust, treat and seal any holes in that area.

Hope this helps to reassure you that you didn’t get an accident bus!

-Marshal
 
If I understand it correctly then the different sheet of metal is above the rear tires?
In that case I doubt that the bus was modified and the rear wheel wells removed. The whole bottom track is continues and on the floor level so that mean that if they removed the rear wheel wells that they also lowered the track to the floor. Seems a lot of work and a lot of money. Way cheaper for the district to buy a good used handicapped bus.



May be a rear spring broke and the tired pushed thru the floor panels. They fixed that and put a repair panel up against the side wall track.

Just check under the vehicle and look for rust, make a couple of pics from the area. don't be to worried, If they used it was safe and a repaired area is newer then the other stuff.


good luck, Johan
 
Tarheel Travelers said:
View attachment 25440View attachment 25441

Skytz, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’ve included pictures of how the area looked around where my wheel wells should have been and mine were a little more rusted there than the rest of the floor. I have a Thomas bus however it looks like Bluebird just does it a little different than Thomas to make a flat floor to accommodate wheel chairs.

The only thing is to make sure once you remove the rust, treat and seal any holes in that area.

Hope this helps to reassure you that you didn’t get an accident bus!

-Marshal
Click to expand...
Oh wow, your floor is really different than what I've seen in the past. What year is it?
 
Dan
We have a very large bus Manufacturer in Tulsa that requires a drug test to get hired. I bet if anyone working there saw this post they would be insulted by your caracture of their work ethic.

As to whether or not it was in an accident? Why does it matter if the repair was done correctly and it runs true down the road?

Is there a Carfax for trucks?

It appears you are actual bennificary of a post mod wheel chair bus. Be happy.
 
The most likely reason the area over the rear axle is one large sheet instead of the smaller "strips" is actually rather simple. I'm betting it came from the factory like this. The wheel wells don't have any floor support ribs like the rest of the floor does, needing to make room for the tires (the center portion probably does, though). They probably needed to use thicker metal to span this area with the same support that the rest of the floor has. I am further guessing it was easier/cheaper to do this for the entire section of floor as opposed to just the wheel sections.
 
Celticlady said:
Dan
We have a very large bus Manufacturer in Tulsa that requires a drug test to get hired. I bet if anyone working there saw this post they would be insulted by your caracture of their work ethic.

As to whether or not it was in an accident? Why does it matter if the repair was done correctly and it runs true down the road?

Is there a Carfax for trucks?

It appears you are actual bennificary of a post mod wheel chair bus. Be happy.
Click to expand...

I've owned buses built in Arkansas and saw some seriously laughable "work ethic". The welds and general fit and finish were pretty crude to be polite.
And honestly drug testing to get hired doesn't really mean too much. The best builders/fabricators I know all smoke pot. I'd take a competent pot head over a straight edge guy whose welds look like crap any day.
OP's bus looks par for the course if you ask me. They're not pretty when you dig into them, but they're not meant to be. They're simply built to be strong enough to haul everyones kids around for 15-20 years.
 
EastCoastCB said:
I've owned buses built in Arkansas and saw some seriously laughable "work ethic". The welds and general fit and finish were pretty crude to be polite.
And honestly drug testing to get hired doesn't really mean too much. The best builders/fabricators I know all smoke pot. I'd take a competent pot head over a straight edge guy whose welds look like crap any day.
OP's bus looks par for the course if you ask me. They're not pretty when you dig into them, but they're not meant to be. They're simply built to be strong enough to haul everyone's kids around for 15-20 years.
Click to expand...


And in this vein, I'll just park this right here ....


https://icsw.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/buses/carpenterbus/
 
Yeah, this is scary!! While they discovered it with the carpenter buses but what if this problem exist in other bus manufacturers?? They will never know until the bus is involved in an accident and they investigate it. This is straight craziness!!

Thanks for the information Brad!!
 
Most school bus ribs are multi-piece units that are either welded or bolted together. The only one with one-piece ribs that I am aware of is Blue Bird. They went that direction on the skoolie lines many decades ago for just the reason you see on the Carpenter. Their own testing concluded that the only safe ribs (aka; roll bars) were those that are one continuous piece. Much more difficult (and expensive) to fabricate, but the only way to eliminate weak points.


And further...unlike other makes...they do not even make anything like a "repair" section for their ribs. Anything damaged has to have a full replacement.


I know because when I raised the roof on my old BBAA, I had to order full, one-piece ribs and cut them up. That's the only way BB makes them.
 
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Tango said:
Most school bus ribs are multi-piece units that are either welded or bolted together. The only one with one-piece ribs that I am aware of is Blue Bird. They went that direction on the skoolie lines many decades ago for just the reason you see on the Carpenter. Their own testing concluded that the only safe ribs (aka; roll bars) were those that are one continuous piece. Much more difficult (and expensive) to fabricate, but the only way to eliminate weak points.


And further...unlike other makes...they do not even make anything like a "repair" section for their ribs. Anything damaged has to have a full replacement.


I know because when I raised the roof on my old BBAA, I had to order full, one-piece ribs and cut them up. That's the only way BB makes them.
Click to expand...

luckily for most of us, 1 1/4" square tubing works fine for BB roof raises.
 
Roger that. 1-1/4" square tubing fits perfectly inside BB ribs. That is what I used...then applied an overlap of cut down OEM rib to each section using a combination of welding and quarter inch steel rivets.
 
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