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Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: belfert on September 14, 2014, 09:14:05 PM

Title: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 14, 2014, 09:14:05 PM
I just bought a new house and this evening the second time taking the bus into the driveway I got stuck.  The drive wheels on the left side ended up in the ditch and the back end is stuck in the sand driveway.  Coach-Net is sending a tow truck at 8 am in the morning to get it out.
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: bevans6 on September 15, 2014, 04:49:41 AM
I got my bus stuck in my driveway this spring.  It was a horrible spring, ground was saturated.  My driveway has a quite tight curve, I got the driver's side rear wheels about a foot off the gravel base and it sank to the floor.  I cut a bunch of wood blocks, dug a hole for a jack, and started jacking it and blocking it.  Eventually I got it to where I could start putting planks under the rear tires, and was able to drive it out.  Took three hours.  Each time I jacked it and blocked it I put more wood blocks under the jack, and there is still about a foot thick stack of wood blocks buried in the driveway.  I put about a ton of gravel in to widen the driveway at the apex of that curve, and next year I won't get stuck...  I'll leave the bus in the shed!  I just finished top-dressing the driveway with 50 ton of 3/4 minus driveway gravel.

Brian
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: sledhead on September 15, 2014, 05:14:46 AM
nice to here you bought a house . as Brian has said get it out and get some 2" stone to start a base then next spring or summer finish the top coat . I work in construction and day after day I see people build a new house and not make a good driveway 1st and every truck that comes in and it turns to muck . a lot harder to fix now

dave   
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 15, 2014, 05:39:22 AM
The house is 35 years old so the driveway is well established.  The house is just new to me.  It was totally dark and I drove off the edge of the driveway and put the wheels in the ditch.  The driveway has a curve at the street which will be corrected when the driveway is paved shortly.  I should have approached from the other direction.  I gotta go meet the tow truck up there as I am not living there yet.
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: Oonrahnjay on September 15, 2014, 06:18:24 AM
Quote from: belfert on September 15, 2014, 05:39:22 AM
The house is 35 years old so the driveway is well established.  The house is just new to me.  It was totally dark and I drove off the edge of the driveway and put the wheels in the ditch.  The driveway has a curve at the street which will be corrected when the driveway is paved shortly.  I should have approached from the other direction.  I gotta go meet the tow truck up there as I am not living there yet.

    Best wishes with your new house Brian.  Let us know how your garage plans have worked out. 
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: Dave5Cs on September 15, 2014, 07:19:38 AM
Congrats on the new to you house with which bus barn? I stuck our too way back and had to dig a little then jambed two mud flaps off a big rig I bought up to the back of the tires. I put it in reverse and when they caught It drove up on them. I have 6 more I put in front of the tires and just walked it out on top of them. I carry them with me now. ;D

Dave5Cs
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: TomC on September 15, 2014, 07:31:34 AM
That's what is nice about having built in landing lights on the front side of the bus. You could have illuminated your pathway better. Good Luck, TomC
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 15, 2014, 09:35:47 AM
It took maybe 20 minutes for the tow truck to get me out.

This house has no bus barn.  That is a future project in a few years.  I bought a foreclosed house that is undergoing a $100,000 renovation with new heating/cooling, windows, siding, doors, bathroom, flooring, and interior doors/trim.  The only things original will be the kitchen and drywall on the walls and ceilings.
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: Dave5Cs on September 15, 2014, 10:57:35 AM
How did they replace the framing and leave the drywall up and on with out it falling out of the air? ::)
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 15, 2014, 11:32:19 AM
Quote from: Dave5Cs on September 15, 2014, 10:57:35 AM
How did they replace the framing and leave the drywall up and on with out it falling out of the air? ::)

Yes, smarty, the framing is still original along with the roof.  The contractor did have to replace a bay bumpout as the previous homeowner installed it and it was rotten and nearly fell off the house.
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: NewbeeMC9 on September 15, 2014, 02:28:23 PM
I got my bus stuck in a friend s driveway one time.  Had to air down bus. Then Jack up axle and block. Then air the bus back up. Was able to drive off then.  Jack wasn't stout enough to lift bus. 
Title: 1974 Crown Supercoach 10 Wheeler And Snow
Post by: HB of CJ on September 15, 2014, 02:46:41 PM
Back when I had the Banana Boat lll, (her name!) (VIN 37317) plus a complete lack of common sense and boredom, we did some burnouts, donuts and fish tails in 6 inches of wet fresh snow.  With the drivers locked up, at times the snow was being plowed by the front bumper.  No chains necessary.  Silly and fun.  Getting stuck with a Crown 10 wheeler would take some doing....but then it would take a really big tow truck....to un stick her.   HB of CJ (old coot) :)
Title: Re: 1974 Crown Supercoach 10 Wheeler And Snow
Post by: Oonrahnjay on September 15, 2014, 07:44:59 PM
    The worst stuck I ever got (so far) was in the driveway at my parents' house.  Got in, wouldn't come out ...
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: harleyman_1000 on September 15, 2014, 07:55:23 PM
 I haven't been stuck yet. Should I get Lefty stuck and get it out of the way ::)
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 16, 2014, 07:22:53 AM
I thought about just jacking up the bus and putting boards under the wheels, but I don't have a compressor at this house yet to run the jack and I never added an air connection to the bus.  I wasn't in the mood to operate the jack manually which takes a lot of strokes.  I decided just to use Coach-Net since I have it.
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: Fredward on September 16, 2014, 10:50:29 AM
Hey Brian,
Congratulations on finally finding something!. Where'd you end up finding this place and how much land do you have for future building?
Fred
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: belfert on September 23, 2014, 01:39:41 PM
I bought a house in Ham Lake, MN with 3 acres.  A bus garage is a few years down the road yet.  Current rules would allow for a 2,000 square feet size limit with no height limit. 
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: bevans6 on September 23, 2014, 01:52:09 PM
2,000 square feet is a nice size.  My bus shed is 35 feet by 60 feet, with a 15 foot door.  There is a poured concrete pad that is 12 feet by 45 feet and the rest is about two feet above the poured pad, and is typical wood joist construction.  When it was first built the whole floor was joists and one level, the pad was added about two decades later so that larger boats could be backed in on trailers.  My place was a boat building "factory".  The big building was where they made the hulls out of fiberglass, the small building (now my bus barn) was where they added the engines, built the decks, installed the cabins.

Some of the boats:  

http://www.underwater-explorations.com/researchboat.html (http://www.underwater-explorations.com/researchboat.html)
http://m.yachtworld.com/mobile/listing/photoGallery.jsp?boat_id=2350029 (http://m.yachtworld.com/mobile/listing/photoGallery.jsp?boat_id=2350029)
http://www.wotol.com/1-d-h-boat-building-gillnetter-gross-tonnage-9-9-t/second-hand-machinery/prod_id/850690 (http://www.wotol.com/1-d-h-boat-building-gillnetter-gross-tonnage-9-9-t/second-hand-machinery/prod_id/850690)
Brian
Title: Re: Got my bus stuck (in the driveway no less!)
Post by: eagle19952 on September 23, 2014, 01:57:09 PM
Quote from: belfert on September 23, 2014, 01:39:41 PM
I bought a house in Ham Lake, MN with 3 acres.  A bus garage is a few years down the road yet.  Current rules would allow for a 2,000 square feet size limit with no height limit. 

apparently you decide to commute. I like the Ham Lake area.