In my poor old 4103 I've always had a problem with storing large items. The bays are usually packed tight and the stuff usually has to go inside with me.
I don't particularly like the smell of gas or propane, and the way that stuff can become missiles when I need to stop abruptly so I came up with this idea.
Kind of Jed Clampettesqe, but it's strong and will do the job. With allthe stuff shown on there right now, I climbed on top of it and had very little deflection.
The tray is made from a 7' X 1' piece of stainless shelving from a restaurant and the braces are made from the arms of an A&E awning. Everything is bolted together with grade 5, 5/16 X1 1/4" hex bolts and the braces are supported inside the bus by 3" X 3" X 1/8" curved steel plates to spread the load out more evenly.
My plan is to wrap the stainless with Western Red Cedar, of which I have a good supply, then seal it with HElmsman Spar Urethane. This should help it to hearken back to older, gentler times of Woody's, flathead engines and poodle skirts.
Just be careful of that very precious rear window.
Len
I would be concerned about your cargo vibrating/bouncing and breaking your rear window or worse yet the cargo coming loose and bouncing into traffic behind you. I personally would not be comfortable with this setup. :-\
Be safe,
Darrin
Dallas,
Keep building and you'll get the driving characteristics of a stick and staple with those huge rear overhangs!
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120
Thanks Jerry, I'll remember that! ;D
As for the rear window, I'm not too worried about it, the shelf itself is upside down and has about a 2" lip around it. Nothing will ever get close to those windows as it is mounted about 3" below the window which puts it about 2" away from the back of the bus.
I also have a whole pile of 2" Kennedyne straps to pull everything down tight so nothing will dare move.
I never like to go anywhere without everything secured from any possible movement. Too many years hauling flatbeds and oversized loads I guess.
Dallas
Have you decided where you are going to put Cats rockin' chair? ;D
Richard
Quote from: Dallas on July 11, 2007, 01:52:13 PM
Thanks Jerry, I'll remember that! ;D
As for the rear window, I'm not too worried about it, the shelf itself is upside down and has about a 2" lip around it. Nothing will ever get close to those windows as it is mounted about 3" below the window which puts it about 2" away from the back of the bus.
I also have a whole pile of 2" Kennedyne straps to pull everything down tight so nothing will dare move.
I never like to go anywhere without everything secured from any possible movement. Too many years hauling flatbeds and oversized loads I guess.
Dallas
I think you need to run some fake hoses from the tank into the engine comparment and then put a big label on the tank that says "NOX". ...just to mess with the minds of the boy racers following you ;D
Richard, my chair is already mounted on the roof right over the drivers seat. Dallas did tell y'all that he has a GPS system didn't he? Granny Points Sporadically. Wonderful system. Works all the time...well, works pretty good.....well, worked once or twice. Still looking for my bottle with the handle on it to set up there with me. Cat
Besides Cat if you told Dallas to go one way and he went the other he would have to clean out one of the bays to sleep in.
Been there done that.
ED
MCI 7
Nope, when I want him to go left, I just tell him to turn right. When I want him to go right, I tell him to turn left. I know my Dallas and I know how to get him to do what I want him to do. Right Dallas? Right Dallas? Oh, I hear him saying "Yes Dear" Cat
Quote from: bubbaqgal on July 11, 2007, 03:47:26 PM
Nope, when I want him to go left, I just tell him to turn right. When I want him to go right, I tell him to turn left. I know my Dallas and I know how to get him to do what I want him to do. Right Dallas? Right Dallas? Oh, I hear him saying "Yes Dear" Cat
Oh an I thought he was making lefts!@ :LOL!
Dallas,
Before long it will look like a "House-Truck" all that's going to be missing will be the cedar shakes.
We made it to Tennessee ourselves. Bad GPS directions made us drive over signal mountain and red top mountain with the bus and truck. Uphill at 5 mph and downhill at warp 6 with smokin brakes
and a 6V92 cranking 19,000 rpm. The allison sounded like a 747 engine!
Seems that I need jakes and a parachute if I am stupid enough to trust microsoft streets & trips ever again!
Stuff was sliding all the way from the drivers area to the bedroom for over 3 hours.
I once said that every trip in the bus is an adventure, I just didn't plan on a 12,000 foot climb 2 times in one night.....
Did ya ever think as you are already going in the wrong direction that" I really don't want to be here, and not have the option of turning around because it's too late"...Sheer Panic for 5 hours plus.
A Maxxed out MC9 running about 600 hp short of adequate being followed by 8,500 lb trailer and the wife in the E-350 super duty box truck that is grossing 15,000 lbs with a car trailer.
Kinda like jumping out of an airplane with a severe case of "forgot parachute".....Yeow !
Good luck getting here. Watch out for any road with the small sign that says "scenic route"....
If I wasn't crazy before, I surely am now......
Dave....
Good luck getting here. Watch out for any road with the small sign that says "scenic route"....
And also watch out for "squiggly roads" on the map. Don't ask how we learned that! Jack
Looks like it would do a good job, I understand you don't have all the storage options you would have if you had an Eagle but I aprpeciate your inventiveness lol. And I particularily like the wagon on the rack, it beats pulling a toad lol.
Senic Routes
Thats the reason us hillbilleys have old 35 ft. gm's. When they were built they were no interstates.
only roads were senic routes.
Uncle Ned
Another thing that might be fun is to find an old wooden box that has the 'Herculies Dynamite' log on it and strap it onto the rack lol, bet you wouldn't have to worry about tailgaters lol.
I know all about the scenic routes!
When I use to haul office furniture, I needed to pick up a load in Robbinsville, NC. I was in Knoxville, Tn. and the closest route looked like US 129 which looked like a good road.
I boogied on up to a little west of Marysville, Tn and then things started to go majorly wrong!
I knew I was in trouble when I could see the brake lights on the trailer from my windshield!
The road kept getting narrower and narrower, and the turns got tighter and tighter. A stream on one side and my trailer wheels in the oncoming lane most of the time.
I got almost to the end, about 5 miles from Robbinsville when the accelerator quit accelerating. It's a terrible feeling to have the pedal on the floor and the engine idling. I eventually found a place to pull over, (which endd up being in the middle of the creek), and found the accelerator cable had snapped right at the governor. (6V92).
By this time it's getting dark, I'm soaked from standing in 2' of running water with a truck that will only idle.
I finally got a ride into town with a local deputy who let me off at a motel and gave me directions to the local hardware store.
The next morning, the only cable I could find was a bicycle brake cable so I bought it and some U-clamps, hitched a ride back to the truck and got it going again.
Since then, I've looked at the map really well before taking any of those roads marked with a dotted line or a squggly pencil!
Dallas
Quote from: cody on July 12, 2007, 07:04:06 AM
Looks like it would do a good job, I understand you don't have all the storage options you would have if you had an Eagle but I aprpeciate your inventiveness lol. And I particularily like the wagon on the rack, it beats pulling a toad lol.
Setra's have even more storage than an Eagle! An I know where a couple are available.........
BK ;D
Quote from: Dallas
I know all about the scenic routes!
I knew I was in trouble when I could see the brake lights on the trailer from my windshield!
Since then, I've looked at the map really well before taking any of those roads marked with a dotted line or a squggly pencil!
Dallas
Just a hint to remember when using a map. "If it ain't
BOLD, it's old!"
In other words if it don't show up easily on the map, yehaaa it's an OLD senic rte! FWIW BK ;D
Quote from: Busted Knuckle on July 12, 2007, 08:25:52 AM
Setra's have even more storage than an Eagle!
The old GMC Buffs, esp. the 40'ers, ain't too shabby either. Tall bays and short tunnels... No silly tag axle to get in the way of cramming in all of your stuff. ;)
Speaking of, does anyone have a recording of George Carlin's old stand-up routine about his "stuff"? It was a riot!
bb
Quote from: Busted Knuckle on July 12, 2007, 08:25:52 AM
Setra's have even more storage than an Eagle!
Quote from: Buffalo SpaceShip on July 12, 2007, 08:31:40 AM
The old GMC Buffs, esp. the 40'ers, ain't too shabby either. Tall bays and short tunnels... No silly tag axle to get in the way of cramming in all of your stuff. ;)
Speaking of, does anyone have a recording of George Carlin's old stand-up routine about his "stuff"? It was a riot!
bb
I hear ya! But I got compartments over each wheel too! Plus the huge luggage bays! BK ;D
George Carlin on Stuff
Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.
A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!
Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for your stuff anymore. Did you ever notice when you go to somebody else's house, you never quite feel a hundred percent at home? You know why? No room for your stuff. Somebody else's stuff is all over the goddamn place! And if you stay overnight, unexpectedly, they give you a little bedroom to sleep in. Bedroom they haven't used in about eleven years. Someone died in it, eleven years ago. And they haven't moved any of his stuff! Right next to the bed there's usually a dresser or a bureau of some kind, and there's NO ROOM for your stuff on it. Somebody else's $#!% is on the dresser.
Have you noticed that their stuff is $#!% and your $#!% is stuff? God! And you say, "Get that $#!% offa there and let me put my stuff down!"
Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..." And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you. That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend a couple of nights over here."
Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui--I mean you're really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain. You get over to your friend's house on Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there. You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, "All right, I got my nail clippers, I must be okay." That's when your friend says, "Aaaaay, I think tonight we'll go over the other side of the island, visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over."
Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right--you gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the stuff you know you're gonna need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter, hanky, pen, smokes, rubber and change. Well, only the stuff you HOPE you're gonna need.
All material written and owned by George Carlin.
Quote from: Busted Knuckle on July 12, 2007, 08:36:35 AM
I hear ya! But I got compartments over each wheel too! Plus the huge luggage bays! BK ;D
My old 4501 has storage over the rear wheels and some tall bays
I hear the 4501's were built for scenic cruisin ;D
I really should do something about that clutch cable & fix the air assist & do some scenicruising of my own
Quote from: kyle4501
My old 4501 has storage over the rear wheels and some tall bays
Cool but mine have them over all the wheels!
Quote from: kyle4501
I hear the 4501's were built for scenic cruisin ;D
Cute I like the play on words!
Quote from: kyle4501
I really should do something about that clutch cable & fix the air assist & do some scenicruising of my own
Yes you should! Just try it you'll like it!
Quote from: Busted Knuckle on July 12, 2007, 12:24:23 PM
Quote from: kyle4501
My old 4501 has storage over the rear wheels and some tall bays
Cool but mine have them over all the wheels!
I'll live without them over the front wheels to have the upper windshields 4 rows back ;D
Quote from: Busted Knuckle
Quote from: kyle4501
I really should do something about that clutch cable & fix the air assist & do some scenicruising of my own
Yes you should! Just try it you'll like it!
I have tried working on it, why do you think I haven't gone back? I'm letting the skin grow back so I'll have enough to sacrifice.