widening a bus

[oldallegro]

I hear lots about raising the roof.  Anyone know about making a 96 inch wide bus 102 inches wide?  If so, is it a somehow reasonable process?

[Wilfj]

I don't pretend to know much about widening a bus, but I recently saw a beautiful example at Country Roads RV resort in Yuma.  A fellow had raised and widened an Eagle.  He had obviously put a lot of time and capital into his project.  Since the world is such a small place, I am sure someone will read this post who will know the name of the gentleman in question.  Good luck in your search.

[Burgermeister]

Sojourner widened his MCI-7 by extending the sides.  Others have added 6" to the middle.   The trouble is, widening the axles to match the expanded width.  Stability improves significantly with every extra inch of axle width.

Keep that in mind should you consider it for your conversion.

[DrivingMissLazy]

Sojourner widened his MCI-7 by extending the sides. Others have added 6" to the middle. The trouble is, widening the axles to match the expanded width. Stability improves significantly with every extra inch of axle width.

Keep that in mind should you consider it for your conversion.

Hal StClair widened his 05 Eagle 6 inches as well as lengthening it to 45 feet among the many upgrades he made.
Richard

[Rich (Prevost)]

Hal is amazing......He would be the one I would talk to. His Coach came out really cool. He has been at the Rickreall BusNUSA rally the last (2) years. You should make a point of going. I went to his seminar the first year. Wow.......

Rich
800-468-5287

[Danny]

A lot of work - My bit - buy a 102 to start with.  This is of course you just like doing stuff like this - some people do.

Danny

[jjrbus]

 I have had the honor of being Sojourners friend and watched him in the process of widening and lengthin his bus. Unless you have a vast array of engineering, metalworking, welding, ect ect. knowledge, which Jerry does, don't even think about starting. With the price of 102 inch buses today in cannot be worth the effort. On the other hand if you think it looks like fun, well go for it!!!!
                                                                                          Work?/Play safely Jim

[FloridaCliff]

Danny and Jim,

Could't agree with you guys more!

I raised my roof and resheeted, plus 3000 shaved head rivets.

That was FUN enough for me.

Cliff

[Rick Brown]

Consider a slide-out.  Much easier I expect and you get the extra room where you want it.
-Rick Brown in Reno, NV

[Dallas]

If you are looking for more room for other peple, why not buy a tent?
As someone said a bit back,
Our Bus has drinks for 6
Seats 4 and sleeps 2
the tent can be a 'private' guest room.
Maybe give them an airbed if you really like them.
Just a thought.
Dallas,
and don't want OPSITB!

[BJW]

I second that idea.....Add as slide out or two....or three.    It makes a considerable amount of room where you want it.  It seems like it would be less of an engineering effort, in my thoughts....

Just my 2 cents worth...

Slides are GREAT!!!

Consider a slide-out.  Much easier I expect and you get the extra room where you want it.
-Rick Brown in Reno, NV

[Sojourner]

Thanks Burgermeister & JJRBUS (Jim) for your kind thoughtness.

If you can afford 15K more than narrow version go for 102A MCI...they're must lower price now than 1998 era.

Many improvement already done such as integral steering, rolling lobe air suspension, vinyl covered wiring system and more

If you can get MCI D series...it has wide point supension....near to full width of body to stabilize better on highway driving.

Better still get MCI E series or Prevost H series... has all above mention plus whole upper half & lower half frame is Stainless Steel.

Yes..I agree totally with Hal's post.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[Hal]

Thanks for the kind words Rich & Richard. Actually, I widened my Eagle 7 3/8"- the Eagle is only 94 1/2" wide and I wanted to get all the width I could.There's almost nothing left from the floor down in mine that was built by Eagle-no scabbing extra steel to the sides-all new steel in the floor on down.
Was it worth it? Today NO, in 1993 when I started the project things were a lot different. You couldn't even think of buying a 102" bus on most of our budgets. And as far as slideouts, there just weren't any being built in motorhomes yet.As far as I know, mine was only the second one to be built.
And as for using a Series 60-you couldn't find one anywhere unless you could afford a new one. I found one in a wrecking yard that came from a HARD burn-and I mean Hard-all alum was melted, cracked head,etc. Had as much in it when I was done as I would have if I'd bought new. But thats a whole different story.
Running the 96" rear seems to make no noticable difference- the rear from a 102" Beaver MH is actually 2 1/2" narrower than the Eagle.
What to do? Get the newest and best you can afford-it'll be false economy any other way IMHO.
But what ever you do, have fun doing it and you'll have something to show and talk about with lots of nice folks for years to come.
Hal