Fame dimensions, please.

[luvrbus]

People have been installing slides in Eagle buses for 30 years no problems .Gary at B@B in Vegas was a master at it,not far from me is a MCI that is not even road worthy  it looks like a pot belly pig and you cannot even open the bay doors.Now no one will sell you a good designed slide with the frames.Any RV with a HWH slide that slide was designed and manufactured for that company and the chassis used lol and you are not going to buy one from HWH.A friend of mine has the first floor level Prevost slide (2015) ever sold. made and installed by Prevost man did they missed that one it has been a disaster on his H-45   

[windtrader]

People have been installing slides in Eagle buses for 30 years no problems .Gary at B@B in Vegas was a master at it

Clifford, like always one can point out an exception like Gary has done it. Well, he is not "people" in this discussion as we are talking about DIY guy with zero slide design and build experience. Yes Gary is a master as he is professional with many years working on bus conversions. Ask him how much he charges for a complete slide job; that will make most think pretty hard about what is involved.


Please share a couple links of fully functional DIY slides. Again, you may provide them but that in no way implies it is a job for an average DIYer. I'd bet there are lots more links showing stalled bus conversion projects, even those not having cut apart the frame to DIY a slider but just normal full bus conversion DIY project are plenty.


Scott(Heather) did a great job showing his full DIY roof raise. Yeah one can do it but if you really study the project it took quite a bit of time and LOTS of extra pairs of hands. It seems so simple until you really study all that is involved.

[someguy]

A friend of mine has the first floor level Prevost slide (2015) ever sold. made and installed by Prevost man did they missed that one it has been a disaster on his H-45

Prevost has had about 4 iterations of their slides.  Some of them were very complex with rack and pinion drives at each corner, powered locking pins and inflatable seals and a small computer controlling everything.   Their flat floor has 6 steps to go from full in to full out.

The early Prevost slide system is one of the reasons I would not purchase an early Prevost conversion.

[luvrbus]

 Don, roof raises are piece of cake ,a guy on this board Robert Glines has installed slides on both his Prevost and built all the components can't get more DYI than that plus he started the mini split craze people said would never work lol me included.The poster we are talking about here I know nothing about his skills who knows he maybe a whiz or a dud only time will tell  lol he does spend a lot of time with Google and Youtube some where I never go because you can always find the answer only you are looking for with your ideas it will be there someplace   

[windtrader]

roof raises are piece of cake

OK Clifford. Let's just say we can agree to disagree. Guy has been warned and tuff $#!% if he becomes more roadkill on the road to bus conversion nirvana. LOL

[luvrbus]

OK Clifford. Let's just say we can agree to disagree. Guy has been warned and tuff $#!% if he becomes more roadkill on the road to bus conversion nirvana. LOL

yes he has been warned of pit falls but he has been on this board since 2006  let him go for it,but if he does I doubt we will ever hear of the  ^^^^ ups

[someguy]

Who is this Robert Glines guy and does he have a build thread on his roof raise and slides ?

Edit: found him.
https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2023

[someguy]

What exactly is the problem with doing a roof raise ?

[Tom Y]

My roof raise went good. Also removed 31" out of the middle and added 15" on the back for more motor.

[luvrbus]

]
   Lol the old generation of DYI bus  converters could care less about posting stuff on you tube or F/B of their build  they are tucked away in closet on 35 mm film with the BCM magazines  or if you had a question you had their number

[DoubleEagle]

]
   Lol the old generation of DYI bus  converters could care less about posting stuff on you tube or F/B of their build  they are tucked away in closet on 35 mm film with the BCM magazines  or if you had a question you had their number

Pretty accurate, except all of my BCM Magazines from 1992 on are in binders on the shelf.

[luvrbus]

Pretty accurate, except all of my BCM Magazines from 1992 on are in binders on the shelf.

I gave all mine away just kept the one for my Eagle

[Jim Blackwood]

I know nothing about doing a slide except what I've read on here but my entire life has been dedicated to building mechanical devices, generally original prototypes, and I have learned a thing or two along the way. I can say that for this to work the very first requirement is to do a structural analysis of the bus being used. Here is a good example of why you shouldn't just cut a gaping huge hole in the side and go from there:

Many buses today use a variation of a space frame type structure, which is to say that the loads are largely carried by the outside members as opposed to a rigid central ladder type frame and this is done partly to remove weight and partly to increase rigidity. Automotive engineers have long known that the strongest and lightest structure is a very large diameter tube with a thin wall so here is the example. You can take an empty soda can, set it on the ground, put one foot on it and if you are careful you can put your entire weight on it and it will support you. Then if you tap the side of it with your finger or have someone else tap it with a stick it will immediately collapse to a crumpled stack less than 1/2" tall. Great strength but very susceptible to structural damage. This illustrates why changes to this type of frame can be risky. What would we have to do to the side of the soda can to let us cut a large window in the side? And would that change affect hidden concerns such as maybe vibration and harmonics? Would our reinforcement stand the test of time?

Now it's true that a bus frame is not a soda can. But if you look at the location, size and weight of the frame components in relation to the whole it really isn't that far off. Furthermore it is a complex 3 wall structure with a great number of loaded members. Sure there is a safety factor built in but don't you want to keep that? So you might want to bone up on your FEA and then map out all of the bus structure first, including all struts and gussets.

The manufacturer has that information on file of course so for them the task is much easier. I'm not sure they will give it up though, I know I wouldn't. Or you can go into it blindly and take your chances. Anyone here feel that is a formula for success? No? Well no surprise there.

Jim

[DoubleEagle]

The best source for scoping out structural changes in truss framed coaches are books by Dave Galey, who is an Architectural Engineer. We have not heard much about him lately, I'm not sure if he is still with us, but his book "The Bus Converter's Bible", published in 1995, is a good start. I got my copy from him personally in 1996 at one of the BCM Conventions. His coaches were Eagles, but his knowledge applies to other makes. In the case of an Eagle, the framework would be continued under a slide-out in the baggage bay area. You can not cut into a truss frame without making up the strength elsewhere.

[someguy]

I can say that for this to work the very first requirement is to do a structural analysis of the bus being used.

Gee, why didn't I think of that ?