How to raise the bus in the air?

[Uglydog56]

I am prepping for my engine swap.  Because I'm mid-engined, the engine will have to be dropped down and then be pulled out from the side with a forklift.  I've got that part pretty much figured out, but I need to get the bus about 2 feet in the air to have room to slide the old engine out and the new one into place.  How would one go about achieving that?

[thomasinnv]

through a long tedious project. Block it up a little bit at a time. I wouldn't try jacking it all the way up in one shot, that would be pretty unstable on the jacks. Make sure you have plenty of good solid cribbing.crossing railroad ties like Lincoln logs works pretty good for something that high.

[FloridaCliff]

Rick,

Any chance of building a ramp?   

My thoughts are a dirt ramp either in the rear, get a tow truck (hooked to front) to push it up to the 2' elevation then lift the front with the boom until you get the engine out height.

Mid engines have there challenges.....

Cliff

[artvonne]

  Unless the tow truck has a wheel lift, if a guy doesnt know what he's doing a wrecker could really do some wrecking.

  I would agree on the jacking and cribbing. Certainly ramping it up a ways to get it started would save a lot of effort. If you can blow the air bags after its blocked up, you can jack up the axles much easier than the whole Bus. Throw pads under the tires, air up the Bus, crib up the chassis, blow the air, jack up the axles, pads under the tires, repeat as needed...........Somewhat time consuming, but much less back breaking.

  You do need some very serious cribbing, and have it well spread out. Think house jacking type cribbing. The higher it goes, the more stable you need it. There wont be an open casket if it comes down on anyone.

[robertglines1]

you said you had fork truck.  lift front block up I did it with prevost . Just like wrecker lifting it.  If forks are long enough to reach motor they should reach Axle.

[busguy01]

Raised my EL3 up to load on truck. One fork lift on each front wheel and a wrecker on the rear with a short boom and cables. Lifted it about 5 feet high - backed truck under it and lowered.  Was quick and easy! Unloading with out the fork lifts was a bigger callage.
JimH

[zubzub]

a couple of air over bottle jacks from HF will really improve this experience, makes it safer too, as you can lift the bus without getting under it.  As the others said lots of good solid cribbing and you are good to go.  You will need shorter cribbing for the jacks as well......BTW if you have a fork lift that is strong enough, they lift buses fast, but you need to find the right lift points, and an old truck tire or sim., to spread the load.   Come to think of it 2 forklifts one on each side would get this done as fast as possible.   Have fun, I have lifted my bus all around, using one air over and one hand bottle jack, it is a decent workout.

[Iceni John]

I raised each side of my Crown about 15" to slide the water tanks in under the bodysides.   It wasn't difficult at all.   A 12-ton bottle jack under the front axle, a 20-ton under the back, and a spare 20-ton nearby just in case one of them failed.   I had bought a 10-foot length of 6 x 8" pine from my local lumberyard, and had them cut it into four 2-foot and two 1-foot pieces.   I had also bought some 12" squares of 1/4" steel plate to put under the jacks.   Each lift went better than I thought  -  man-handling the tanks up into place and securing them was far harder!   I'll be doing the same thing again soon when I put my gray and poo tanks in under the floor.

You should have a removable section of the body lower rail next to the starboard side of the engine which makes it much easier to get to the greasy bits.

What engine are you putting in?   Don't forget that Crown redesigned their frames to accept the wider (meaning lower) pancake Big-Cam Cummins, so an 855 in an early Crown may hang too close to the ground!

Have fun!
John

I've just read the CCJ postings, and it looks like lots of good advice from the Junkies there how to do it.   If you're putting in a 743 you won't be scraping the ground!   With a 10-speed you should be good for 10 MPG or better.

[buswarrior]

Why would you endanger yourself and the coach trying to jack it that high in the air?

Just rent the proper mobile wheel lifts from a jobber near you.

Gray is just one of many manufacturers:

http://www.grayusa.com/wheel_lift.asp

Many, many fleets use these exclusively, and there is a thriving used market, well within the financial reach of many busnuts.

And, no one can fall into a jack like they can fall into a pit.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Busted Knuckle]

Why would you endanger yourself and the coach trying to jack it that high in the air?

Just rent the proper mobile wheel lifts from a jobber near you.

Gray is just one of many manufacturers:

http://www.grayusa.com/wheel_lift.asp

Many, many fleets use these exclusively, and there is a thriving used market, well within the financial reach of many busnuts.

And, no one can fall into a jack like they can fall into a pit.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

While BW is almost right about no one falling into a jack (some people could, or at least onto it!)

I saw a bus fall off a set of those jacks once! It wasn't a pretty sight.

Especially since there was nothing wrong with the bus in the first place. It was just an overzealous lift salesman trying to show off his product that he didn't know enough about in the first place trying to lift one of my uncles MC9's on a slanted concrete parking lot. Crushed one lift, damaged the other 3 and did some damage to the bus as well. Salesmans company ended up buying the bus to avoid lawsuit!
  BK 

[buswarrior]

There is no defense against stupidity.

I'll add the disclaimer... if used properly, and with a proper respect for the laws of physics...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[HB of CJ]

FWIW, the school district I drove for years ago had a nice shop with a special pit instead of hydralic lifts.  I watched two guys swap out a 743 on a Crown 10-wheeler in no time at all. They had special jacks to lower the tranny and engine as a married unit and overhead rails.

Is there a way you could rent out a suitable heavy truck bay that has the pits to change out your mighty Crown powerplant?  I do not know how special the lowering/support jacks would have to be to safely handle the 2750 pounds (?) of a Cummins Big Cam.  HB of CJ (old coot)

[Dave5Cs]

know anyone with a skid loader. Drive it out to where you want to or can take it out. dig a center pit with a runway into it deep enough to drive the forklift into to take it out and put the new one back in. Fill in the hole and drive it away. done. Just like building a pool! He's only talking 2 feet deep not an entrance to the stadium.

Dave5Cs

[artvonne]

  Yeah but if it rains the hole will fill with water and the walls could collapse. A guy I knew was killed when he went out under the loader bucket of a skid loader while it was running, caught his pant leg on the control and squished himself to death. His son came in a half hour later, and wondering why the maching was sitting there screaming away went over to investigate. He didn't like what he found.

  Everything is dangerous. Using intelligence and with everyone keeping their eyes open, even the most dangerous situations or machines can be safe. Carelessness, Recklessness, in the wrong hands even the safest tools and machines or situations can kill.

  Me personally, I trust wood cribbing more than just about anything. Its used to hold up giant houses that are raised and moved, and unlike a hydraulic jack, its never going to suddenly go BANG for any unapparent reason. Ive known of and seen many hydraulic hoists that suddenly dropped without warning. In any case you need your head screwed on correctly and to fully understand what your doing, regardless of how your going about it. Cribbing isn't idiot proof either.     

[robertglines1]

Lots of ways to skin old cat here.  Chose two.  I have one main system then safety back up. I f you jack and block.  Jack should not be stand alone in any position and your blocking should be not able to fall over in any direction.(just don't stack on top of each other) proper blocking actually resemble a miniature log home.   Be careful and share the experience.    The do it yourself cost might exceed the have it done cost if you need to rent Jacks etc.       Awaiting the adventure report!      Bob