Roof Raise

luvrbus · October 13, 2017, 10:31:14 AM

Quote from: B_K on October 13, 2017, 10:06:38 AM
I watched a show on TV the other night called Bus Nuts an there was a guy in Denver that does customizing on "SKOOLIES" as "tiny houses" and travels to do some of his work.

I know skoolies are a different animal, but could be an option.
Other than that I second the idea of getting Gary and Van to do it!
BK

Van has a new gig now transporting entertainers buses all over the US not the entertainers just the buses

rwc · October 15, 2017, 05:29:18 AM

Thanks for all the replies but this will no longer be a problem for me. Due to health problems I am putting the 102D3 on Craigslist. I will probably lurk around just to have something interesting to do.

luvrbus · October 15, 2017, 06:11:14 AM

RWC,it comes that time as we age I feel sad for you but understand,paying people to do the work is cost prohibitive like the roof raise will cost + or- 10 grand.
Somebody will get a nice shell a west coast bus rust free with a series 60 but you will take a blood bath on the selling price from what you paid Northwest

Wish you the best

Scott & Heather · October 15, 2017, 03:28:42 PM

Can you post the link to your for sale ad? What engine do you have? As was mentioned I did indeed do a roof raise on my MCI 9... it was a 9 inch raise. I did not do the roof raise on my 102C3 the guy who owned it before me did that. As cliff said raising a roof is not that hard but On your particular coach there is a little bit more going on than there is on an MCI 9. Definitely doable but definitely more work. I have about 90 hours into my roof raise including all the prep time and then actual time raising the roof and re-skinning. And my roof raise wasn't the prettiest job I've seen. Some people are artists when it comes to roof raises.

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rwc · October 19, 2017, 12:35:39 PM

Scott I do not know howq to post link. The engine is 11 liter series 60 detroit. I am waiting for my SIL to help me post to craigs list and Ebay.

windtrader · October 19, 2017, 12:43:26 PM

QuoteI have about 90 hours into my roof raise including all the prep time and then actual time raising the roof and re-skinning.

I looked over those 900 pics Scott. It seems if you add up the hours for everyone including friends and family, that roof raise must total more than 90 hours. Prepping the exterior surface through primer would be many hours alone.

So many projects and tasks we do here require experience, skill, facilities, and tools. The more of each, the more "easy" jobs get labeled. Personally, raising a roof seems highly daunting and very difficult, mostly due to lack of experience, skill, facilities, and tools. LOL

Dave5Cs · October 19, 2017, 01:09:13 PM

It is time consuming but actually cutting it free and raising it is not that hard if you have a few helper and the time as well as 6 old type jacks to do the lifting evenly.

luvrbus · October 19, 2017, 03:11:04 PM

There are 3 different types of roof raises, floor level,below window and above window the floor level is a bear to do

Jeremy · October 19, 2017, 04:34:30 PM

I did mine singlehanded and used lengths of threaded rod (one on each structural beam) rather than jacks to wind the roof up to the new level. Because the roof was always held captive by those threaded rods there was never really a point at which the roof was fully detached from the rest of the bus which meant that there was no need to rush things and no need to get stressed about the things that could go wrong when the roof was balanced in the air and not attached to anything

The sides of my bus are curved rather than being flat and vertical, but that wasn't really a problem because I put the raise above the windows and covered the gap with curved panels moulded out of fibreglass which effectively extended the roof skin down to the windows. The end result looks 'factory' I would say.

Making those side panels, and also the new fibreglass front and rear caps, were genuinely the only aspects of the job which took any skill or specialist knowledge I think - everything else was just very basic cutting and welding, just quite a lot of it

Jeremy

Dave5Cs · October 20, 2017, 06:06:26 PM

That would work also but at no time with the Older type bumper jacks is the roof and or side detached from each other. They are actually incorporated by welds and or large clamps and pieces of steel that are also welded to them. Then it is simply and evenly jack up. You add the new pieces that will be welded in and reinforced and then the jacks are cut loose. Gary Bennett of B&B Coach in LV was the first to have done them many years ago.

luvrbus · October 20, 2017, 06:28:51 PM

I always use the scaffold leveling jacks my self

brmax · October 21, 2017, 11:11:30 AM

Excellant tip there on the scaffold jacks thanks!
I had many times thought of the post/basement jacks but now with the tip a much longer or higher capacity is available. A Big thumbs up
It seems another big issue is working toward a solution for front and rear caps. If they fit they could use some tweaking. This is just from most articles i have read, and read from a very interested point of view. Now days it is a bigger issue because no or very few and quiet manufactures for the older model caps.

Have a good day
Floyd