uh oh, another big project in play...take a 'free' transit bus and convert it into an enclosed car hauler trailer.
how hard can it be? just cut away the front truck cab and hook up a trailer hitch and put a hinged ramp in back?
it must be hard because i can't find ANY example of it being done. sure make a bus into a car hauler, but not a trailer
this is the kind of bus i'm talking about. Just cut off the truck cab right?
I would be more inclined to make a toy hauler out of it. Enclosed with sleeping quarters in the front.
In reply to nimblemotorsports :
First, that is a school bus not a transit bus. Front engine. Rear wheel drive basically a truck chassis. Yes there have been a few rear engine rear wheel drive school buses but they are the exception not the rule.
A transit bus has a rear engine rear wheel drive. Driver in front of the front wheels. Low floor. It's also known as a city bus.
A motor coach typically has a rear engine rear wheel drive, driver in front of front wheels but a higher floor than a transit bus.
Buses do require a class B commercial license and if they have air brakes an air brake endorsement. Various regulations depending on your state as regards a bus endorsement if past a certain number of seats. If dual rear axle a Class A commercial license is required.
Try to get a school bus with the Cummins engine if possible. Very durable and low maintenance. great fuel mileage 9-10 is not uncommon.
most Northern states require retirement after 10 years so past that their value drops like a stone. Typically at that point they are sold to third world countries. Under certain conditions and assuming they pass the safety inspection the local school district may extend their operational life to 15 years. Rust really is a serious issue with buses in the rust belt so most schools won't take the risk.
To convert a school bus into a car hauler you will need very long ramps. the back is 4 feet in the air. Or a very high ground clearance race car.
If you cut it at the cab wouldn't that give you a lot tongue weight?
Rons said:If you cut it at the cab wouldn't that give you a lot tongue weight?
That could be an issue, particularly because these buses are single axle. Here is a better example of the exact bus I can get for free, I am not looking to buy anything,
this IS the bus I am considering converting to a trailer. It has no title, no way it can't be registered, that is why it is free! it is a E450
My thought is to put the hitch on the 'back', since the front with the cab will be cut away leaving the open end to put in a ramp. As you can see, this puts the longer side in the back of the wheels.
so then the opposite of too much tonque weight. Me thinks this would work to advantage and make the trailer tilt down in back to lessen the 3ft height of the floor. And then put a single caster wheel in back?? :)
Here is an example at auction with bad motor for $700, non-running ones are common at public auctions
https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=2562680
I have previously converted a F350 chassis into a trailer to tow my 34ft catamaran hulls.
Because the rear axle is full-floating, one can just remove the rear differential and axles. Being a single axle, the position of the hull on the trailer had to be adjusted to get the right tonque weight. This was easier without the constraints of a box to fit in.
In the bus picture shown, you'll be cutting the door area off. Because across from those steps, you see behind the doors, is the drivers seat. (And that top step is at "floor level". ) Leaving the axle at about 40\60 rear biased. But maybe not as long as you imagined. And the longer version has a longer tail (wheelchairs) +8'. That would add to the front of the trailer though.
does this confirm nobody has ever taken a paratransit bus and made a trailer from it?
besides being single axle, i am concerned that it is too heavy, but dunno, i think enclosed trailers are heavy anyway.
nimblemotorsports said:does this confirm nobody has ever taken a paratransit bus and made a trailer from it?
besides being single axle, i am concerned that it is too heavy, but dunno, i think enclosed trailers are heavy anyway.
How much do you think the chassis rails on the transit bus weighs compared to an enclosed trailer ?
and then how heavy are the windows and frames ,
Now if it ran good and you were making an enclosed tow truck........
frenchyd said:Buses do require a class B commercial license and if they have air brakes an air brake endorsement. Various regulations depending on your state as regards a bus endorsement if past a certain number of seats. If dual rear axle a Class A commercial license is required.
This used to be true, but not anymore per new Fed DOT rules. Air brakes no longer require CDL or an endorsement. Anyone with a class C license can waltz into a Hertz and rent a 26k GVW vehicle with air brakes. I know, because my boss does it about 4 times a year to move our stuff between theaters. I happen to have a CDL, but he lives a block away from the Hertz lot, so it's just easier.
In many states, the origin makes little difference. You can purchase a 45' MCI, Prevost, Setra, or lots of other large buses and title them as a personal vehicle and not need a commercial license. Some states (like CA) may require you to have a non-commercial class B license for more than a certain size or weight, but that has nothing to do with air brakes or hydraulic. I remember when the DOT changed those rules, and I remember thinking about all the specific air brake education I got during my CDL training and wondered how many people would die because they don't understand how air brakes work.
The bus company I worked for in the mid 90s converted a school bus to a car hauler because the owner raced dirt stock cars. In our case, we had to do some significant widening of the body to max out the 8'6" max width we could do, and the car barely fit, but we made it happen.
The biggest thing you'll need to overcome is approach angle. The tail end of a full-sized (66 or 72 passenger) school bus is usually over 4' off the ground. I would suggest getting the shortest bus you can that fits what you need so it can be brought down out of the sky a wee bit. Otherwise you'll have 16' long loading ramps.
Sorta no way around it, you also have to go up another significant amount once you're in the bus for the wheel wells. You will need to get the CG of the car at least TO the wheels if not further ahead of it. I can tell the difference in how a bus feels if you stuff all the kids in the back. I'm sure a car behind the wheels wouldn't be pretty.
Having said that, I think it's actually a great idea. Ours worked great for the dirt car, but the amount of work that went into it was dauntingly significant, even if you skip the widening part we did. One of the guys we used to ride with at Gorman in CA had a mid-sized bus (probabaly 32') that he converted to bring all his friends and their bikes/ATVs. Always thought it was slick.
This e450 bus has 3 ft height to the deck, It is 7ft wide inside, and 16ft long inside to the back of the truck cab.
One that runs is about $5,000, then pay registration and insurance every year, not appealing to me at all. A trailer can just sit not cost any thing, good outside storage for a car if nothing else,
particulary at the barn where the county requires unregistered cars be stored in a completely enclosed structure and has no rules about trailers, but would get complaints about an unregistered truck in about 3 seconds most likely. So a trailer is what I need, and what I'm asking if anyone has done it and the answer is no, no one has ever converted a e450 bus to a trailer.
It is probably going to be too heavy to tow with my explorer, at least at any distance, e.g. move it around but not haul car to racetrack hours away.
3' deck height is really pretty high and 16' enclosed length is not very long.
To answer your question in the post title: It can be very hard. And personally, I don't think the results would be worth the effort. This is probably why you can't find that anyone has done it.
And you'd need a pretty massive tow vehicle...as you mentioned what you have now won't do the trick.
I'm not trying to tell you it's a bad idea. Just looking at it from a different perspective than you and telling you what I see.
I considered doing just this with a schoolie to match the wanderlodge and I could not find any examples either. My plan was to remove the axle and replace with tandem electric braked trailer axles. I was mostly thinking to match my bus so I was thinking I would cut the floor out and build a new on on a lower frame. It was going to be a lot of work.
I do think actually I found an example on Ih8mud come to think of it.
I have also thought of replacing the single axle, and lowering it, but then there would be no question it WOULD be a lot of work. :)
The 3ft height is quite high for a trailer (but way less than 4ft others quoted!) My thought was to replace a 'ramp' with a lift, i.e. drive the car onto a platform that raises up to the 3ft height. This is related (but harder) the design of my rampless car trailer and how I got my cars up onto the 5ft high storage platform.
Here, found an example. I do have some hydraulics, a volvo power steering pump is a 12v hydraulic pump, so maybe do this fairly cheap..
Well, it looks like I am going to find out how hard it will be, since I just bought this paratransit bus with a good running V10 in it, which is going to be pulled and used in something else. Time to start a project thread.
Also found a 4400lb lift gate for $320 on CL, if I buy that I'm committed to a car hauler trailer. I could just sell the box off the frame as a shed, that would not almost no hard work. Might see if anyone bites on that first.
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