The second step in doing a bus conversion (the first step was to get the bus) is getting the seats removed…seemed like such a simple procedure. Thursday night we purchased a porter cable combo kit with an impact driver, driver drill, light, 2 batteries, and a charger. We charged the batteries overnight and were excited to get started the next day. Friday came and the batteries weren’t holding a charge. Returned the combo for the exact same thing, thinking it was the charger…still didn’t charge. We called the service repair center and took them in later that day. They were great and told us that the first batch of lithium batteries porter cable made didn’t do very well. They replaced the batteries, the charger, and even threw in an extra battery. We went home, charged them up and tried again. We had a very difficult time getting the bolts out with the impact driver and so we bought a porter cable angle grinder to add to our collection. We put the charged batteries in and began the process of cutting off the bolt tops. If the batteries would have held a charge for more than 10 minutes, we might have gotten more than 3 seats out that night.
Saturday brought a lot of running around picking up several items for Liahona, so we didn’t get a chance to take any seats out. We did, however, take back the 4 cordless tools and exchange them for 2 corded 9 amp Dewalt grinders, which we purchased for under $100.
Monday was Memorial Day and Mr. C had the day off. I am sure he had many other ways he would have rather spent it, but he stuck it out with me and we got everyone of those stinkin’ seats out in a little over an hours time.
These grinders had so much more oomph! I love sparks…
And the martial arts were extraordinaire! You can’t see his leg because it was too quick for my camera, but Mr. C was quite the kicker.
My advice to anyone wanting to remove seats from a school bus, cut off those bolt tops. Rather than having some poor bloke stuck under the bus holding the nut still while the other guy is in the bus attempting to remove the bolt, invest $50 in an angle grinder which you can use to cut sheet metal, grind down nails/bolts/etc. and even sand with later on.
We took up a small section of the floor just to see what we are going to be dealing with (ended up using the grinder to grind down these screws, as well, because they were so stripped by the time we had gotten to them). Our rubber flooring was directly on the metal floor. Usually there is a layer of plywood in between the two layers. The good news is that we don’t have as much to pull up. The bad news is, we will have to raise the floor about an inch higher than it already was. I guess it is a good thing that Mr. C and I aren’t taller than 6’2”.
It is such a beautiful shade of rust, really….
Ever wonder what the inside of a school bus seat looks like…
And just in case you were wondering…this was my favorite picture of the day.
This weeks goals:
Pura Vida!
Mrs. C
