The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) Road trip to AmTrakJoe's ....

OK, so the wheelchair lift removal is not technically part of the demo process (which I have previously declared "Mission Complete" and awarded myself several medals and a promotion) because, after I clean up under it and replace the floor, it's going back in. But wait you say ... "What about the subfloor under the wheelchair lift ... aren't you "demo-ing THAT?" Ha. Nice try, but no. It was so rotted, it had demo'd itself. When we tilted the lift back to walk it to the other side of the bus, it all pretty much just disintegrated and fell out of the door, thus demoing itself and saving me the trouble.

Which pretty much settled the question of whether or not removing the lift was going to be worth the trouble. I was afraid of pulling the lift only to find pristine floor under it. I needn't have worried. The plywood was completely rotten and the steel floor was heavily surface rusted. Which, I admit, is pretty twisted on my part -- being glad to find rotten plywood and a little rust. So perfect situation ... bad enough to validate my decision to remove the lift but not bad enough to require patching -- just clean up, repaint, seal, redo that section of sub floor and then finish the Grey Oak vinyl planking! So big day yesterday in the bus. Monumental step forward. Perhaps even worth another round of awards, promotions and even a parade (I'll go for a spin around the farm in the Jeep).

I say "we" because Pastor Mike came and helped. It was nice to have help figuring out how to grind off the carriage bolts (8 of them) attaching the unit to the bus. Like most components of this bus, the wheelchair lift was installed with the thought that it would remain in place for the entire life of the bus. Not only are these components hard to remove in a shop/maintenance scenario, they are meant to remain in place in a crash scenario. Removing the 8 bolts required 5 different tools -- The big crew-served angle grinder (for 6 of the 8 bolts), the generator to run the CSAG, the cordless cut off tool (for two of the bolts inaccessible to the BCSAG), cordless drill (to drill out the rivets on the door trim plate and the cordless oscillating tool to get at one little metal thing blocking one of the bolts.

I recently re-read the history of the "Carrollton Bus Disaster" of 1988 in Carrollton, KY. It helps to keep me in check when I grumble about how hard EVERYTHING has been to get at in this bus. It reminds me to be glad for the kids riding school buses today. I just hope I *NEVER* have to drop the fuel tank ...

Enjoy some pictures.