International 3800 adventure bus build

[AdventureBus]

I had a little bit of spare time yesterday so I decided to change the driveshaft angles on the bus. It has three sections and the rearmost section was the only one that was horizontal. The front (2) sections had a little bit of fall towards the rear of the bus. I changed it so the middle section was horizontal and the front and rear sections had fall. I also removed the remaining section of exhaust pipe that crossed over the rear axle. It looks much better with the additional clearance.

Before:

After:

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[IdaSHO]

I've known a few mechanics that swear by greasing bearings and races when installing/servicing front oil bath bearings, in addition to oil.

Although I feel it is a one or the other thing.... greased, or oil bath.
The bearings themselves don't seem to care.
And there are conversion "kits" to go both ways... from oil to grease, and grease to oil.

Greased does require service at shorter intervals than oil bath.
Oil bath has a higher chance of leaks.

 

[AdventureBus]

I’ve been looking at water tanks online and have found two options that I like. I will outline the pro’s and con’s.

210 gallon (97”x30”x17”)
Pros-high capacity, lowest center of gravity, less expensive $690
Cons-will stick out farther than the side wall by 1-1/2”, can’t have underbody storage behind it

135 gallon (76”x28”x16”)
Pros-able to locate mass farther forward for better weight distribution, won’t stick out the side, can add underbody storage behind it
Cons-lower capacity, more expensive $750

I could add a 90 gallon (32”x30”x21”) tank inside the cabin behind one of the dinette benches and increase capacity. That tank costs $570 and could be added later on.

My question is, based on your experience with remote travel for 1 to 2 weeks at a time, would you rather have more water capacity, or more outdoor storage capacity? Keep in mind we are a family of (9) and have limited amount of outdoor storage planned.


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[tmckenna13]

I’ve been looking at water tanks online and have found two options that I like. I will outline the pro’s and con’s.

210 gallon (97”x30”x17”)
Pros-high capacity, lowest center of gravity, less expensive $690
Cons-will stick out farther than the side wall by 1-1/2”, can’t have underbody storage behind it

135 gallon (76”x28”x16”)
Pros-able to locate mass farther forward for better weight distribution, won’t stick out the side, can add underbody storage behind it
Cons-lower capacity, more expensive $750

I could add a 90 gallon (32”x30”x21”) tank inside the cabin behind one of the dinette benches and increase capacity. That tank costs $570 and could be added later on.

My question is, based on your experience with remote travel for 1 to 2 weeks at a time, would you rather have more water capacity, or more outdoor storage capacity? Keep in mind we are a family of (9) and have limited amount of outdoor storage planned.


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I don't have nearly as much experience as some of the other guys on here, but personally I'd go with the larger water capacity. Outdoor storage you can always find work arounds, like tow receiver carriers, or roof baskets or a front bumper carrier, etc. Fresh water holding you can't really get much more than what you have built in.

 

[AdventureBus]

I got the bus road worthy again and took it back to the CAT Scales. I got some fuel while I was there and met someone else who was bringing a bus home.

The weight differences from the first time I weighed it came from having the windows and (4) bus seats installed along with the room raise and the rear bumper/ hitch additions. I was very surprised at the effects on front/rear weight distribution with the heavy rear bumper I built. Having that weight 8’ behind the rear axle removed 80 lbs from the original front axle weight and added 540 lbs to the rear for a 47/53 distribution.

After my first trip to the scales yesterday, I came back home and added 1920 lbs worth of paving bricks and other junk behind the driver’s seat where I’m planning on mounting my water tank. At first I was thinking about mounting heavy stuff behind the rear axle to put my weight distribution in proportion with the current axle capacities. I had a long conversation with a member on this forum, Mr. Charlie Aarons, and he passed along some wisdom from real-world experience. It would have been a mistake to progress the build with most of the heavy things at the rear.

My second trip to the scales yesterday showed 7920 lbs on the front axle and 9180 lbs on the rear for a 46/54 distribution. Since I’m planning on single military tires all the way around and equal capacity axles front and rear in the future, it makes sense to shoot for as close to a 50/50 distribution as possible.

We also took it on a mild off-road track through a creek crossing and across some pretty decent dips and drop offs (by bus standards).

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[goldtooth]

love this bus and build. can't wait to see how it looks finished
nate

 

[AdventureBus]

Well I’m glad I did the shakedown run before painting this beast. I didn’t really like having the first passenger windows behind the driver’s seat raised even with the rear windows. It makes it feel a little claustrophobic and hinders the driver’s view a little bit. It also pits the co-driver’s window a little too high to see out of comfortably. I’ll post more pics when the windows are finished being relocated and I’ll take it for another run with action pics. By the way, my Instagram name is @amtran.overland and I have a short video posted on there.

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[AdventureBus]

I didn’t get any work done today because I was too busy playing. I wanted to see how muck flex the bus could handle, which turned out to be about 36” corner to corner. We also held one of the mountain bikes up to the back to see how many could fit. I will be building a 7-bike rack using Lolo Racks DIY hooks after we finish painting the bus.

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[AdventureBus]

We made a little headway on the bus today. We got the angled side-skirt applied on the driver’s side and added about 40 rivets along the bottom edges.

We applied the remaining (10) hammock bolts to the tops of the window posts. I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but these (24) 1/2” bolts through the drip rail and window posts are adding strength to the roof. It looked like the curved roof would like to tear away from the posts under flex and return to a flat shape. The will also give me something to weld to later on if I add accessories to the top edges of the roof.

And lastly, I removed the bottom step from the stairwell and added 5 inches of ground clearance. The step was rotten in the back corners snd it drug the ground a little bit in an off-camber situation the other day. I crossed a hump that I thought might high-center the bus in an effort to test its limits but the step was the only part that contacted the ground. I had about 4” that could be removed from the door below the bottom windows without having to modify them. I like the windows because they help see small cars that pull up beside you when you’re about to make a wide right turn.

 

[Srpat]

Exciting progress. Water tank. More is better, but maybe a hybrid design is best. Removable dinette tank might be a good option. Use with a transfer tank to refill your main tank. Either way, 2 tanks are nice. You don't have surprises when you run out of water if you have to manually switch between tanks. FWIW I have a 20 and 25 gallon freshwater tanks for our family of 4. Thats good for maybe a week with no showers. I would have preferred twice my capacity in hindsight. BUT, we have a huge amount of storage. I think 3 or 4 of those big reliance jugs would be good for our more remote desert trip this fall.

How long before you camp with it?

 

[AdventureBus]

Exciting progress. Water tank. More is better, but maybe a hybrid design is best. Removable dinette tank might be a good option. Use with a transfer tank to refill your main tank. Either way, 2 tanks are nice. You don't have surprises when you run out of water if you have to manually switch between tanks. FWIW I have a 20 and 25 gallon freshwater tanks for our family of 4. Thats good for maybe a week with no showers. I would have preferred twice my capacity in hindsight. BUT, we have a huge amount of storage. I think 3 or 4 of those big reliance jugs would be good for our more remote desert trip this fall.

How long before you camp with it?

I appreciate the feedback on the water tanks. I can see were having two separate tanks could be beneficial as far as having a backup. If you get a leak in one or a pump goes out it would be cool to have a separate tank and pump. I can get a better weight distribution out of two smaller tanks as well. I can position both of them further forward in the chassis.

I hope to start using it to camp out of this fall. It’s going to be a lot of work painting it and reinstalling the windows leak free. If we do use it this fall it will basically be a big metal tent. I think it will still make for a fun adventure though.


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[AdventureBus]

I’ve been posting a few pics on Instagram of my new off-roqd light housings I made for the front end. They were designed to hold the Lightforce Blitz 240s which are 10” in diameter. They are nearly 7” deep and I didn’t want the to stick out the front that far. That is why I recessed them 6” into the bulkhead. I like the shape and position of the housings because they look like a slightly oversized version of what some other buses came with from the factory. In case anyone was wondering, I’m trying to stick close to the original bus styling. I could build it into any wild creation I want, but in the end, I want the bus roots to shine through.

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[Third]

Cool!

But I thought they were jerry can holders until I scrolled.

LOL

 

[Srpat]

First thought was sooo much drag added and horrible aerodynamics. But it's a bus shaped like a brick, so no worse off. Not sure you have anything to worry about in losing your bus roots. It will be a sweet monster truck bus when you are done, but still a bus no matter what you do to it.

 

[AdventureBus]

I recently bought an Eaton 8LL transmission complete with clutch housing, low-mileage 2-disk clutch, all linkages, clutch pedal, and rear support strap. It has 10 forward gears, 3 reverse, and an 18.81:1 low-low.

I still need a 14” flywheel, pilot bearing, new clutch brake and a 2”-10 spline 1550 series yoke. It will be a winter project as I’m still doing paint prep.

I installed 2 skylight window frames in the main cabin and I’m working on one more above the wet-bath.

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