School Buses

I bought a 63 Dodge school bus. I want to use it as a cruiser/tow truck. I’m going to take the body off and mount it on a 96 Ram 3500. The wheel base is with 3”. Any pointer from anybody that has done it before? When finished in hoping it will tow a 20’ stacker trailer. I would also like to do the power tour or follow drag week with it.

I don't know what a 96 frame looks like without the sheet metal, but that school bus frame is going to be very flat on the top from the firewall back. Any variations in the height of the 96 frame after the firewall will have to be accounted for in the floor height.

I had a 64 Doge camper, the floor pan under the front seats, the dash, and everything forward of the dash was Dodge truck. Everything behind the dash, except the floor to behind the seats was all custom built by whomever built the camper. I suspect your bus is built the same way. It may be real difficult to move the body behind the firewall in one piece. It was probably built as a floor pan then the sides and top structure was added, then the whole body structure got covered with the outside skin. Be prepared. Gene

Ford and GM commercial trucks have a narrower, flat frame to accommodate standard body builder designs than pickup body trucks.

I would think Chrysler probably follows the same design protocol, so make sure your frame donor is a commercial, not a pickup truck chassis.

I think the frame width is something like 34”, and the original bus frame would be the same.

Pickups generally have a wider frame, partially to accommodate inboard gas tanks, and don’t have flat frames.

Thank you for all the input. I will look at the frame width and flatness. I’m just trying to get away from the front straight axle.

look at an 80's chev delivery or short bus /rv------some have a bolt off front k member-------or just use the whole frame thing.....

A friend had a 32 foot '97 motorhome on a Chevy chassis,it had an independent front end and a flat frame.

While it might be easier to start with a flat frame, it's not a big deal to make one flat.

The hardest part is going to be supporting the bus body while swapping. It's big and heavy.

Speaking of weight, how much does the bus weigh? What's the gvw? What's the gvw of the donor chassis? Is the tow rating high enough for what you want?

Personally I'd be looking at a newer class 6 chassis.