Sun Rises On Our Chassis
Pulling Into Station One In The Weld Shop
The sun was just rising on this chilly morning and it was time for our chassis to start taking shape. Today is the day that the chassis goes into the weld shop.
The chassis is essentially going in for reconstructive surgery. It goes in as just a chassis but when it comes out it has a complete frame for the flooring and basement compartments as well some important items like the jacks and the slide system.
David With Our Jack
Jack Welded Onto The Frame
Things start at station one. One of the items done here are the very LARGE HWH jacks.
Welding On The Jacks
Remember all the way back to yesterday when they ran and put together all our wires and cabling? I know a lot has happened since then but try to remember.
Well, the giant bucket that all those cables ended up in get’s wheeled here.
More Welding
All Our Wires And Cables
All Our Wires And Cables
The guys run all the cables along the floor and then put them up on the chassis. All these cables and wires are run along the inside of the chassis, before the flooring goes on.
Our Floor Frame
Our Floor Frame
And speaking of the floor, Tiffin manufactures that too. At the next station over the guys takes raw steel rods and make an entire flooring frame and basement frame. So when station one is done doing what they are doing, the floor frame is fully manufactured and ready to be placed. They do not start the floor frame until the coach is at station one. So needless to say, they do work fast. We were there the entire time though and even though they work fast, they work efficiently and well. Needless to say, it is a very active place.
The Floor Frame Going Into Place
The Basement Frame Going Into Place
At station two in the weld shop the floor frame and basement frame are put into place and welded on.
Moving on up to station three theirs more welding.
Welding The Floor Frame
More Welding
I know…shocker.
But this is the station where they place a very important piece of the motor home.
Placement Of The Stairs
The stairs.
Because let’s face it. It would be very difficult for most of us to jump into our rigs.
David took the honors of being the first on our new stairs. Good to see they work like advertised. (Ok, I did not want to be the first one to try them. After all, look at all the steel all over the place you could fall on.)
David On The Stairs
A couple other pieces that are put on here are the HWH hydraulic slide-out system and the hydraulic pumps for the jacks that were put on at station one.
HWH Hydraulic Slide-Out System
Hydraulic Pumps For The Jacks
So after a few more welds they were done.
David and I couldn’t resist putting our mark on our chassis.
We Signed Our Chassis
It’s time to exit the weld shop and get fueled up. David of course mentioned that Tiffin does not do things half way, so make sure they top off the diesel. They though this was funny for some reason.
When the chassis gets driven outside it’s just sitting and waiting for the next station.
Time To Exit The Weld Shop
Thought Their’d Be More To This
David took to the driver’s seat and thought that it was a little breezier than he thought it should be.
We’re going to have to talk to someone about that.
Tomorrow the real fun begins. We start at station one inside the main plant.
Here is the full photo set from today…Click “Show PicLens” for best view.
Very interesting write up. The rolling frame looks like a Freightliner. Is it? Every mfg claims they make the chassis, but did Tiffin? Appreciate your blog. Eddie & Gail
The Tiffin PowerGlide is 100% made by Tiffin. Right down to the Tiffin logo being on the chrome wheel covers. They do use Freightliner for other coaches they make, but our Allegro Bus, is all Tiffin.
This is fascinating! Thanks for sharing! Love all the pictures!
there, their, they’re
Sue, Brenda has a sort of mental block when it comes to their, there, they’re. Just have to love her anyway and know its a quirky part of her personality!
It looks like you’re having the workers sign your shirt, what a cool idea! I’ll bet they are getting a kick out of that. We were up there a couple of weeks ago and saw that for the first time. Impressive.
Hi…Good eyes! Yes, we made up t-shirts to get more involved. On the front it reads “Proud New Owner Tiffin Allegro Bus – 45LP” and on the back…”Proud as the people that built it. Build #96415 Thank you”. Then we thought it would be great to have them sign it. Having great fun with it and Tiffin of course seems to love it.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. :)
Wow! This is very cool. I love that Tiffin lets you come in and see the whole process.
Do they build the motor to? I can’t imagine the advantage building the chassis would be over a professional manufacturer. I wonder about that.
Hi…No, the motor is Cummins like most all manufacturers are now. Not are why would you think the chassis would not be a professional job? They have been using the Power Glide chassis for quite some time and it comes with rave reviews. It’s engineering team was the same team that designed others mainline brands if I recall. It uses the same parts that other manufacturers would use yet they can control the costs of the build better. After all, if you have the resources and can built it to the same quality or better yourself, and thus save the markups, why not? The auto air ride leveling system is the same one used on the Prevost for example. Hope this helps.