Towing 32 ft camper with short bus

[Gnomeskillet]

That's what made me ask I read a similar forum about pulling a fifth wheel camper with a semi I didn't know they made air ball hitches thanks

[Gnomeskillet]

Just looked up some air ride ball hitches the shocker and air safe now time to research them

[PNW_Steve]

I have seen some folks remove one or more leaves from the springs and add air bags to improve the ride quality.

[jazty]

When pulling a loaded hay trailer behind the bus it rides smother than ever! The preload on the leaf springs make it drive like a champ. I'd certainly take the loaded camper trailer for a test drive before adding expensive options.

[Gnomeskillet]

Good idea thanks for the info

[Gnomeskillet]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

I have seen some folks remove one or more leaves from the springs and add air bags to improve the ride quality.

That's a good idea too thank you

[Gnomeskillet]

I found out that bus has the dt360 wanted a 466 huge difference?

[jazty]

The DT360 is a good engine in the same family as the DT466, but less powerful of course.
The lower end of the horsepower range of the DT360 would likely get annoying, but like all these engines they also have higher-horsepower options. Can you get that information? If you are going to physically look at the bus you can usually find that information on a sticker on the engine.

[cadillackid]

go for a DT466 (but makle sure its not the low-spec 175HP version with an AT545 behind it).. for towing you MUST have an allison 2000 or MT643 (older bus).. and an inline 6 engine.. the Diesel V-8's found in a lot of shorties are great engines for a shortie.. but not for a shortie with a Heavy trailer.. the cooling systems on most of these diesel V8s are barely adequete at best..



the VT-365 as noted is a 6.0.. the Navistar version doesnt require head studs like the ford version fro mwhat i understand, but you'll still need to do an EGR delete, or EGR cooler update and oil cooler replace / upgrade to get it to be anywhere that I would consider towing with.. dont buy an IC BE, it was a pretty light duty chassis and was outfitted with these VT's and was a short bus..



engine / trans wise main things I would say about towing.


1. inline 6 diesel (higher spec).. a 210 HP DT466E (pre 2005), mated to an allison 2000 (5 speed auto) is a good bet.. AVOID the 175HP DT-466E with an AT545 behind it.. (you'll find these in late 90s, sometimes 00/01 years mainly)


2. CAT 3126 - again AVOID the AT545 when towing.. the CATs were mated to MT643s and allison 2000s as well.



the allison 2000 was released in well year 2000.. if looking at pics online the shifter will have positions.. (R-N-D-4-2-1) and in later years is (R-N-(D)-D-2-1).



allison 3000s were Rarely in conventional short busses.. they have an electronic push-button shifter with an LED display.. those are a 5 speed auto (overdrive) with a 6th gear that can be unlocked by an allison dealer (sometimes process is paperwork heavy, othertimes its easy..)..



-Christopher

[Gnomeskillet]

Thanks for all the info guys I'm going to dig into the 2 I'm looking at but great information

[Gnomeskillet]

Hopefully one of them is close

[Gnomeskillet]

Is any Trans info available on the Vin

[Marceps]

... What? Are you talking about a Carfax report or something?

I concur with cadillackid's opinion. The information he and jazty relayed is relevant and useful. Thank you, ak91th, for the information on air hitches.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Gnomeskillet

Is any Trans info available on the Vin

I have never seen transmission info come up when running a bus vin through one of the online decoders.

If you contact the bus manufacturer with the body # or vin, depending on mfg, they can get you a build sheet that will tell you all about the bus.

[Gnomeskillet]

Originally Posted by Marceps

... What? Are you talking about a Carfax report or something?

I concur with cadillackid's opinion. The information he and jazty relayed is relevant and useful. Thank you, ak91th, for the information on air hitches.

Talking about Vin to get trans info it's hard some times to get sellers to dig that information I don't think carfax goes deep

[Gnomeskillet]

Yeah its hard to get some sellers to dig into it further but that's a good idea thanks

[cadillackid]

one of the easiest ways ive learned about a certain vehicle is to take the VIN and call the dealer parts department... they can tell you what it was built with.. like PNW says the VIN doesnt have trans info.. and sometimes the engine info is vague at best.. it def wont tell you the horsepower rarting of the engine.. and there are usually 3 or 4 power variants of any given engine installed in school busses.. googling DT-466 horsepower is probably going to frustrate you when you see they were 175 to 250..



I also wouldnt call a dealer with every single bus you find on govdeals.. just with a couple that make your short-list to bid on.. ask the engine type / rating, GVWR, trans model, rear end gears, and rim / tire size it shipped with.. that will pretty much get you everything you need to know.. i suppose you could ask brake type if it matters to you whether you have air or hydraulic..



-Christopher

[Gnomeskillet]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

I have never seen transmission info come up when running a bus vin through one of the online decoders.

If you contact the bus manufacturer with the body # or vin, depending on mfg, they can get you a build sheet that will tell you all about the bus.

Yeah I will have to go that route thanks I appreciate all the info you guys have given

[Gnomeskillet]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

one of the easiest ways ive learned about a certain vehicle is to take the VIN and call the dealer parts department... they can tell you what it was built with.. like PNW says the VIN doesnt have trans info.. and sometimes the engine info is vague at best.. it def wont tell you the horsepower rarting of the engine.. and there are usually 3 or 4 power variants of any given engine installed in school busses.. googling DT-466 horsepower is probably going to frustrate you when you see they were 175 to 250..



I also wouldnt call a dealer with every single bus you find on govdeals.. just with a couple that make your short-list to bid on.. ask the engine type / rating, GVWR, trans model, rear end gears, and rim / tire size it shipped with.. that will pretty much get you everything you need to know.. i suppose you could ask brake type if it matters to you whether you have air or hydraulic..



-Christopher

Yeah I have found that when calling for truck parts some dealers really don't want to look all that stuff up can't really blame them. That's what I'm thinking too or call some different dealers so you don't burn one out thank you