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Old 01-12-2018, 10:16 PM   #1
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Join Date: Jan 2018
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Prep School

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking for a while as I've been prepping for getting a bus and building a skoolie for my Wife and I to live full-time as we travel the country looking where to take root (if at all ). I do have a bunch of questions, but I'm sure I can space them out in future posts, but I did have one I wanna ask here:

Where are people getting their buses? I keep seeing people talking about paying between $1,500-$5,000 for them, but I can't seem to find any except beat Craigslist ones for that price range. A lot of sites are selling $10,000-$18,000 which seems extremely excessive.

ideally, based on research, I think I'd want a 40' rear engine with an 8.3 cummins with a 4.1 gear ratio. I'd want it to be as tall as possible since I don't want to do a roof raise. I know that's not necessarily going to happen, but would like to check as many of those boxes as possible.

This place has been great!
Thanks

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Old 01-12-2018, 10:21 PM   #2
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Montana/Texas
Posts: 682
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Crown by Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: 230 HP DT 466e/MT 643!
Rated Cap: 16
Welcome to the madness!! [emoji16] Auction sites like Public Surplus or GovDeals are popular. Also look into contacting your local school district directly... poke around on the site as there is a wealth of information and experience!

John

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Old 01-12-2018, 10:55 PM   #3
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
Quote:
Originally Posted by stegosaurus! View Post
Hey everyone,

I've been lurking for a while as I've been prepping for getting a bus and building a skoolie for my Wife and I to live full-time as we travel the country looking where to take root (if at all ). I do have a bunch of questions, but I'm sure I can space them out in future posts, but I did have one I wanna ask here:

Where are people getting their buses? I keep seeing people talking about paying between $1,500-$5,000 for them, but I can't seem to find any except beat Craigslist ones for that price range. A lot of sites are selling $10,000-$18,000 which seems extremely excessive.

ideally, based on research, I think I'd want a 40' rear engine with an 8.3 cummins with a 4.1 gear ratio. I'd want it to be as tall as possible since I don't want to do a roof raise. I know that's not necessarily going to happen, but would like to check as many of those boxes as possible.

This place has been great!
Thanks
If the 8.3 Cummins comes with an MD3060 transmission, you don't want a 4.1 final drive ... You want closer to 5, and if 6th can be unlocked you want between 5 and 6.

It's the complete combo of ratios that matters and not just the fd ratio.

The better prices are coming from auction sites like:

govdeals.com
publicsurplus.com
purplewave.com
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