Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 02-17-2016, 10:27 AM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 47
Question about bus purchases

Remember I am a newbie here, and yes I did read the "So you're buying a bus" thread.

Had some questions that weren't covered.

1) I noticed one man selling four buses, two were as they were in service $4500 Dog Nose 2002 Diesels, 2 were the same but the seats removed and not included $5200.

Is it really worth $700 to have the seats removed?

I am actually going to use a bunch of my seats since I will be racing, they will make awesome paddock seats (pit seats).

2) I read the new tires thread, good point. Are there any tires that have been recalled or are good to avoid?

3) I have decided on the dog nose, I thought I had no choice because I am making a toy/race car hauler but then I found out about the flat nosed front engine bus. Are they more expensive or about the same as a dog nose?

4) Am I insane for doing this?

BigPaul is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2016, 12:11 PM   #2
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Winlcok, WA
Posts: 2,233
4) If you can ask the question then you already know the answer!

3) Pricing is usually based on age, condition, and spe'c's. Type 'D' buses (service door in front of the front axle) generally cost $10K-$20K more when new than a bus with the same spe'c's and number of seats as a Type 'C' bus (front engine under a hood outside with the service door behind the front axle). As a consequence they tend to cost more used. The big advantage of a Type 'D' bus is the entire length of the bus is inside rather than having 8'-10' of the bus sticking outside out front.

2) Most school buses that come out of service will have legal tread on the tires. In some cases the school will go through the fleet and find the six tires that have the least amount of legal tread and put them on a bus that is being sent down the road. If you find a bus with a good set of rubber it is a bonus. As far as good or bad, the only criteria that is important to you is if they have legal tread depth and determine how old the tires are currently. Our church purchased a bus for $3,500.00 and ended up spending $3,600.00 on new tires and wheels--when we purchased the bus it had no two tires alike and the drives were all tube type wheels.

1) It takes several hours to remove all of the seats. At normal truck shop rates $700.00 wouldn't even be one whole shift for one person. I know from experience it usually takes two people a lot more than four hours to remove a seat of seats. As far as using them for seats in the pit, unless you happen to purchase a bus with track mounted seating you are going to have to build legs for one end of the seats--the wall side of the seat is usually bolted to the chair rail in the wall and do not have a leg on that end. 2002 vintage Type 'C' school buses with an asking price of $4,500.00 is not a bad place to start.

Good luck.
cowlitzcoach is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2016, 04:43 PM   #3
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 47
Cowlitzcoach, Thanks for the reply. After reading some of the great information on this site I noticed a couple things about some of the bus ads and your comments sort of solidify my theory.

I noticed some of the ads have the coin in the tread for each tire, shows you exactly what you are getting. Some of the other ads just say "tires pass inspection" or "good tires".

Something tells me the later is the case you mentioned about the garage taking the tires with the least tread to call legal and mounting them on the bus being sold.

Thanks again.
BigPaul is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:28 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.