New here. Here is my Bus. Dialup warning. - Page 2

BassnTruck · 11-23-2014, 12:13 AM

Digging this back up 7 years later. Much has changed in my life during this time.

I really have not done much with my bus over the last 7 years. Used it to move myself and a few people but that is about it. It has become mostly a storage unit for me.

But that is all about to change.

I will go back through this thread and fix the dead picture links shortly.

Last time I moved it I noticed one of my air bags had rotted out. I am about to order two new ones to fix that problem. I am also about to replace all the exterior lights with LEDs and rewire them all. There is a short in the stock wiring for the roof marker lights. I eventually plan on rewiring the whole bus as you can tell a bunch of people have attempted to work on it and fix little things making it a rats nest. But that is the life of a former military vehicle.

I am not going to really do much to the interior at this point. Just getting it ready to take the first real trip in it early this coming year.

I need to build a hitch for it to tow my car hauler as the Suburban will be in tow on this trip. And wire in a 7 way RV plug on the back. I plan on installing a small battery bank and a pure sine wave inverter/charger for the trip. I need to rebuild the air wiper motors and switches to get them back functioning 100%. I also need to install the air ride seat I have had for it. Somehow one of the headlights developed a crack in it while it was sitting and it started ingesting water. I threw in a new set of 4 silverstars to try and help the night lighting. I would have liked to put LEDs in but it was not in the cards this time around.

The exterior has not really changed except the paint it likely a bit more faded. Repainting the bus is on the list of future projects that needs to be addressed.

I will try to start taking some photos of the progress I am going to do even though it will be pretty boring. You are SOL on the headlight swap.

I am sure I am forgetting some things but it is likely they will pop up as I commence.

Oh, this bus does have fiberglass insulation in between the inner and outer skins. I was not aware of that when I purchased it way back when and did not see it mentioned previously.

EastCoastCB · 11-23-2014, 07:20 AM

Its really cool that you still have and use the bus.

bansil · 11-23-2014, 12:24 PM

WOW talk about reviving dead threads

awesome bus, the back doors would be awesome opening from bedroom onto a rear deck

newbusser · 11-23-2014, 01:32 PM

Real nice bus!
I also love those fold down seats.
What part of the country you located?

BassnTruck · 11-23-2014, 06:27 PM

I am in the Kansas City metro area. I still have all the folding/reclining seats. At some point I will be getting rid of at least some of them.

Forgot to mention I am also removing the air powered bus door for an RV one. I want something that will seal and lock.

Besides the headlights I have already installed here are the parts that have currently come in so far.

Battery switch, 10 300amp ANL fuses, a 7way RV receptacle, 6 rolls of 3M Super 33 electrical tape, and 75' of (2 10ga, 1 12ga, and 4 14ga) trailer wire. Still waiting on shipments to arrive.

BassnTruck · 11-23-2014, 06:42 PM

Started a ruff prototype for the hitch I need to build. The space between the frame is 28" and the frame is 3" wide. I need to have the top of the hitch 8.5" below the frame to clear the ramp the resides under the bus. I have some 1/4" 6" C channel which I have in the design. I need to dig through my metal pile and see what I have laying around to see if I can make work what I have or if I need to buy some different metal. I need to add gussets still but I did not want to waste a ton of time on it until I know what metal I will be using.

The design will likely change a little once I iron that out. I do not really like the ascetics of the spacers under the C channel. If i can order some 10" channel and it is not too expensive I might go that route. The whole unit will be built with 1/4" steel. I do not think the frame flexes much on this bus but I do not feel like measuring everything and running the stress tests.

BassnTruck · 11-24-2014, 02:57 PM

Had another box show up today. They shorted me one amber. They said it is on the way now.

Most of the lights for the bus and some for my trailer that need replaced and added to. Also adding a brake away to the trailer since it does not have one.

Tbart · 11-29-2014, 07:40 PM

You can only use 20" tires. If it has 8.25 x 20s on it now, go to 9x20 or 10 x 20. You can't use singles on the rear. Reliably anyway. That's a cool bus!

EastCoastCB · 11-30-2014, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassnTruck

Had another box show up today. They shorted me one amber. They said it is on the way now.

Most of the lights for the bus and some for my trailer that need replaced and added to. Also adding a brake away to the trailer since it does not have one.

Very nice. I love when a package shows up.
Where did you order the lights for your bus?

BassnTruck · 12-05-2014, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tbart

You can only use 20" tires. If it has 8.25 x 20s on it now, go to 9x20 or 10 x 20. You can't use singles on the rear. Reliably anyway. That's a cool bus!

I am aware of that. I want to swap to more modern axles so I can get rid of the Dayton style wheels and go with Budds. It has just not happened yet.

BassnTruck · 12-05-2014, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Where did you order the lights for your bus?

I ordered them from http://www.southwestwheel.com/store/...ed-lights.aspx

They shorted me an amber marker that I am still waiting to show up. I wound up ordering another set of the 7" round ambers for the front of the bus as what I had planned to do would not work. They will replace the rectangle ambers on the front access doors.

BassnTruck · 12-05-2014, 02:41 PM

Still waiting on parts to show up. Got some of the new battery wire in and some of the other wire to rewire the marker lights. The power and ground are 00 and the other spools are 14Ga.

BassnTruck · 12-06-2014, 04:46 PM

Had some more parts show up today. Firewall pass through lugs for power and some stand alone power point lugs.

BassnTruck · 12-08-2014, 06:39 PM

Well I actually started doing a little work today.

Installed the 7" amber LEDs on the front.

Installed the passenger side LED turn signal. I am rewiring the marker lights and not using the chassis as a ground. Had to remove the window to get the new wire pulled.

BassnTruck · 12-08-2014, 06:41 PM

The new side turn signal is so much smaller then the chunky one I removed. This one is long and sleek. The old one stuck up almost 2". This one does not even clear the rub rails.

I will get a side by side photo of them.

BassnTruck · 12-09-2014, 02:44 PM

Here are some photos of the old side turn signal and the new.

BassnTruck · 12-09-2014, 02:46 PM

Had some more parts show up today so far. Lots of split loom, my ANL fuse holders that accept 00 gauge wire, and a pair of mini ANL fuse holders with fuses.

BassnTruck · 12-09-2014, 07:31 PM

Had another box show up today. Some 4ga wire.

The 00 and 4ga together.

BassnTruck · 12-09-2014, 07:34 PM

Well when I was working tonight the hot side oil seal on the T04E13 turbo took a dump. I am trying to track down a seal. Just another thing to add to the list.

BassnTruck · 12-11-2014, 08:13 PM

It was just above freezing today but I was out there cranking away on the bus. Mainly just removing all the old power wire. They had it anchored every few inches it seemed and I had to unbolt it at every spot. The cable jacket was as stiff as a rock so they did not use a quality cable. I had to really fight to remove the 0000 wire.

Everything takes four times as long to do when it is cold out it seem in my case. I am pretty upset how long it took to remove some wire, install the new switch, install 2 pass through terminals, and the fuse holder. All the lugs on the end of the wires were fluxed and soldered. Then the lugs were sealed to prevent anything from getting into the wire. I do not plan on doing this job again.

I am not anywhere near done with the wiring but I got the new power and ground runs to the starter. I am waiting on the 4ga lugs to show up to rewire the alternator and the main feed for the power distribution.

I only have three photos from today. I was not really in the position to take a bunch of them today.

Here you can see the battery switch, fuse holder, and one of the power pass through. The other one is just to the right out of the photo.

The back side.

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