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Old 07-28-2018, 10:49 PM   #1
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The Galloping Goose (for now)

The Galloping Goose started out running a route between Telluride and Norwood and had a sweet logo like this one.
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/235/Public-Transit

It is almost my ideal bus. It is a Blue Bird transit style RE with an ISC and MD3060 with 264k miles. It is 36 passenger passenger with coach seating, front and rear air ride, AC (not working). The surprise was that the underfloor and wheel wells are factory spray foamed and it has auto chains and a disconected espar coolant heater. The only problem with this bus is it has mountain gearing and top speed is aroud 60 mph. A rear axle gear swap will be in the future. More pics to come when I get it home.

Ted,
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Old 07-28-2018, 10:52 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TJones View Post
The Galloping Goose started out running a route between Telluride and Norwood and had a sweet logo like this one.
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/235/Public-Transit

It is almost my ideal bus. It is a Blue Bird transit style RE with an ISC and MD3060 with 264k miles. It is 36 passenger passenger with coach seating, front and rear air ride, AC (not working). The surprise was that the underfloor and wheel wells are factory spray foamed and it has auto chains and a disconected espar coolant heater. The only problem with this bus is it has mountain gearing and top speed is aroud 60 mph. A rear axle gear swap will be in the future. More pics to come when I get it home.

Ted,
Nice bus! I like the name too. The name I've been thinking of, but haven't officially said yes to yet, is the Wandering Goose. At one of my previous jobs I was given the nickname goose for almost a decade
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Old 07-29-2018, 11:20 PM   #3
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Nice bus! I like the name too. The name I've been thinking of, but haven't officially said yes to yet, is the Wandering Goose. At one of my previous jobs I was given the nickname goose for almost a decade
Thanks! Is your nickname in any way related to Top Gun?
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Old 07-29-2018, 11:25 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TJones View Post
The Galloping Goose started out running a route between Telluride and Norwood and had a sweet logo like this one.
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/235/Public-Transit

It is almost my ideal bus. It is a Blue Bird transit style RE with an ISC and MD3060 with 264k miles. It is 36 passenger passenger with coach seating, front and rear air ride, AC (not working). The surprise was that the underfloor and wheel wells are factory spray foamed and it has auto chains and a disconected espar coolant heater. The only problem with this bus is it has mountain gearing and top speed is aroud 60 mph. A rear axle gear swap will be in the future. More pics to come when I get it home.

Ted,
Correction: transmission is a B300
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Old 07-30-2018, 01:54 AM   #5
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One minor point - the "goose" logo was borrowed by the bus company from the railroad. The originals were a tad older. (Though, interestingly enough, were technically built from a bus body, making them part skoolie.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galloping_Goose_(railcar)

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Old 07-30-2018, 10:24 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Mark_In_MA View Post
One minor point - the "goose" logo was borrowed by the bus company from the railroad. The originals were a tad older. (Though, interestingly enough, were technically built from a bus body, making them part skoolie.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galloping_Goose_(railcar)

The railroad didn't have enoigh freight or passengers to run full size trains so they created the Frankenbustrains in the 1930's to move a few people and the mail between moutain towns.
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Old 07-30-2018, 10:44 PM   #7
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I made it back home last night. It was a loooong drive from Denver back to Rapid.The rear end has a 7.17 ratio. The seller was quoted $2500 to swap the gears for a lower ratio. I need to calculate what gears I want and get a quote for the parts. I'll do the swap myself. Has anyone used cummins powerspec program? I think it free and has a feature that calculates rear axle ratio from the engine and transmission specs.

I took a couple picture this evening after I got home from work. Nice reclining coach seating, ISC 260, and spray foam. Not sure how well the spray foam is going to work out when it time to pull out seats. I'm reseaching what it will take to get the AC working. It is missing part of the clutch assembly and I need to get a set of gages so I can see if there is any refrigerant left. Good news is the compressor is not locked up and will turn by hand.

Ted
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Old 08-26-2018, 11:39 PM   #8
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NEW BATTERIES

So I went to start the bus after about a week of sitting and the batteries were dead. I cleaned the terminals, checked the cells and put the charger on it for a few hours. The charger said they were charged but still no start. Pulled the terminals charged each battery individually and load tested them...batteries were shot. I'm just glad they got the bus home.

After pulling the batteries I thought as long as they are out I might as well clean up the battery box and paint it.
I decided to use Por 15 since it is pretty durable stuff and it doesn't have to be pretty in a battery box.

The batteries were questionable when I bought the bus so the seller took the price of two new 8D batteries off the purchase price.

I ended up buying CAT batteries and althought they are spendy they come with a 3 year warranty. I thought it would be nice to have some warranty left after I get the bus converted and am driving it. Interstate was almost as expensive and only had 6 months the others were a little cheaper and had a year. The CAT also had the highest CCA at 1500

With the new batteries in the bus not only starts but starts really well and it might be in my head but the engine sounds smoother.

Ted
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Old 08-27-2018, 06:19 AM   #9
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Good job!

Its always a great idea to refinish the battery compartment and tray.
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Old 08-27-2018, 09:00 AM   #10
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Fixed the link (needed the end quote inside the URL tag):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galloping_Goose_(railcar)

That does look like a really nice bus.

I'm sure some folks here know what the axle is in it (Rockwell, Dana, etc.) which should help in making a swap. The ratio stuff is simple math, if you want to go 80 instead of 60, the axle needs to be changed by the same ratio. 7.17 * 60/80 = 5.38. Need to confirm that's acceptable for actually driving, but the math is that simple.

(And the B300 is using all six gears, right? 60 MPH in sixth with a 7.17 axle seems reasonable, but I didn't do any math....)
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Old 08-27-2018, 11:50 PM   #11
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Good job!

Its always a great idea to refinish the battery compartment and tray.
Thanks ECCB,

There will be more surface rust treatment on the frame a wheel wells but overall its not in bad shape.

Ted
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Old 08-28-2018, 12:13 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ennonne View Post
Fixed the link (needed the end quote inside the URL tag):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galloping_Goose_(railcar)

That does look like a really nice bus.

I'm sure some folks here know what the axle is in it (Rockwell, Dana, etc.) which should help in making a swap. The ratio stuff is simple math, if you want to go 80 instead of 60, the axle needs to be changed by the same ratio. 7.17 * 60/80 = 5.38. Need to confirm that's acceptable for actually driving, but the math is that simple.

(And the B300 is using all six gears, right? 60 MPH in sixth with a 7.17 axle seems reasonable, but I didn't do any math....)
Thanks ennonne,

I'm narrowing the new ratios down to 4.10, 4.44 or a 4.78. I dont need the bus to go much faster than 65 but I want to get the rpm down. Top speed was around 60 but that was hitting govern rpm. I drove 50 most of the time. My 6th gear is locked when I downshift the display goes to 4. I started another thread for the gearing here:

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f39/op...ing-24002.html

Ted
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Old 08-28-2018, 07:06 AM   #13
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Andy’s autosport calculator
https://www.andysautosport.com/learn...r/calculators/
It gives 100 rpm splits for known gear ratios.
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Old 08-28-2018, 07:13 AM   #14
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Sorry missed you started another thread for gearing
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Old 12-05-2018, 09:40 PM   #15
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AC Ducting and Luggage Rack Demo

So small progress is being made. The AC ducting and luggage rack is out! It opens things up a little. Also I removed the very nice Infinity speakers. Those will be going back in for a bumping sound system.

The seats and interior sheat metal removal will have to wait another 5 weeks until the 10 lb lift limit imposed by my recent surgery has expired. If we get some warm weather I'll work on degreasing the engine bay.

Ted
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Old 12-06-2018, 07:56 AM   #16
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wow those are some nice speakers!!!

-Christopher
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Old 12-06-2018, 10:08 AM   #17
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wow those are some nice speakers!!!

-Christopher
For being 18 years old they still sound really good. They were powered by a 4x75w alpine amp and cheesy 20 gauge or smaller speaker wire.

I dont think they ever got pushed very hard being on a bus.

Ted
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Old 12-06-2018, 11:45 AM   #18
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I had a high end set of Kappa 5's in my old Honda!
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Old 01-08-2019, 11:33 PM   #19
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Destruction has begun!

Today we got alot done on the bus! The seats are out. The floor is out and ceiling panels are gone.

We got lucky and the seats were bolted with self taping bolts so there was minimal crawling around under the bus and the spray foam seamed to keep most of the bolt threads from being too rusted. The seats came out in about an hour and a half with one person running a cordless impact.

The biggest PITA was getting the rubber and plywood floor up. It was stuck down really well with a multitude of small nails. Long steel pry bars popped the plywood up up. A cordless cut off wheel took care of the nails that would break off when you tried to pull them out. We also removed the heater and heater hose. The heaters will be reinstalled with new hose. The floor was alot of work and took the most time.

AN AIR CHISEL IS THE WAY TO GO FOR CUTTING OFF RIVOTS. With two of use working one used a hammer a punch to knock out the mandrel and the other cut off the rivot heads. When the chisel was sharp you could go through a rivot in less than a second. It will make you giggle. Wear good eye protection as rivot heads fly everywhere! The ceiling came out in a couple hours.

Tomorrow we will pull the sheet metal off the walls and pull out all the insulation.

Ted
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Old 01-09-2019, 06:05 AM   #20
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dang too bad you live all the way out west!.. i wantt hose seats!!!



lookin good, you made short work of gutting out that bus!!

-Christopher
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