A reminder on why you should really look at the bus before you buy it

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by Dbacks2k4

Unofficial poll - would it be rude to start a thread listing the most overly dramatic YouTube channels out there... Ya know for entertainment purposes!?

Stumbled across another one today... "I bought a $3k bus but then overheated the engine and paid $25k for a new engine!"

Not really, unless we make it as such. It could be educational.

Like, Hey, you blew up your bus due to uneducation/ignorance, and it's just plain foolish to spend 25k on a 3k dollar vehicle. Learn to cut your losses and then buy another bus.

[Booyah45828]

I've often times been unsympathetic to those that experience misfortunes like that. They put themselves in that scenario jumping feet first into the unknown, with no real skill set to help them.

Recently I've been trying not to be that way, because nobody was born knowing everything. As much as older generations want to bemoan about the younger ones, who's really at fault? The teacher for not teaching, or the student for not learning?

I'm 4th generation mechanic, I was in a shop very early in my life and was mentored and learned from that. If someone wasn't in that situation, can I fault them for not knowing what I know? I don't think you can. And it's not just mechanical abilities, it's work ethic, responsibility, accountability, dedication, problem solving, etc.

All the attributes people love to say that can't be taught. And they're incorrect at that, as those attributes are taught, they're just taught at a very early age. I was taught early how to check the oil. I see daily the reasons why I need to check the oil. And I interact with people daily that don't check the oil, didn't know they had to, and had no idea on how to.

A qoute I see often is about how the owners manual for the model T instructed people how to set the valve lash, whereas today's owners manuals caution people against drinking battery acid. Is it because people today are dumber then people of yesterday? Or is it because the people of yesterday were shitty teachers for the people of today?

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

I've often times been unsympathetic to those that experience misfortunes like that. They put themselves in that scenario jumping feet first into the unknown, with no real skill set to help them.

Recently I've been trying not to be that way, because nobody was born knowing everything. As much as older generations want to bemoan about the younger ones, who's really at fault? The teacher for not teaching, or the student for not learning?

I'm 4th generation mechanic, I was in a shop very early in my life and was mentored and learned from that. If someone wasn't in that situation, can I fault them for not knowing what I know? I don't think you can. And it's not just mechanical abilities, it's work ethic, responsibility, accountability, dedication, problem solving, etc.

All the attributes people love to say that can't be taught. And they're incorrect at that, as those attributes are taught, they're just taught at a very early age. I was taught early how to check the oil. I see daily the reasons why I need to check the oil. And I interact with people daily that don't check the oil, didn't know they had to, and had no idea on how to.

A qoute I see often is about how the owners manual for the model T instructed people how to set the valve lash, whereas today's owners manuals caution people against drinking battery acid. Is it because people today are dumber then people of yesterday? Or is it because the people of yesterday were shitty teachers for the people of today?

The not drinking battery acid has lawyers fingerprints all over it. They want to protect themselves( the manufacturer) from all kinds of stupid things that people could do, and the lawyers love personal injury lawsuits.


It is something I have to remind my older guys at the railroad, we are the teachers, and if the young guys mess up because we have not trained them, then we need to step up our training, rather then fussing at them.


I must say it does seem like 20, to 30 year olds seem to have not engaged life. They seem to be waiting for someone to push the "go" button.

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

I've often times been unsympathetic to those that experience misfortunes like that. They put themselves in that scenario jumping feet first into the unknown, with no real skill set to help them.

What makes me most unsympathetic is that you often see these people drag others into their mess to bail them out. I don't think humility alone is any compensation for negligence.

Originally Posted by Ronnie

I must say it does seem like 20, to 30 year olds seem to have not engaged life. They seem to be waiting for someone to push the "go" button.

Yeah, one time some kid got a flat in front of my house. He had a nice red F150. His mother arrived shortly later and they had no idea what to do. When I went out there to see what was up I showed him the spare, his jack, etc... you should have seen the look in his eyes. It was all, from beginning to end, brand new. Had no idea any of it existed, let alone what to do with it. I ended up changing it for him.

Why this kind of thing isn't core curriculum in school, I have no idea. Somewhere, society has failed them, that's for sure.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

A qoute I see often is about how the owners manual for the model T instructed people how to set the valve lash, whereas today's owners manuals caution people against drinking battery acid. Is it because people today are dumber then people of yesterday? Or is it because the people of yesterday were shitty teachers for the people of today?

PART of it is the dumbing down of the American educational system.


I think the BIGGEST factor though is the proliferation of that lowest of the low professions.... the liability lawyer. When I was FIVE my mom and dad bought me a 120 projects electronics kit from Radio Shack. One of the projects was a very basic radio receiver. For the antenna it provided a single wire with a single prong with the instructions to insert it into the wide slot on a wall outlet.
Can you imagine that ever getting past a liability lawyer today?

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Yeah, one time some kid got a flat in front of my house. He had a nice red F150. His mother arrived shortly later and they had no idea what to do. When I went out there to see what was up I showed him the spare, his jack, etc... you should have seen the look in his eyes. It was all, from beginning to end, brand new. Had no idea any of it existed, let alone what to do with it. I ended up changing it for him.

When I bought my late or ex wife (two different people now) the FIRST thing I would do is make them change the tire. Next was where to check the fluids. Next was to admonish them to NEVER let a lube shop "top off" the oil, brake fluid, etc. for a couple of reasons.
1) The guy is looking to upsale because he gets paid more
2) Lube shop employees are rarely educated in mechanics
3) If you top off my brake fluid I have no easy indicator of the condition of my pads and shoes. Plus, when I change them, brake fluid is going to go everywhere.



PRO TIP
If your brake fluid is low you either have a safety issue or worn pads that need replaced (which could be a safety issue). Don't top off brake fluid reservoirs.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by HamSkoolie

When I bought my late or ex wife (two different people now) the FIRST thing I would do is make them change the tire. Next was where to check the fluids. Next was to admonish them to NEVER let a lube shop "top off" the oil, brake fluid, etc. for a couple of reasons.
1) The guy is looking to upsale because he gets paid more
2) Lube shop employees are rarely educated in mechanics
3) If you top off my brake fluid I have no easy indicator of the condition of my pads and shoes. Plus, when I change them, brake fluid is going to go everywhere.



PRO TIP
If your brake fluid is low you either have a safety issue or worn pads that need replaced (which could be a safety issue). Don't top off brake fluid reservoirs.

________________
Romantic honeymoon.
Foreign or domestic?


I picked mine up locally, for free (she bought my bs). No mechanical skills, however she does concrete, irrigation & tree removal.

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Why this kind of thing isn't core curriculum in school, I have no idea. Somewhere, society has failed them, that's for sure.

100% agree.

They should have a lifeskills class for an hour a day all 4 years of high school. Roll civics/government into it as well. And then, you know, teach actual life skills, because apparently this stuff is no longer taught by parents at home. Bring driver's ed back into a school setting too, because the classes kids go through now is more of a joke then anything.

You don't even need to have grades for it IMO, just put the information out there. Because most of them are completely unaware that a tire needs air in it, much less how to check or put air in it, much less anything complicated like changing the spare or checking the oil.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Dbacks2k4

Unofficial poll - would it be rude to start a thread listing the most overly dramatic YouTube channels out there... Ya know for entertainment purposes!?

Stumbled across another one today... "I bought a $3k bus but then overheated the engine and paid $25k for a new engine!"

ive had MORE THAN ONE phone call / message etc from people who bought really nice busses and ruioned them on their maiden journey home dude to over-temp....



apparently screaming and beeping and needles in the red mean nothingto the laymen out there

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

What makes me most unsympathetic is that you often see these people drag others into their mess to bail them out. I don't think humility alone is any compensation for negligence.


Yeah, one time some kid got a flat in front of my house. He had a nice red F150. His mother arrived shortly later and they had no idea what to do. When I went out there to see what was up I showed him the spare, his jack, etc... you should have seen the look in his eyes. It was all, from beginning to end, brand new. Had no idea any of it existed, let alone what to do with it. I ended up changing it for him.

Why this kind of thing isn't core curriculum in school, I have no idea. Somewhere, society has failed them, that's for sure.

its bad.. I had a flat in my jeep a few years back.. so I pulled over along the freeway.. a police car stopped behind me.. I already had the spare down and the jack out.. the officer asked "what asre you gonna do?".. 'im ghonna put the spare on'.. "you sare gonna put the spare on? are you OK to do that? should I call someone for you?".. by this time i had the lugs loose and the wheel in the air... "nah im good.. the weather sucks but your flashing lights and cruiser parked behind me is just perfect.. i wont be long"... "you are sure you are OK"... he told me that literally no one these days knows how to put a spare on (if the car even has one).. he had seen people let their spare tire roll out into traffic.. or literally people have no idea where to put the jack....

-Christopher

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

its bad.. I had a flat in my jeep a few years back.. so I pulled over along the freeway.. a police car stopped behind me.. I already had the spare down and the jack out.. the officer asked "what asre you gonna do?".. 'im ghonna put the spare on'.. "you sare gonna put the spare on? are you OK to do that? should I call someone for you?".. by this time i had the lugs loose and the wheel in the air... "nah im good.. the weather sucks but your flashing lights and cruiser parked behind me is just perfect.. i wont be long"... "you are sure you are OK"... he told me that literally no one these days knows how to put a spare on (if the car even has one).. he had seen people let their spare tire roll out into traffic.. or literally people have no idea where to put the jack....

-Christopher

On more occasions than he could count my father (career Calif Highway Patrol) pulled over behind cars stopped on the freeway with the whole family looking out at a field. Nothing wrong, they just couldn't figure out what the herd of animals out there was.... Usually dairy or beef cattle, an occasional sheep herd.
One couple couldn't fathom that the milk they bought in the store came from an animal. They got it from the STORE, that got it from the TRUCK, which got it from the WAREHOUSE, that got it from the REGIONAL WAREHOUSE, which got it from yet a bigger WAREHOUSE. They never got to the source of the product..... college edumacated city folk they were.

[Iceni John]

Originally Posted by HamSkoolie

PART of it is the dumbing down of the American educational system.

The American educational system is designed to only make students pass exams, and nothing more. It is NOT designed to foster curiosity or to encourage a questioning attitude, or to teach people to think critically. It is NOT designed to prepare children for Life and all that it entails. It is designed to produce unthinking compliant sheep who will obediently be good consumers and keep the capitalist merry-go-round spinning. Do you think any US government wants a populace of questioning and independent-minded citizens?! If you want a good education, go to Finland, or any Scandinavian country, or Germany, or pretty much anywhere else...

This may be why so many people slavishly follow whatever the fad-de-jour is on social media, including (dare I say) the current fad of tiny homes / van life / bus conversions, even though a good few of them probably should keep to something better within their abilities. The folk here and on other bus conversion forums have enough gumption to work things out by themselves, but so many others are completely clueless.

John

[bbkid]

To me, I see all these "kids" out there diving into this and think: "most of you didn't grow up on a bus, and it shows..."

Lol!

Actually, I think it really is that so many my age and younger have just had it that easy... not that it doesn't fit perfectly into that (lack of an) education we've had for a few decades now, making things even more dire for society itself.

All part of why I started homeschooling...

I will say i find it somewhat endearing to see people willingly jump in way over their heads just to try and learn these things, but it's still petty painful to watch sometimes. I mean I have my own shortcomings that bite me in the @$$ plenty, but a lack of hands-on technical ability and mechanical sense has never been an issue.

Now, if i can only manage to get a building put up on our property, maybe I'll own a bus for more than 5 minutes and rejoin "my people..."

[Dbacks2k4]

I think I need to start crying more in my videos. Or find a new source of skoolie entertainment other than YouTube. (end rant)

[rossvtaylor]

Originally Posted by Dbacks2k4

I think I need to start crying more in my videos. Or find a new source of skoolie entertainment other than YouTube. (end rant)

I didn't see you cry once! And I watched the whole way through. Maybe put some women in there?

I (with permission) put a photo of my friend Eva, who's been on several of the Naked and Afraid series, in a recent video and it got about double the views in the first day. I was totally mocking the clickbait junk...but it was interesting to see the increased views, so maybe there's something to that.

[Dbacks2k4]

Originally Posted by rossvtaylor

I didn't see you cry once! And I watched the whole way through. Maybe put some women in there?

I (with permission) put a photo of my friend Eva, who's been on several of the Naked and Afraid series, in a recent video and it got about double the views in the first day. I was totally mocking the clickbait junk...but it was interesting to see the increased views, so maybe there's something to that.

I loved that video you did with Eva. But then again my sense of humor is dry and sarcastic so the mockery "spoke to me" haha.

I was watching a new channel tonight with lots of crying and drama and couldn't help but notice they had double the view count on one random episode compared to that of my most popular video.... So apparently there's something to be said for the dramatics over the college professor lectures I usually give!!

I say this all tongue in cheek, I'm not concerned about monetizing my channel - I do it because I want to document my build and learn some new videography and editing skills along the way - lifetime learning and all that. Plus I really am a community college lecturer (professor isn't the right term) and I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience. But it's still fascinating...

[WiredForStereo]

Sight unseen, or at least untested, should be approached with caution, but you really have to trust the seller.

I bought mine on auction directly from the school district bus yard, in "ran when parked, needs new batteries" condition. I have had no issues except stripped bolt holes on the transmission filter housings, which probably never would have been discovered if I were not so fastidious with maintenance.

Another guy bought one from the same yard and only had issues with the oil pressure sender being plugged, having to mess around with it for a while, but there was actually no problem with itself.

The local bus dealer drives them here, so you know they at least got here.

The ones I'd be worried about are some rando with a bus that has been sitting in the back yard for several years or more.

[The lazy farmer]

I'm not here to criticize anyone. I am new to the bus community. I just bought one. Haven't even picked it up yet. But the thing is I paid $4,400. If I blow the motor up I will go buy another bus just like it for under 5k and do an engine swap. Busses are cheap relatively speaking. Why would you drop 20k in a bus that's not worth 5?

All my experience is with semi trucks. Busses are cheap compared to them. I did a Motor Home conversion on a Freightliner Columbia. The Bus is wayyyy cheaper.

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by The lazy farmer

I'm not here to criticize anyone. I am new to the bus community. I just bought one. Haven't even picked it up yet. But the thing is I paid $4,400. If I blow the motor up I will go buy another bus just like it for under 5k and do an engine swap. Busses are cheap relatively speaking. Why would you drop 20k in a bus that's not worth 5?

All my experience is with semi trucks. Busses are cheap compared to them. I did a Motor Home conversion on a Freightliner Columbia. The Bus is wayyyy cheaper.

We picked up ours from auction for $1600, sight unseen. It had everything we wanted in the description, and we found out about the auction to late to go see it. Turned out great. Not that I recommend doing that, but it worked for me.

Just out of curiosity why go from a semi truck conversion to a bus?

A friend of mine has a Renegade semi conversion, 10 speed semi automatic. Must say I can not stand the thing it is always shifting gears that if I were shifting I would not. It has been a while but I have driven big trucks many a times. Medium duty is what I have owned and mostly driven though.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

We picked up ours from auction for $1600, sight unseen. It had everything we wanted in the description, and we found out about the auction to late to go see it. Turned out great. Not that I recommend doing that, but it worked for me.

Just out of curiosity why go from a semi truck conversion to a bus?

A friend of mine has a Renegade semi conversion, 10 speed semi automatic. Must say I can not stand the thing it is always shifting gears that if I were shifting I would not. It has been a while but I have driven big trucks many a times. Medium duty is what I have owned and mostly driven though.

I'd love an old semi converted to a camper.
But what I have is a $1625 bus I bought off Public Surplus from just a couple grainy out of focus pics and a basic description.
Best bus I've owned so far.