Is everyone replacing their rear end?

[Papa P]

Hello everyone,

Trying to find the 100 percent best bus I can find to start with because if you dip some crap in gold guess what... it's still crap. The issue I'm seeing is all of the buses have gear ratios set up for the city that cant get over 55 mph if they tried. This is coming from a few local bus mechanics in NC. I'm just curious if everyone is content with this, putting a new rear end in, finding buses with everything already in it or are the mechanics mistaken.

Thank you all in advance!
Semper Fi

[o1marc]

Some spend the money and replace them. Some live with what they have. Mine has a 4.78 and does 85mph at like 2200rpm. Look for activity buses, they are usually more highway ready than a route bus, and more conversion friendly.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Papa P

Hello everyone,

Trying to find the 100 percent best bus I can find to start with because if you dip some crap in gold guess what... it's still crap. The issue I'm seeing is all of the buses have gear ratios set up for the city that cant get over 55 mph if they tried. This is coming from a few local bus mechanics in NC. I'm just curious if everyone is content with this, putting a new rear end in, finding buses with everything already in it or are the mechanics mistaken.

Thank you all in advance!
Semper Fi

A lot of NC buses won't do more than 45-50.

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

A lot of NC buses won't do more than 45-50.

This.

NC law stated max speed for school buses was 45 mph, but I believe it was changed to 55 mph in the last few years. Anyways, there are a few ways for manufacturers to do that, one is with an add on speed limiter, the other is by gearing the bus so that engine red line coincides with the speed limit.

The easiest way to get past this issue is to buy a bus from outside NC. The cost of the bus isn't much different, and any difference is moot when you're spending another grand plus to get a reasonable speed.

[brokedown]

I've looked into regearing my TC2000 and it would cost me a grand or so to do it myself, likely double that to have it done. That's with me sourcing a used gear online.

Considering what I pay for buses, that just isn't worth it. I bought a bigger, newer bus that will cruise at 70 for similar money.

[2kool4skool]

OEM 3:54 gives us 85 plus. Cruise at 60.