The shopping begins

[SSPAdventures]

So ive been looking all over for a bus. And i finally got in contact with a few people. Found a handicap bus that fit the bill for our proposed build and even though the head of transport told me outright that it was a dt466e with a at545, i decided to at least give it a hands on inspection. I showed up and found what is a very clean International 3800 with minimal rust, almost new tires all around, new brakes, fired up first try after sitting in the cold, and then i climb under it. Low and behold...... Allison 2000 trans. This auction goes off on monday morning. God willing, we'll be building a bus soon! Im gonna shoot for this one. Currently has a price tag of 2500 and happens to be less than 5 miles from my house too!

[ermracing]

Sounds very similar to our bus, good luck on the bidding! What year is it?

[SSPAdventures]

2004 according to the plate. How does yours do on the road?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by SSPAdventures

2004 according to the plate. How does yours do on the road?

2004 is when the emissions control devices started appearing on diesels. That might be why it's so cheap (you never know until the end of an auction how cheap it will actually be, of course), because otherwise it sounds like an ideal bus for a skoolie.

[ermracing]

Originally Posted by SSPAdventures

2004 according to the plate. How does yours do on the road?

We have a 4.61 rear end and 255/70r22.5 tires with a flat floor. Runs about 1950rpm at 55 and 2150 at 65. The air suspension is pretty smooth, and I suspect that one would have it too. We had to have the air bags replaced due to cracking, but that was it. As musigenisis said, the 04+ has more crap on the engine. Don't go crazy on the price (3k?).

[SSPAdventures]

Copy that. It ends monday morning. Most have blown it off because of the steep opening bid, so im hoping for a swoop-win. Overall its very clean. Im a mechanic, not a bus mechanic, so i do know pretty much what im looking at. My family is really hoping this works out. What type of racing do you do ermracing? We're offroaders with sidexside, dirtbikes and quads.

[ermracing]

We do mainly rallying with some hillclimbs, rallycross and 24 Hours of Lemons thrown in for fun.

[plfking]

Originally Posted by SSPAdventures

the head of transport told me outright that it was a dt466e with a at545, and then i climb under it. Low and behold...... Allison 2000 trans.

If this is an online auction, and you didn't inform the manager of his mistake, you might want to ask what trans it has in the "Questions" section. If he replies that it's a 545, it might eliminate a few more potential bidders you'd otherwise have to compete with.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by plfking

If this is an online auction, and you didn't inform the manager of his mistake, you might want to ask what trans it has in the "Questions" section. If he replies that it's a 545, it might eliminate a few more potential bidders you'd otherwise have to compete with.

On the other hand, it might prompt him to actually look it up in his documentation.

[SSPAdventures]

Funny you say that, because according to his actual documentation, its listed as a 545!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by SSPAdventures

Funny you say that, because according to his actual documentation, its listed as a 545!

Well, maybe it might prompt him to crawl under the bus. Probably not, though.

[SSPAdventures]

Haha im just happy i did the crawling

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by SSPAdventures

Haha im just happy i did the crawling

Good luck with the bus. You would deserve it for being the only one to hit the deck for it.

[SSPAdventures]

I was the only bidder and we're taking it home for the princely sum of $2500! We're all very excited! Right in our backyard. Only about 5 miles from home!

[cowlitzcoach]

It sounds as if you found a real cherry of a deal.


Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress!