FOR SALE - Leavuntaun

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by alpine44

I love the bobbed look of Leavuntaun but for towing you want some distance between the rear wheels and the hitch. This will automatically put the trailer on a "wide turn" track and you need to be less cautious about clipping corners. On the outside of a turn, the trailer will never track further out than your stern swings out by itself. The overhang only becomes a handicap when you are backing a trailer in tight spaces. Then, you would love to have the hitch over the rear axle like on an 18 wheelers.

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

I wouldn't worry about the wide turn effect and hitting stuff.

The bobbed tail will give a better ride for everything involved.

The farther the distance between your axle and the hitch only amplifies the movement of the back of the bus. For every inch the axle goes up, the hitch will go up that and more. So unless you're on new paved roads, the closer the hitch is to the axle, the better. A few guys have commented on here about the roughness their trailer endures being pulled by a school bus. One guy even installed one of those fancy air ride receiver hitches.

I've never met one person that tows regularly, and prefers towing a bumper pull over a 5th wheel. Moving the hitch point on top of the axle is the reason for that, it's a much better experience.

I was expecting I'd figure out how to handle towing a trailer with it as I went. I had already thought about how I'd have to be careful with right turns at corners because of how the trailer would track. On the other hand having the short overhang would help on uneven terrain lessening the tendency for the hitch to bottom out on the right kind or approach or departure.

When I was working on mounting the hitch I was surprised at how low the receiver was. Before that I was half expecting I'd need to buy a drop hitch to get the trailer tongue low enough but it doesn't appear that wouldn't be an issue.

[TheHubbardBus]

Not speaking from experience, as I've never used Craigslist, but I've heard its a scammer paradise. If it were me I'd be suspicious of any inquiries that didn't make sense. But I might be unreasonably paranoid

[Dbacks2k4]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

Has anyone sold a bus that is registered in Vermont? Do Vermont plates get turned in on vehicle sale (they do here in NJ) or do they go with the vehicle. I checked on the Vermont DMV site but didn't find anything. I'm wondering about letting a bus with plates in my name out of my possession.

I would call up to Vermont and ask. I would guess you'd probably sign over the transferable registration, and keep the plates to surrender to Vermont DMV yourself.

Word of advice, if at all possible, force the buyer to meet you at your local DMV/country treasurer and transfer title to their own name with you there. Doesn't work as well for out of state buyers though. If you can't, at minimum make the buyer sign a bill of sale in front of a notary and keep a copy.

We've sold countless old party buses over the years where we just sign over the title, surrender our plates, and think it's done only to get a call from an out of state police department 6 months later. The buyers never transfer title or get new plates, then we get a call as the last registered owner when the police find "our" bus abandoned someplace and want us to come get it or pay the towing/impound fees.

In an extreme case, we got summoned to court in St Louis when the new buyer used the bus he bought from us in a drive by shooting, without transferring title. We got the action against us dismissed, but it still required my business partner and I to take 2 days off work (plus travel expenses) to go down and fight it in court. The notarized bill of sale combined with the records from Iowa DOT that we had surrendered plates on that bus the same day is what saved our bacon.

"Caseyville police looking for party bus involved in Sunday morning shooting"
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/cr...c-c748370d27d8

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by Dbacks2k4

I would call up to Vermont and ask. I would guess you'd probably sign over the transferable registration, and keep the plates to surrender to Vermont DMV yourself.

Word of advice, if at all possible, force the buyer to meet you at your local DMV/country treasurer and transfer title to their own name with you there. Doesn't work as well for out of state buyers though. If you can't, at minimum make the buyer sign a bill of sale in front of a notary and keep a copy.

We've sold countless old party buses over the years where we just sign over the title, surrender our plates, and think it's done only to get a call from an out of state police department 6 months later. The buyers never transfer title or get new plates, then we get a call as the last registered owner when the police find "our" bus abandoned someplace and want us to come get it or pay the towing/impound fees.

In an extreme case, we got summoned to court in St Louis when the new buyer used the bus he bought from us in a drive by shooting, without transferring title. We got the action against us dismissed, but it still required my business partner and I to take 2 days off work (plus travel expenses) to go down and fight it in court. The notarized bill of sale combined with the records from Iowa DOT that we had surrendered plates on that bus the same day is what saved our bacon.

"Caseyville police looking for party bus involved in Sunday morning shooting"
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/cr...c-c748370d27d8

Thanks. You pretty much hit on my concerns. I'll have to see what I can do here in Jersey along those lines. It was my imagining a scenario like you experienced that made me first think junking the bus might be the safest AND cheapest course of action.

[Bus'n it]

I would not let anyone take my plates for any reason. They would have to get their own temporary paper plates. You would either have to turn in the VT plates or destroy them. Cover yourself by not allowing the plates to leave with the bus.

[Oldyeller]

Thought I'd report in on my attempt to sell Leavuntaun.

I've had contact from probably half-a-dozen people but nobody who is all that interested. I was chatting with a guy yesterday whose final text made me chuckle. He said there was "too much metal work". I wondered what he expects will happen when converting a school bus. That's a huge part of it even if there's 0 rust. My rusty wheel wells are pretty minor when compared to the totality of 'metal work' required to convert a school bus.

I'm going to start looking for a wrecking yard that I can take the bus to if I don't succeed in selling it. I guess the truth of the matter is that there's only one type of person who is looking for an old school bus - a crazy person and I've been contacted by all of them.

I'm looking at toy haulers. Assuming I recover enough from my radiation to be able to go out this winter a toy hauler is one of my options. I'm also keeping my eye out for smaller RVs or high top vans though 'high top' is pretty meaningless for someone my height.

[TheHubbardBus]

That sucks. Just to reiterate to anyone reading, its a HUGE BONUS to have the bus gutted like that so you can see everything youd only have to guess about later, and an even bigger bonus to have all the work done on the bus documented here for all to see. And on top of all that, the sellers entire post history shows just how open and honest he is. And no, Ive never even met the guy, so I have no dog in the fight. But he deserves a solid offer because he's obviously straight up about everything, and potential buyers will be doing themselves a favor picking up one of the only private sale buses they'd ever find where they know going in everything there is to know, and for a bargain at that. Heck, even an auction bus is a roll of the dice, as we found out after pulling up our floor. Whats crazy is not jumping on this if youre in the market and the bus attributes fit your needs. This is the devil you know, not the devil you dont, and no matter what you buy or where you get it from... theyre all devils.


Good luck, man. After watching so many clapped out money pits posted here over the years, I honestly cant believe you put up something like this and cant even get a nibble.

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

That sucks. Just to reiterate to anyone reading, its a HUGE BONUS to have the bus gutted like that so you can see everything youd only have to guess about later, and an even bigger bonus to have all the work done on the bus documented here for all to see. And on top of all that, the sellers entire post history shows just how open and honest he is. And no, Ive never even met the guy, so I have no dog in the fight. But he deserves a solid offer because he's obviously straight up about everything, and potential buyers will be doing themselves a favor picking up one of the only private sale buses they'd ever find where they know going in everything there is to know, and for a bargain at that. Heck, even an auction bus is a roll of the dice, as we found out after pulling up our floor. Whats crazy is not jumping on this if youre in the market and the bus attributes fit your needs. This is the devil you know, not the devil you dont, and no matter what you buy or where you get it from... theyre all devils.


Good luck, man. After watching so many clapped out money pits posted here over the years, I honestly cant believe you put up something like this and cant even get a nibble.

Thanks for that post. When people have contacted me I've referred them to my build thread and even told them it shows the good, the bad and the ugly. I think what it shows is most people have no idea what it takes to convert a skoolie. It certainly seems like a lot of folks think a weekend or two, some paint and it'll be done.

[peteg59]

As long as you aren't in a time crunch to sell it, keep the advertising of it current and eventually the right buyer will come along.

It would be too bad to have to "junk" it when someone will eventually be looking for that exact thing!

Good luck on your health issues, and on your sale...

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by peteg59

As long as you aren't in a time crunch to sell it, keep the advertising of it current and eventually the right buyer will come along.

It would be too bad to have to "junk" it when someone will eventually be looking for that exact thing!

Good luck on your health issues, and on your sale...

You're likely right. The problem is I'm still working on a way to get out of New Jersey for the winter and I don't want the bus in the driveway when I'm gone so it needs to be gone before I drive out of here (assuming I'm able to make it) in November.

I'm certainly glad I didn't but alot of the more expensive stuff before I needed it. If I junk it I'll be out some money but not as much as if I'd stock piled all the necessary stuff before hand.

[Oldyeller]

I found a buyer for my bus. I'll deliver it to him on Sunday. Today I loaded all the stuff going with the bus into the bus. Last time I'll have to struggle to get the bumper through the back door - thank goodness.

I got $4000 for it. I guess that's better than junking it. It will apparently be a family project so that's a good thing.

I'm currently looking for either a small (24ish footer) RV or a toy hauler I can pull behind my Expedition. If I buy an RV I'll pull my fully enclosed motorcycle trailer with at least 1 Harley in it.

I saw my oncologist this past Saturday to review some post radiation test and scan results. He feels confident that I'll survive at least 2 years though he didn't elaborate on what 'survive' might mean.

Assuming I get some kind of rig cobbled together I'm planning on rolling out of New Jersey in late November. I'll probably spend Thanksgiving at my brother's in western PA. After that I'll drop down south and make my way out toward the desert southwest, just as I would have done had I been able to get the bus ready. There are folks on the forum that I'd enjoy meeting. If anyone is like minded drop me an e-mail and maybe we can make our paths cross during the snowbird season.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the forum. Thanks to everyone that kindly assisted me.