Non-affiliated buses for sale - thread

[802trees]

I moved. I am in Los Angeles!

[802trees]

Wondering about the vortec engine.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by 802trees

Wondering about the vortec engine.

Can't help you on info on the Vortec. If you're that close and there's that a many buses, I would look at them all and pick a few that fit and watch the prices as they near the end. Don't bid until at least 12:57.

[802trees]

I will call tomorrow. I may be a day later for the inspection window of 3 days prior.

here are the prices of the last batch that sold..
https://onlineauction.422sales.com/c...1/category/ALL

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by 802trees

I will call tomorrow. I may be a day later for the inspection window of 3 days prior.

here are the prices of the last batch that sold..
https://onlineauction.422sales.com/c...1/category/ALL

They are at the school yard and you can personally talk to the mechanics that serviced them, that goes a long way in filtering the field.

[azjohn]

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/c...809221930.html

"stripper pole"
OK then.
John

[PNW_Steve]

Bluebird All American RE.
Cummins 8.3
MD-3060

Utah bus - likely to be rust free

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2266689

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Bluebird All American RE.
Cummins 8.3
MD-3060

Utah bus - likely to be rust free

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2266689

I wonder how the determined mileage on that. Dash board sticker says speedo was replaced with only 17K miles, current speedo says 7500miles. How did they get 114k, which even sounds low for a 21 year old bus. Getting bids early as it has 9 days to go.
Surprising they haven't figured out the issue and remedied it, speedos going south with less than 20k on them.

[azjohn]

maybe they estimate the time the bus is spent idling? An hour a day for x number of days then use that figure to determine miles. I assume they have daily routes figured out. I'd really like to know also.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by azjohn

maybe they estimate the time the bus is spent idling? An hour a day for x number of days then use that figure to determine miles. I assume they have daily routes figured out. I'd really like to know also.

10k hrs.
They estimated down to .02 miles

[azjohn]

maybe it's simpler?
School bus: Drives (???maybe????) 60 miles per school day for 9 months a year (keep in mind I am pulling the daily miles out of my exhaust).
That's 38.7 weeks of driving per year. School days only equals 213.9 days of driving. 213.9 days multiplied by 60 miles a day equals 12834 miles per year. The bus is 22 years old. 22 times 12834 equals 282348 miles.
This is just a wild ass guess because I do not know the daily route miles for this bus. But it is a question I would ask them.
This is what happens when I have to much time on my hands.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by azjohn

maybe it's simpler?
School bus: Drives (???maybe????) 60 miles per school day for 9 months a year (keep in mind I am pulling the daily miles out of my exhaust).
That's 38.7 weeks of driving per year. School days only equals 213.9 days of driving. 213.9 days multiplied by 60 miles a day equals 12834 miles per year. The bus is 22 years old. 22 times 12834 equals 282348 miles.
This is just a wild ass guess because I do not know the daily route miles for this bus. But it is a question I would ask them.
This is what happens when I have to much time on my hands.

Good logic but the daily mileage estimates that came out of your exhaust are a big variable.

I was over on school bus fleet and saw a driver talking about his daily route. His daily route was 35 miles.

Following your method that would work out to about 164k miles.

Big variable......

[azjohn]

That is good to know.
Is 164 considered high miles for this type of bus? I was talking with a trucker and he told me his company can get 600,000 miles out of a diesel before they start to consider a rebuild.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by azjohn

That is good to know.
Is 164 considered high miles for this type of bus? I was talking with a trucker and he told me his company can get 600,000 miles out of a diesel before they start to consider a rebuild.

School buses and especially their engines are pretty much BEAT by about 350k-400k. That 600k estimate works for big rig class 8 engines though. Its pretty common for coaches and semi's to see a few million miles.
164k is what I would consider low to normal mileage for a used bus being retired. Most I see up for auction seem to usually have a quarter million miles.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by azjohn

That is good to know.
Is 164 considered high miles for this type of bus? I was talking with a trucker and he told me his company can get 600,000 miles out of a diesel before they start to consider a rebuild.

164K is not that much on a bus like that. I seriously doubt there are many engines out there that will see over 600k before a rebuild. To say you can get that out of A DIESEL is just not factual.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by azjohn

That is good to know.
Is 164 considered high miles for this type of bus? I was talking with a trucker and he told me his company can get 600,000 miles out of a diesel before they start to consider a rebuild.

John,

It is pretty common to see buses still in service with mileage approaching 300k miles on them.

Class 8 trucks are a little different animal than your typical school bus. The exception would be Crown and Gilligan. They are built more like a class 8 truck.

As far as engine longevity goes, it varies significantly by engine, application and maintenance. The manufacturers publish B50 numbers for their engines. That is the number of miles that they estimate 50% of the engines will need rebuild.

School bus duty is considered "severe duty". IIRC: The Dt-466 and Cummins 8.3 have a severe duty B50 of 350k miles.

When I was shopping for my bus I decided that I wanted to stay well under 200k miles.

This is a good question for Cowlitz. Maybe he will chime in.

[azjohn]

o1marc- The trucker also mentioned something about "today's fuel additives" being harder on the motors than 20 years ago. Maybe he was referring to the 600,000 mile rebuilds from 20 years back. Not sure, only talked with him once.

PNW_STEVE- That's a good plan. I know just enough about engines to know that around 250k is the breaking point for me. I think I might lower that considering your comment (and 01marc's).

[PNW_Steve]

Today's ULSD fuels do not provide the upper cylinder lubricity that the old high sulfur fuel.

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by azjohn

maybe it's simpler?

School bus: Drives (???maybe????) 60 miles per school day for 9 months a year (keep in mind I am pulling the daily miles out of my exhaust).

That's 38.7 weeks of driving per year. School days only equals 213.9 days of driving. 213.9 days multiplied by 60 miles a day equals 12834 miles per year. The bus is 22 years old. 22 times 12834 equals 282348 miles.

This is just a wild ass guess because I do not know the daily route miles for this bus. But it is a question I would ask them.

This is what happens when I have to much time on my hands.

The route for my kids school bus is 12 miles a day... Some of the rural areas the routes are close to 50 a day or more.. you have the right idea but without knowing the area the bus comes around it's hard to pinpoint

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by o1marc

164K is not that much on a bus like that. I seriously doubt there are many engines out there that will see over 600k before a rebuild. To say you can get that out of A DIESEL is just not factual.

Truth!

I cringe every time I see someone say " it's a million mile motor" when referring to medium duty applications.