Meet our new bus... Mr. Beefy!

[TheHubbardBus]

A little bit behind documenting our progress, so this is a summary of what's been done between last post & last week. I'll save our current work for the next:

• Removed front swing-out bar assembly on bumper (motor assembly was heavy so good weight savings too)
• Replaced leaking air door regulator
• Replaced faulty air dryer check valve
• Serviced air door actuator assembly
• Greased & visually inspected everything with a zerk
• Cleaned ~ 2 decades of combined grease & dirt from the area surrounding everything with a zerk. (THAT was a pain!).
• Finalized our design plan once & for all

[jimburke77502]

Finalized your design plan once and for all.......... Anyone else find that funny? LOL!!!

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

A little bit behind documenting our progress, so this is a summary of what's been done between last post & last week. I'll save our current work for the next:

• Removed front swing-out bar assembly on bumper (motor assembly was heavy so good weight savings too)
  

I removed mine and it's still sitting on the ground in front of the bus. I wish I could think of a use for that motor.

[TheHubbardBus]

Ditto that, JD. Seems like such a waste to scrap, but I've got enough to do w/o figuring out what to make of it!

[musigenesis]

Are these rotary motors or actuators or what? My bus already had its kid-smacker removed when I got it, or else it never had one - NY buses seem to lack them in most of the photos I've seen.

Could they be rigged up to open and close the exit doors?

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by jimburke77502

Finalized your design plan once and for all.......... Anyone else find that funny? LOL!!!

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Could they be rigged up to open and close the exit doors?

Possibly. But man, they're heavy. At least mine is. I was surprised. Didn't seem like you needed that much weight to do the job. I never looked inside. It's the proverbial black box to me. You want it it's yours. Just pay for shipping

[Land Cruiser]

6'4" HEADROOM MAN You lucked Out Please tell me details about the coach works. IC ?

[TheHubbardBus]

Meant to keep up on our progress since the last summary post, but didn't, so here we go again. Since the last time:

The tires on the bus got us home from the TX bus barn, but didn't go much past that. Once home we noticed sidewall cracking on the drive tires. So... we got new rubber all the way around! Firestone FS561s in front, and BEEFY FD663s in the back. Time will tell, but I think we're going to love these tires, especially for boondocking.

FINALLY got the air brake system safe & functional! After replacing even more fittings that were leaking (including every one connecting the foot valve through the engine bulkhead), we got to the point she'd hold air, but were still having problems with constant purging out the dryer. Completely rebuilding the dryer didn't help. I was about at my wits end before figuring out the problem (with considerable help from awesome forum members here): the port off the governor that signals the compressor to cut out was pipe-plugged. Turns out it was configured this way (wrong!) by the school. I had replaced the governor already, but just copied the way the old one was set up. Once I got this sorted, everything works great! Still a very minor leak or two, but passes pre-trip inspection easily, and will hold pressure parked for at least a day before bleeding down.

Replaced all 4 shocks. This has made a HUGE difference in ride quality. I was laughing each time I pulled one off & stroked it by hand. They were sooooo shot. Still completely gutted & it's a 1000% improvement over when we picked it up with the seats still in. Once we get some weight in her it will be even better. 230HP pogo-stick begone!

Got all the stickers, decals, & reflective tape off! Sharon's hours of laborious scraping, spraying, grinding, & heat-gunning have come to a well-deserved end. One step closer to paint. Unfortunately it switched from spring to summer seemingly overnight, so chances are good we won't be painting until it cools down again in the fall.

Replaced the sealed weaksauce headlights w/ Hella H4 conversions, along with upgraded 55/100W halogen bulbs. There were 'ears' on the stock buckets that prevented the conversion housings from seating fully, but some quick work w/ an angle grinder took care of that. The 100W makes them off-road only on high-beams (low-beam is road legal), but since we won't be using high-beams when approaching traffic, I'm don't see any problem. Plus with quality lenses & bulbs, the 100W is more eye-friendly to other drivers than the average 'road legal' Chi-Com LED replacements. Big plus is the stock wiring & relays support the 100W draw. We bought ceramic sockets I can wire in if heat becomes an issue, but I'm going to wait to see how the stock sockets perform first.

Got the roof dents out! Unfortunately this wasn't a job we could do ourselves, but fortunately, we stumbled upon THE MAN who could. Major Props to Cliff @ Firebird Truck & Auto Body Repair here in Phoenix. This is who the local school district's use, & this cat definitely knows his stuff. You couldn't meet a nicer guy either. You pay for the privilege (first words out of his mouth were "You're not expecting this to cost $200, are you?"), but we easily got what we paid for. Aside from a couple really ugly gouges in the cap, we had quite a few dents where the lights mounted that prevented them from sealing properly. Now everything's flat, pretty, & ready for paint.

Pictures coming soon...

[TheHubbardBus]

[TheHubbardBus]

A birthday gift from my wife these were, and without a doubt, the best gift ever. Not just your average air horns, but marine air horns! Sounds like a yacht, but it's not! The decibel level is in the 'makes me laugh every time I think about it' range, so no complaints there. Yep... chuckling again. These things make me smile.





You can get an idea of the character of sound from the video, but the volume does not come through at all. They're hilariously loud. The below doesn't come close to doing them justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Ft_GJCoZI

[johnbloem1974]

Those are great!! Please let me know the details about them, I want to buy them!!!

Thanks!

John

[plfking]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

A birthday gift from my wife these were, and without a doubt, the best gift ever.

We need a "I really like that" button.

[TheHubbardBus]

@johnbloem1974 Here ya go!!
https://hornblasters.com/collections...-nautical-horn

[johnbloem1974]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

@johnbloem1974 Here ya go!!
https://hornblasters.com/collections...-nautical-horn

Thanks!!! Appreciate it!

[TheHubbardBus]

Lots of new toys arrived recently (critters not included)! Goal is to have the newly un-dented roof prepped, primed, & painted (inside & out) before it gets too hot to do so, with new lights &/or bulbs filling the holes. This is about what we need to do it.

[TheArgobus]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Replaced all 4 shocks. This has made a HUGE difference in ride quality. I was laughing each time I pulled one off & stroked it by hand. They were sooooo shot. Still completely gutted & it's a 1000% improvement over when we picked it up with the seats still in. Once we get some weight in her it will be even better. 230HP pogo-stick begone!

Can you expand on this please? I desperately want my ride to be more comfortable in the back, and am not sure if there's anything we can do to improve the shock/suspension. The aft axle has a bunch of leaf springs and a lot of folks have said there's not much I can do.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Can you expand on this please? I desperately want my ride to be more comfortable in the back, and am not sure if there's anything we can do to improve the shock/suspension. The aft axle has a bunch of leaf springs and a lot of folks have said there's not much I can do.

@TheArgobus,

Not sure I can offer much advice, but I'll try. Our bus was a pogo-stick from the time I picked it up. Replacing all the shocks really helped, but if you don't start with shocks as trashed as ours, the improvement might not be as noticeable. I'm pretty sure they were the original shocks, which means they likely had 15 years of wear on them. They were horrendous. Replacements (not pictured) were Monroe gas. Really hoped to find some Bilsteins, but as best I can figure, OE (international), Monroe, or Gabriel are the only games in town.

Our bus is also over sprung, especially now when gutted. It's something like 14K GVWR in the rear (going off the top of my head), so basically big-bus suspension on a short-bus chassis. Once we complete the conversion we hope that situation to improve, particularly since we'll be putting ~70 gallons of h20 right behind the rear wheels. How much of an improvement I have no way of knowing.

Removing leaves or having a new pack built is usually an option, though not the easiest job. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that for either one of us.

[JuntiusVT]

Originally Posted by johnbloem1974

Thanks!!! Appreciate it!

some more options for the horns. take a listen to these...

https://hornblasters.com/collections...me-marine-horn

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by JuntiusVT

some more options for the horns. take a listen to these...

https://hornblasters.com/collections...me-marine-horn

LOL. We looked at those. I'm afraid our bus would tip over like Fred Flintstone @ the drive-in if we mounted those on the side