Hello from East Texas

[Edboy427]

Hello all, after stalking the forums for a bit, soaking up as much information as I can, I decided to go ahead and make an account. I live in the small town of hughes springs. I work for a train repair shop, but I'm also building up a hydrographics business on the side. Which may also let me add some unique pieces for the build.

I also ride motocross, and some of my buddies and I want to start racing again, and a skoolie sounds like it may be a good idea. I love projects like these, and it could potentially be cheaper than a toy hauler rv, if I dont get carried away (well maybe not if you start counting time and labor) I seen a few great ideas from some builds for hauling our bikes

don't have a bus yet, but I hope to start looking in the near future, I just have too much on the burner at the moment, time and finance wise.

I thought a found a solid contender for my first bus when I was checking out an auction site a 2001 bluebird with FE 8.3 cummins, looked clean, has working ac and somewhat close to Dallas. thought about checking it out in person and trying for it even if I couldnt start the conversion for a while. but I dont have a class b yet. also noticed some red flags after giving it a second look. no pictures of the underside, unknown miles and the plate with engine specs was hard to read, but suggests it was a 5.9 cummins.so maybe I shouldnt feel too bad about having to let it pass by

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

welcome from NC.
i was born and raised in KILGORE.
have family all over east texas.
daingerfield, sulper springs, ore city,my dad was raised in atlanta and mom and dad met at lake o the pines.
my long time girlfriend as a teenager was from avinger and my wifes family is in corpus and houston.
DFW isnt that far away so definitely a road trip to inspect before bid.
a 2 hour drive before dropping a few grand is worth it.
good luck on the hunt and if you dont have time to and are not in a rush to start the conversion then keep looking for what you want but also you want to know what transmission also.
545 no good. and it can only get better from there.

[o1marc]

8.3 in that bus is far from common, 5.9 most likely in it, with a 545. So ya, pass was good. It were an 8.3 it would have definitely been worth checking out.

[Edboy427]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

if you dont have time are not in a rush to start the conversion then keep looking for what you want but also you want to know what transmission also.
545 no good. and it can only get better from there.

Oh definitely, the engine and transmission combo is one of the first things I've studied up on, but I'm not sure which buses are likely to have what combo, that bus was listed as automatic allison transmission so I forgot to mention it, I could message him for more info, and pics but i should hold off for a bit longer before I try for a bus. I'd just be wasting his time.

Though, so far in my area and surrounding states, it seems Caterpillar engines are the most common. they could be solid engines but I heard they're more expensive when things go wrong. I'm in no rush though 'll start keeping an eye out again when I get the class b added to my license

[o1marc]

You realize a special license is not needed to drive a converted bus? It will be very few and far between finding a bus that doesn't have an Allison transmission. The important thing is which Allison it is, they vary from crap to awesome. Nothing wrong with the Cat motors.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i dont know TEXAS for this part?
for me my bus is rated for 26,000 and my normal license covers me for max 26,001
and if i dont use my bus to do anything to make money then i dont need any endorsement.
am registered,insured, and tagged as a bus for personal use.
but you can google Texas DMV laws and read them.
you dont have to re title as an RV unless you want to.

[Edboy427]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

i dont know TEXAS for this part?
for me my bus is rated for 26,000 and my normal license covers me for max 26,001
and if i dont use my bus to do anything to make money then i dont need any endorsement.
am registered,insured, and tagged as a bus for personal use.
but you can google Texas DMV laws and read them.
you dont have to re title as an RV unless you want to.

Thanks for the info guys, Sounds like its the same down here in Tx, anything up to a gvwr of 26,000 is fine for a normal license, sounds like a class A might work if it is a RV over that rating, while a class B does the same but also notes buses with seating over 24 passengers (including the driver) so maybe just a class A if its over the rating if you titled it as an RV or maybe if kept it titled as bus and just removed the seats.
Non-commercially for both of course

i was looking around the bigger size buses (60-70 passenger or 11-12 windows if you measure that way) but i assumed the gvwr would be over 2600 for something in that neighborhood. if i find one large enough at that rating then that'll be great. but for now it'll just something else to look into and study on, thanks again guys.

[Native]

Hello and welcme.


We are in Hurst, TX and registered in Florida since there was no weight limit to drive RV's on a standard driver license.