Hello from Florida...

[Piston383]

Hello everyone. Looking forward to joining the skoolie community very soon!

My wife and I are currently looking at a few buses now. We have found one out of state that we really like, but we don’t know what transmission it has in it. Any ideas on where to go or how to visually identify one? I have a couple of photos of the underside where I get a little shot of the transmission. But I have yet to find one that looks similar to it.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by Piston383

Hello everyone. Looking forward to joining the skoolie community very soon!

My wife and I are currently looking at a few buses now. We have found one out of state that we really like, but we don’t know what transmission it has in it. Any ideas on where to go or how to visually identify one? I have a couple of photos of the underside where I get a little shot of the transmission. But I have yet to find one that looks similar to it.

Depends on the bus. Allison autos have a tag on the right side rear of the housing that will be embossed with info, some of which is the trans model - AT545, MT643, 2000, MD3060 being the most common in larger buses.

As for cutaway van-based shorties, any franchised dealer of the manufacturer of the incomplete chassis (Ford, GM) should be able to pull it up by the VIN. Navistar can also do this by the VIN in some cases for larger chassis such as the 3200-3800 series. It's hit-and-miss with GM and Ford on 2+tonners though.

You might check out my Buyer's Guide thread, there is some info in there that might help. But a little more specific info on what it is you're looking at would do wonders, specifically year, make, model / series, engine.

[Piston383]

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

Depends on the bus. Allison autos have a tag on the right side rear of the housing that will be embossed with info, some of which is the trans model - AT545, MT643, 2000, MD3060 being the most common in larger buses.

As for cutaway van-based shorties, any franchised dealer of the manufacturer of the incomplete chassis (Ford, GM) should be able to pull it up by the VIN. Navistar can also do this by the VIN in some cases for larger chassis such as the 3200-3800 series. It's hit-and-miss with GM and Ford on 2+tonners though.

You might check out my Buyer's Guide thread, there is some info in there that might help. But a little more specific info on what it is you're looking at would do wonders, specifically year, make, model / series, engine.

Sorry I should have mentioned that lol. It’s a Thomas bus, I believe 04 or 05 with the Cat C7 210hp engine. I know not the most desirable engine, but it seems to be well taken care of. Unfortunately I don’t know that the seller can physically crawl under the bus to get the tag number on the transmission. I just didn’t know if there was any other way to figure out what it is. I will definitely go check out your buyers guide thread!

[Mountain Gnome]

Somewhere on this site is a thread that helps you identify the tranny by the type of shifter it has on the dash.

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

Somewhere on this site is a thread that helps you identify the tranny by the type of shifter it has on the dash.

That is not always a reliable indicator though, ones can be swapped over the years and supposedly the MD3060 was available with a t shifter.