Just starting the journey!

[bhassett73]

Hey all and thanks for welcoming me to the community. I live in Indiana but I just bought our bus on auction from school district in California. Spent four days driving at the 2400 miles home. Which was the first time I’ve ever driven bus.

2006 International 3000 RE Model PB305
DT466 engine 7.6L L6
Alison transmission
155,000 miles

She’s beautiful and virtually no rust.
We’ve been planning this for over a year and a half now, so I’m really excited now that we have her. We haven’t named her yet, so she’s affectionately known as #8 for right now.

If anyone has any insights or recommendations, please, by all means, let me know. This is the first time I’ve ever even owned a diesel vehicle. So I’m new to all of this. And I’m desperate for knowledge on the best way to take care of her and start my conversion process.

Thanks again for letting us join the community!

Brian

[nikitis]

Welcome! You've come to the right place. You certainly bought a large bus! First things I'd check are, Engine codes, King pins in the steering columns, ensure suspension is good,



If you have a good suspension and running engine without issues, get it inspected by a mechanic who knows buses well. Don't just go to any diesel mechanic, have them do a once over, even if you have to drive a distance to them, it'll be worth it. Have him do any little tunes, fixes he sees as becoming a problem soon. Much cheaper to head off issues now than when stranded on the road with a giant bus and paying a $4000 tow.


You can test king pins by pushing on the wheel, and see if there's any play pushing in and out, or if there's wear on the inside of the tire only. With so much weight you want to ensure all that is good to go.


Once all of that is in order, and you know it's good, then proceed with demolition and building up the inside of the cab.

[bhassett73]

Originally Posted by nikitis

Welcome! You've come to the right place. You certainly bought a large bus! First things I'd check are, Engine codes, King pins in the steering columns, ensure suspension is good,



If you have a good suspension and running engine without issues, get it inspected by a mechanic who knows buses well. Don't just go to any diesel mechanic, have them do a once over, even if you have to drive a distance to them, it'll be worth it. Have him do any little tunes, fixes he sees as becoming a problem soon. Much cheaper to head off issues now than when stranded on the road with a giant bus and paying a $4000 tow.


You can test king pins by pushing on the wheel, and see if there's any play pushing in and out, or if there's wear on the inside of the tire only. With so much weight you want to ensure all that is good to go.


Once all of that is in order, and you know it's good, then proceed with demolition and building up the inside of the cab.

Thank you so much. I managed to get a long talk with the head mechanic at the school district. He gave me the bus’s history. Also it’s service records. It’s been very well-maintained and not use much since they used it as a spare bus. The tires look great, there’s not a lot of wear on them. The biggest concern I have mechanically is the California emissions equipment. I would love to get that removed. So I will probably end up taking her to a diesel mechanic soon at least for that anyways.

[Rucker]

Great looking bus-you did the right thing buying something mechanically and structurally sound.

[bhassett73]

Originally Posted by Rucker

Great looking bus-you did the right thing buying something mechanically and structurally sound.

Thanks! At least it seems like it. I’m dealing with a little bit of a battery drain right now but the only thing I can tell so far that might be using the batteries without ignition is the California emissions equipment. It has status light always on in a panel in the engine compartment