First ride story, just bought it and drove it home. (A little long)

[Smittybilt]

So I was not too sure where to share this story, I'll give this a shot. I posted this as a follow-up to the announcement that I was going to get my bus, but I thought some others might like the read. Here ya go😁


So my buddy Jay picks me up at 9:00 a.m. and we leave New Hampshire and head for Connecticut. Get to the dude's house at noon on the money. I start looking it over and going through it. Everything is pretty good, not as good as the photos I posted, but I was pretty much expecting that. Those photos were from when he originally bought the bus, I had found them on my own. Still has the Alcoa's on it, which I love. Fired it up with no issues, and it did all the stuff it's supposed to do. Oil looked okay, coolant looked ok, lights all worked. Check, check, chech. The body nice and straight, couple small rust spots, but nothing serious. Underneath looked fairly well, frame has got some typical surface rust, but nothing eating away. Most of the floor supports we're good as well, except for the ones that surround the rear wheels wells. They are going to need attention, most likely replacement. My plan is to oil the entire undercarriage once it's all straightened out, so I'm not worried. Then it was test drive time. About a 15 minute ride with some good hills and some highway. I did get it up to a little over 60 with room to go in the operating range, so I ruled out the 545 transmission. Got back to the guy's house and we went into his garage and he included an awning setup that needs a new swing fabric, a set of 20 gal propane tanks on their own mounting system, a bunch of cushions, a hot water heater, an inverter electrical system scavenged from an RV, a replacement rear door, and a couple of other odds and ends. I got a little more flexibility from him because of the floor supports, and we settled at $3800. I paid the man, thanked him, and we hit the road. I headed for RT 8 south to get me back to RT 84 headed for home. I'd say we were about 2 miles in to RT 8 when she just quit. No stumbling, no gradual loss of power, just OFF. I coasted to the side and was able to go far enough to get passed the barriers so we could be 5 feet off the side instead of stuck right on the white line. I was in freak out mode. It has not been 15 minutes since I paid for this rig and dead! Jay and I got to looking for the issue. He looked around under the hood for abnormalities and I looked through the fuse / breaker box. Zip.....no smoking guns. Now the reason I'm in panic mode is because in order to go to Connecticut and pick this bus up and get everything done in one trip, I had borrowed a license plate to put on the bus and drive back to New Hampshire with. So If a police officer had stopped to check on the situation, my new bus would be going to impound on the back of a tow truck at a cost of at least $1,000 for the tow. So first thing we did was remove the plate, that way it was just an unregistered vehicle and not misuse of license plates as well. Jay and I tried a couple other things to no avail. So I got on the phone, at this point I wanted to get it off the highway before the police had to take a look. I called a dispatcher at the closest heavy duty towing service and spoke with dispatcher and gave her the lowdown. I got a call back within 10 minutes from a tow truck operator who was about an hour and a half away. He asked me what the situation was and I explained exactly what had happened. He asked me if I was mechanically inclined and I enthusiastically responded yes. He gave me three things to check to see if they made a difference. The first one was to check the fuses that were in the battery box. There were a couple sets of fuses in there but the first one I opened up looked pretty suspicious. The two female parts of the fuse holder were a little wonky and didn't hold the fuse tabs tightly. I pulled the fuse out and bent the tabs in opposite directions so that maybe it would create a little spring tension and touch both sides of the fuse holder. Damned if it didn't work! The bus fired up and idled. We made a couple more checks through the plate back on the back side of the bus and hit the road. I ran it for about an hour after that and then stopped at a rest area north of Hartford just to have a look over. Couldn't find any problems everything looked, good so on we went. We cruise the rest of the way up 91, I watched the gauges like an eagle. The bus held 60 to 65 running 25 to 2,600 RPM, and the temp ran a needle's width over 210 most of the trip. I could hear the fan clutch kicking in as we went along so I knew that was doing its job as well. We took the Brattleboro exit to get on route 9 heading for Keene New Hampshire. That section of road has some pretty steep inclines most of which I climbed at 45 mph. We went through Keene on route 9 and got into more hills and the second round of trouble started. While keeping my eagle eye on the temp gauge, I watched it start to creep up. It never got to the red zone but it was probably a needles width away once I crested the last hill. Then I cruised another five or so miles with the temperature right back down in the 210 area, and she quit again. I pulled off to the side of the road went around to the battery box again and just made sure everything looked good there, which it did. Not the problem. I got the bus started again and it would idle fine, but as soon as you try to go anywhere it would stall. It started up again, revving it up in neutral it was fine. And it would idle in gear and move the bus, but as soon as you put a load on she would shut down. I was able to finagle the bus onto a little dirt road side pull off, so that it was in a safe place out of the way. I went and knocked on a door and was lucky enough that the people who owned the little dirt road said I could leave the bus there overnight. I contacted a couple people who know their way around these motors and decided I would go to get a fuel filter and throw that thing on where it sat. Once once I did that earlier today everything was good. I drove it to a friend's house and there it will sit till it has a real set of plates. Wow. Thanks for reading, that was a long one!

[CHEESE_WAGON]

All that info, and you neglect to mention the chassis on which it's built and the engine it's equipped with... Hard to say without knowing this.

[musigenesis]

Can I make a request for paragraphs?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

All that info, and you neglect to mention the chassis on which it's built and the engine it's equipped with... Hard to say without knowing this.

He took the Brattleboro exit ... that means it's a 2000-series transmission.

[Smittybilt]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Can I make a request for paragraphs?

Lol.... paragraphs are tough on a phone, buy I'll see what I can do.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Smittybilt

Lol.... paragraphs are tough on a phone, buy I'll see what I can do.

I'll do it - I was the one to complain and I'm bored anyway.

So my buddy Jay picks me up at 9:00 a.m. and we leave New Hampshire and head for Connecticut. Get to the dude's house at noon on the money. I start looking it over and going through it. Everything is pretty good, not as good as the photos I posted, but I was pretty much expecting that. Those photos were from when he originally bought the bus, I had found them on my own. Still has the Alcoa's on it, which I love.

Fired it up with no issues, and it did all the stuff it's supposed to do. Oil looked okay, coolant looked ok, lights all worked. Check, check, chech. The body nice and straight, couple small rust spots, but nothing serious. Underneath looked fairly well, frame has got some typical surface rust, but nothing eating away. Most of the floor supports we're good as well, except for the ones that surround the rear wheels wells. They are going to need attention, most likely replacement. My plan is to oil the entire undercarriage once it's all straightened out, so I'm not worried.

Then it was test drive time. About a 15 minute ride with some good hills and some highway. I did get it up to a little over 60 with room to go in the operating range, so I ruled out the 545 transmission. Got back to the guy's house and we went into his garage and he included an awning setup that needs a new swing fabric, a set of 20 gal propane tanks on their own mounting system, a bunch of cushions, a hot water heater, an inverter electrical system scavenged from an RV, a replacement rear door, and a couple of other odds and ends. I got a little more flexibility from him because of the floor supports, and we settled at $3800.

I paid the man, thanked him, and we hit the road. I headed for RT 8 south to get me back to RT 84 headed for home. I'd say we were about 2 miles in to RT 8 when she just quit. No stumbling, no gradual loss of power, just OFF. I coasted to the side and was able to go far enough to get passed the barriers so we could be 5 feet off the side instead of stuck right on the white line. I was in freak out mode. It has not been 15 minutes since I paid for this rig and dead!

Jay and I got to looking for the issue. He looked around under the hood for abnormalities and I looked through the fuse / breaker box. Zip.....no smoking guns. Now the reason I'm in panic mode is because in order to go to Connecticut and pick this bus up and get everything done in one trip, I had borrowed a license plate to put on the bus and drive back to New Hampshire with. So If a police officer had stopped to check on the situation, my new bus would be going to impound on the back of a tow truck at a cost of at least $1,000 for the tow. So first thing we did was remove the plate, that way it was just an unregistered vehicle and not misuse of license plates as well.

Jay and I tried a couple other things to no avail. So I got on the phone, at this point I wanted to get it off the highway before the police had to take a look. I called a dispatcher at the closest heavy duty towing service and spoke with dispatcher and gave her the lowdown. I got a call back within 10 minutes from a tow truck operator who was about an hour and a half away. He asked me what the situation was and I explained exactly what had happened. He asked me if I was mechanically inclined and I enthusiastically responded yes.

He gave me three things to check to see if they made a difference. The first one was to check the fuses that were in the battery box. There were a couple sets of fuses in there but the first one I opened up looked pretty suspicious. The two female parts of the fuse holder were a little wonky and didn't hold the fuse tabs tightly. I pulled the fuse out and bent the tabs in opposite directions so that maybe it would create a little spring tension and touch both sides of the fuse holder. Damned if it didn't work! The bus fired up and idled.

We made a couple more checks through the plate back on the back side of the bus and hit the road. I ran it for about an hour after that and then stopped at a rest area north of Hartford just to have a look over. Couldn't find any problems everything looked, good so on we went. We cruise the rest of the way up 91, I watched the gauges like an eagle. The bus held 60 to 65 running 25 to 2,600 RPM, and the temp ran a needle's width over 210 most of the trip. I could hear the fan clutch kicking in as we went along so I knew that was doing its job as well.

We took the Brattleboro exit to get on route 9 heading for Keene New Hampshire. That section of road has some pretty steep inclines most of which I climbed at 45 mph. We went through Keene on route 9 and got into more hills and the second round of trouble started. While keeping my eagle eye on the temp gauge, I watched it start to creep up. It never got to the red zone but it was probably a needles width away once I crested the last hill. Then I cruised another five or so miles with the temperature right back down in the 210 area, and she quit again.

I pulled off to the side of the road went around to the battery box again and just made sure everything looked good there, which it did. Not the problem. I got the bus started again and it would idle fine, but as soon as you try to go anywhere it would stall. It started up again, revving it up in neutral it was fine. And it would idle in gear and move the bus, but as soon as you put a load on she would shut down. I was able to finagle the bus onto a little dirt road side pull off, so that it was in a safe place out of the way. I went and knocked on a door and was lucky enough that the people who owned the little dirt road said I could leave the bus there overnight.

I contacted a couple people who know their way around these motors and decided I would go to get a fuel filter and throw that thing on where it sat. Once once I did that earlier today everything was good. I drove it to a friend's house and there it will sit till it has a real set of plates.

Wow. Thanks for reading, that was a long one!

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by Smittybilt

Lol.... paragraphs are tough on a phone, buy I'll see what I can do.

You press 'Enter' or 'Return' every few sentences... What's so tough about it? LOL

[Oscar1]

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

You press 'Enter' or 'Return' every few sentences... What's so tough about it? LOL

Haha. Stop bustin the kids balls, he had a rough first day and did awesome keeping his sh*t together. Way to Go.
Congrats on the new ride.
Keep us posted.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by Oscar1

Haha. Stop bustin the kids balls

Huh, huh... Huh, huh...

[Oscar1]

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

Attachment 43561
Huh, huh... Huh, huh...

As you were.

[Native]

That was a great "origin" story.


Are you going to use this as your build thread?

[Smittybilt]

Originally Posted by Native

That was a great "origin" story.


Are you going to use this as your build thread?

Sounds like a good idea, I believe I will. When I start that thread😁

[Smittybilt]

I might even edit it and use some good grammar and sentence structure, maybe even some paragraphs. ��

[ol trunt]

That was a good read. Don't let all the old skool Marms get to you. Keep the story going. Paragraphs are over rated. While I do understand grammar and punctuation I sometimes just choose to ignore them. I can't spell my way out of a wet paper sack--even my name (Ol Trunt) somehow ended up misspelled. I spend more time on spell check than I do actually writing. Keep up the good work. I'd say you handled getting your cantankerous new toy home with aplomb.
Jack

P.S. Lets see you patch that one Musigenesis

[JackE]

Good read, I always like a challenge!

Smittybilt, I recognize that screen name from somewhere else. Do we share other forums? GMTC or GMT400 maybe?

[Smittybilt]

Are you a Sportster guy by chance? That was really the last forum I was involved with. Little while back though.

[JackE]

Nope, maybe I'm just thinking of the SmittyBuilt offroad parts. I love those Alcoa wheels! That will be my first frivolous purchase for the bus.

[Sraycwb]

Great story and sweet ride! The Alcoas really set it off.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Don't let all the old skool Marms get to you.

Hey, hey, hey!... I believe in peace, and bacon!

[Ronnie]

Oh I know route 9 from Brattleboro to Keene. Fun road when no traffic but them New Hampshire drivers are sooo slow. I know the grades too, pulling my boat through there with my bus gives it a workout.

Glad you were able to get things figured out and get it home. Good luck with the build.