Introduction: Hello Skoolie Community!

[Choc Lesnar]

Good evening fellow Skoolie...ers? I'm Choc_Lesnar, and if all goes well by this Friday, I'll be purchasing my Bus and beginning my journey into the world of mobile, mortgage free living.

A bit about me: I'm 36, from Chicago, but currently living in Baltimore. I originally moved here after being engaged, but once that fell through, I've been trying to find my place. The last half of 2019 was pretty rough for me with that, and at the eve of 2020, I worked hard to turn it all around, and I did! I was killing it in terms of work, savings and school...up until March 15th. We all know what happened then ... Lost my job, compromised immune system, and a whole lot of time trying to think about where my life is going to take me next. I remember thinking back to when I truly wanted to do the All American cross country road trip, and how the hustle and bustle of life has always made that dream seem like it would only be that. But now, with the way things have begun to shape up, I decided to take that leap and begin the steps towards building my own Skoolie. This community looks so vast and helpful, I cannot wait to fully engage and ask all the silly questions that will be then directed to the proper forum. I look forward to this nerve-wrecking, satisfying journey to get myself on the road and live my life the way I want to.

Thanks for listening you all. Oh, I do have one question:
I plan on towing my rear wheel drive Chrysler 300 along with me. Any good tips on that? I heard there was something different about towing a RWD vehicle if its not completely on a ramp. Thanks you all!

[Ronnie]

Hi, welcome to the community!

Not sure about towing the 300, maybe the owners manual might say if it can be flat towed? Often transmission lubrication is the issue if the drive wheels are on the ground and spinning the driveshaft.

[Placeholder Bus Name]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Hi, welcome to the community!

Not sure about towing the 300, maybe the owners manual might say if it can be flat towed? Often transmission lubrication is the issue if the drive wheels are on the ground and spinning the driveshaft.

Yeah, there are very, very few cars that can handle being flat towed. You need to read your Owner's Manual. Honestly, if you plan to flat tow, you're better of finding a manual transmission Jeep or an older Honda CR-V, as these are the easiest cars to flat tow.

Also note: Flat towing will void your vehicle warranty if not allowed by the manufacturer.

[magnakansas]

Yea. Drop the drive shaft or put it on a trailer

William

[Choc Lesnar]

when you say "handle" being flat towed, what does that mean exactly? Also, its a 2009, so I'm not too worried about a warranty lol
-

[TomA]

Flat towing will spin the output shaft of the transmission at road speed.

Automatic transmissions cannot handle this. Since they are fluid clutched (or electronically controlled multidisc but that's <1% of what's out there) the fluid in the transmission will heat up being towed. The car is off, though, so the cooling system is inoperative. An automatic will overheat and burn out being flat towed. Other things will happen in addition, but suffice to say- don't flat tow the drive wheels of an automatic transmission. Period.

Many manual transmissions can handle being flat towed, because they can be put in neutral, eliminating load on the transmission input shaft and on the clutch. Some manuals build up too much heat inside doing that, and don't tolerate flat towing well. I think it's a little hit and miss which ones can tolerate it and which can't, so its a bit of a high-stakes gamble and the safest course not knowing for sure is to disengage (remove) the driveshaft on a manual RWD car and not take chances, which is what people are recommending here.

If your 300 is an automatic, you don't have a choice. You must disconnect the drive axle from the trans or you will smoke it flat towing...

[Choc Lesnar]

Thank you for that information Tom. Maybe I'm a bit confused, because I thought Flat towing meant the entire car was on top of a trailer. Am I mistaking this?

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Choc Lesnar

Thank you for that information Tom. Maybe I'm a bit confused, because I thought Flat towing meant the entire car was on top of a trailer. Am I mistaking this?

Flat towing means all the cars wheels are on the ground, and it is connected by a tow bar.

[Choc Lesnar]

AHHHHHH ok. Yeah I didn't plan on doing that because my vehicle is RWD. I appreciate the clarification my friend. Finding a good car hauling trailer will be step 3 (step 2 is installing the tow device on the bus. any recommendations on that? or a forum to go check out regarding it?)

[musigenesis]

Welcome to skoolie.net. What make/model/year/engine/transmission of bus are you getting?

[Phantom5824]

Welcome to the forum Choc! Tomorrow is almost here. Tell us about the bus you're buying. Happy Independence Day

[Choc Lesnar]

Thanks you guys for the warm welcome! The auction has about 25 hours left on it, I'm both nervous and excited. The Bus is a 2009 Thomas; It is a 66 passenger bus with a wheelchair lift. Other info about it:

Diesel Engine, Model HDX, Automatic Transmission, Air Brakes.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Choc Lesnar

Thanks you guys for the warm welcome! The auction has about 25 hours left on it, I'm both nervous and excited. The Bus is a 2009 Thomas; It is a 66 passenger bus with a wheelchair lift. Other info about it:

Diesel Engine, Model HDX, Automatic Transmission, Air Brakes.

So, it's pretty common advice on this forum to seek out buses from 2003 or earlier. Later engines added emissions control devices and other changes that greatly impaired their reliability and increased the costs associated with maintaining and repairing them. Thomases of your vintage (it's a C2?) have either the CAT7 or Mercedes-Benz engines, neither of which is really desirable because of the costs.

This is not meant to bum you out about your bus, but maybe to consider things if you're not currently the high bidder.

[Choc Lesnar]

No worries. I am currently the highest bidder. Thats interesting, regarding buses built after 2003, obviously I wasn't aware of this. But, If I win the bus, I'm just going to go with it. How can I tell what type of engine it has? I know it doesn't have a Mercedes Benz engine; I've seen buses on this auction site with those. And what does C2 mean? I'm seriously a newbie in all of this. The model of the bus is HDX, if that means anything.

[Choc Lesnar]

Actually,I checked again, its Engine type is Engine MBE926210, which upon a google search, appears to be a Mercedes Benz engine...

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Choc Lesnar

No worries. I am currently the highest bidder. Thats interesting, regarding buses built after 2003, obviously I wasn't aware of this. But, If I win the bus, I'm just going to go with it. How can I tell what type of engine it has? I know it doesn't have a Mercedes Benz engine; I've seen buses on this auction site with those. And what does C2 mean? I'm seriously a newbie in all of this. The model of the bus is HDX, if that means anything.

I'm dumb, I noticed you said HDX but it didn't register. A C2 is these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Saf-T-Liner_C2

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Choc Lesnar

Actually,I checked again, its Engine type is Engine MBE926210, which upon a google search, appears to be a Mercedes Benz engine...

It's considered a very good engine mechanically, but the parts are expensive and it's difficult to find mechanics who can/will work on them. If nothing ever goes seriously wrong with it you're golden.

[Choc Lesnar]

I'll just have to make sure I keep it in excellent condition then. If I win the auction.

[Choc Lesnar]

I'm actually a fan of that design of bus. I was going to bid on one, but the rust on the stairs and the floor made me think the frame is probably corroded and rusted out.

[Choc Lesnar]

22hrs left my friend. Learning more about the year and engine of my bus. Caused a little anxiety, but its better to be prepared for what you're getting vs not knowing what you're getting yourself into.