May have found a bus for our build - opinions please!!

[darkrider007]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I have found a 2000 International shortie up for auction in Virginia with 238,000 miles, 10,200 hours, and the coveted DT466E engine!

We've been searching for a couple of months now and haven't been able to find a 5-6 window conventional shortie with a reliable engine (most shorties we've found so far are either vans, or have a M-B, MaxxForce, or V365 engine) and fewer than 13k engine hours. We are looking to take it cross-country for a year, and don't want it to perma-die halfway through.

For me, the chassis/engine combo is exactly what I am looking for but the miles/hours are probably the biggest red flag, and I wanted to get your take on it. We are hoping to finish our conversion by August, and we are starting to get worried that the PERFECT bus (basically this one with closer to ~150k miles / 7k hours) won't come along in time!

What do you think? I'd be interested to hear your take on it, and if I am just 1) being too impatient or 2) too cautious!

PS our bus purchase budget is in the 3-7k range.

Derek

[o1marc]

That is not excessively high mileage on a motor that can see 500k before rebuild if properly maintained. See if you can get ahold of any maintenance records to see. I would not spend more than your lowest budget number on that bus. I'd want to pay less, there are other deals out there right now that are better if you just look.

[darkrider007]

Originally Posted by o1marc

That is not excessively high mileage on a motor that can see 500k before rebuild if properly maintained. See if you can get ahold of any maintenance records to see. I would not spend more than your lowest budget number on that bus. I'd want to pay less, there are other deals out there right now that are better if you just look.

If you could reference some of those deals, I'd be very interested. I've been hawking over the auction websites i know of (govdeals, purplewave, ironplanet, public surplus, etc) and would be interested to know if I'm missing something as I can't seem to find any other conventional (non-van) short buses with a solid engine right now (444E, 466, Cummins). Thanks in advance!

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by darkrider007

Good info. I'd also be interested if you could reference some of those deals - I've been hawking over the auction websites i know of (govdeals, purplewave, ironplanet, public surplus, etc) and would be interested to know if I'm missing something as I can't seem to find any other conventional (non-van) short buses with a solid engine right now (444E, 466, Cummins). Thanks in advance!

If your time line is unreasonable you may not end up with what you want. Rushing deadlines usually results in mistakes. What you want sounds like what I want, something that was not regularly produced and may be few and far between for the right example. Some of the oulets are low on inventory right now, but plan on stocking up next month. What you are ideally looking for will have a model number from each manufacturer, what is it exactly are you looking for, a shorty is not enough description. I know I wanted a BB All American A3FE or a Thomas MPV_EF.

[darkrider007]

Originally Posted by o1marc

If your time line is unreasonable you may not end up with what you want. Rushing deadlines usually results in mistakes. What you want sounds like what I want, something that was not regularly produced and may be few and far between for the right example. Some of the oulets are low on inventory right now, but plan on stocking up next month. What you are ideally looking for will have a model number from each manufacturer, what is it exactly are you looking for, a shorty is not enough description. I know I wanted a BB All American A3FE or a Thomas MPV_EF.

Honestly any 5-6 window conventional shorty with a solid engine (444E, 466, Cummins), hydraulic brakes, and reasonable miles/hours will do nicely for us. Good to know about the outlet timeline - I'll keep an eye out!

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by darkrider007

Honestly any 5-6 window conventional shorty with a solid engine (444E, 466, Cummins), hydraulic brakes, and reasonable miles/hours will do nicely for us. Good to know about the outlet timeline - I'll keep an eye out!

I'd try to avoid hydraulic brakes. Air-brakes are safer.

[darkrider007]

Originally Posted by Twigg

I'd try to avoid hydraulic brakes. Air-brakes are safer.

I was thinking I'd need a CDL for air brakes here in MA, but apparently as long as it's under 26,000lb GVWR I don't need it

[darkrider007]

Any other takes on the worthiness of the above bus?

For comparison purposes, I could get an '03 Freightliner shorty with 155k miles on it for the same price, but it's got a M-B engine.

Hoping to get a good 5 years / 100k miles out of the potential build with relatively few headaches on the road. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, just needs to be reliable.

Thank you!

[Thomas1985]

I would pay less than $3000 for 238,000 miles, 10,200 hours. Will they allow you to have a mechanic check it out?
If it's in good shape another 100,000 miles should be no problem.
Those numbers would still probably be too high for me though.