My first bus?

[Mikdugal1]

I’m looking everywhere and I might have found a potential. Let me pick your brains.

It’s a 09 international 120k miles good body minor surface rust underneath.

Problem it has a blown break line and wont start. My truck didn’t have enough to get it to fire up. Was slowly turning the bus but not enough cranking amps.

Going to try and go back again with my generator and big battery booster charger. They told me I could use their property to replace the break line before I drive it home.

Question. Even if I get it started it’s locked up with the break line broke. right so I couldn’t even drive it in the lot

What do you think about this. Motor looks clean no significant leaks.
DT 466

Anyway they want 6700 for it. Granite I can get it to start Should I low offer it to cover break parts and new batteries

[Hutchy]

IMO that's way too much for an '09 with issues. $2k max if you can start it and it runs/drives.

[Mikdugal1]

Yeah I’m going to go in with a low offer. As long as I can get it to start with no significant problem

[BarnYardCamp]

What are your plans for the bus? Vacation trips a few times a year? Full time in it?
What ever your plans. Do you have a pro/con list for this bus? For that asking price, you should be able to get a good (drivable) bus that checks off almost all the "pro" boxes.

Also, if one brake line has rusted through, the others are likely not far behind.

[Mikdugal1]

Thanks for taking the time to message. So it’s going to be for vacation use only. I’m a furniture maker by day and plan to do it up nice.
Pros for this bus is there’s hardly any rust and any surface rust is minimal it’s in great shape and has a decent motor. Granite it’s not running right now as the batteries are dead. I should have mentioned the passenger break lines were replaced last year when they parked it last it blew the drivers side. I agree for the price it should be a drivable vehicle that’s why I plan to offer less.

[musigenesis]

An 09 is going to have a Maxxforce DT, not a DT466. Sellers of newer buses often mislabel the engine in this way because Maxxforce DTs have a terrible reputation while DT466s have an excellent reputation.

[La Camioneta]

Personally wouldn't deal with a seller that's asking a premium price for a non-running bus.

BYOB/B bring your own batteries and brake lines is super lame. Then what if the test drive reveals some other undisclosed issues?

Don't know your location, but my friend Seth Owens in Tallapoosa GA is a used bus reseller. If nothing else, check his FB for inventory and check comparable prices on rust-free southern busses.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

An 09 is going to have a Maxxforce DT, not a DT466. Sellers of newer buses often mislabel the engine in this way because Maxxforce DTs have a terrible reputation while DT466s have an excellent reputation.

------------------
Buyer Beware

[Mikdugal1]

Ahh yeah okay your right was kinda mislead on that. I pulled the vin and it is a maxxforce 7.6L International DT466/Maxxforce DT

[Dbacks2k4]

As others have said an 09 International is going to be a maxxforce. Running maxxforces are bad, non-running ones are really bad ha ha. Run away

On 07 and 08s, there's sometimes some overlap between title year and the build year that may be an older non-Maxxforce engine. Easiest way to check is to look at the engine. If it's blue, it's pre-maxxforce. If it's gray, run away....

[TucsonAZ]

Keep something in mind, I paid $5,600 for an Arizona, rust free Blue Bird All American with a Cummins ISC 8.3L and Allison trans with 116,000 miles. That was on an auction site so I'm guessing I paid current market value.



The $5,600 is NOTHING!! Now comes $4,000 on 6 new tires, $4,000 for a battery bank, $3,000 for solar panels, $2,000 for hybrid inverters and the list goes on forever, hell, just my caulk was $400!! That doesn't even factor in the 1,000,000 hours of time (does that sound high, feels accurate).


The point is, start with an amazing foundation, drive where you have to go to find/get it, do not settle with that foundation!



Also remember 2002-2004 starts EGR, 2007 starts DPF, 2010 starts DEF in terms of additional emissions costs, repairs, complications and so on. I personally would stick with 1999-2006 as that's a nice sweet spot.