40' Advice/Experiences

[Joe45]

Howdy!
I am leaning towards a 40' diesel pusher. Bus would be about 1/3 up front as living, the rest a workshop for my art: leathercraft, sculpture, model building...


I would have it stripped, then wired for 120V, also solar, add a min isplit, drive to IKEA/Habitat and buy/load up whatever I need for a kitchen/murphy bed...



I would tow a flat trailer with a Land Cruiser on it (HJ45).
Will be full-timing in it for a while.



Any good/bad experiences, pros/cons driving a 40' bus?

With a trailer? Advice?



I'm trying to gather as much info as I can.



Had a 32' conventional/dog nose bus a while back and those ride rougher, louder, and have a substantial tail swing.
I think the pusher will work better for what I want to do.


Anyway, looking forward to reading the input.

 

[s2mikon]

Mine is 40 ft and is nice and roomy. The rear engine is mounted to a subframe at the back and it limits tongue weight. I flat tow a Jeep or Nissan truck with mine. It is very quiet while under way.

 

[Joe45]

Mine is 40 ft and is nice and roomy. The rear engine is mounted to a subframe at the back and it limits tongue weight. I flat tow a Jeep or Nissan truck with mine. It is very quiet while under way.

Thank you!


I will have to see ab out tongue weight. I need to tow a land cruiser on a trailer. Debating an open flat trailer vs an enclosed one. Or maybe something in between: with a roof but open on the sides.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Any good/bad experiences, pros/cons driving a 40' bus?

With a trailer? Advice?

A few food-for-thoughts....

*40' flat noses from International have a much longer wheelbase than their conventional siblings, so pulling a trailer behind that is going to require wider turns. You are correct though that there is significantly less tail swing, but with a trailer on you're already turning wide, so the tailswing isn't as noticable.

*Properly connecting a tow hitch to a rear engine bus is tricky work and usually requires custom fabrication. From what I read, the chassis frame isn't easily accessible and the sub-frame that holds the engine mounts isn't really designed for adding a tow hitch to.

*International's RE design prior to 2008 had two stupid little access doors on each side and the rear panel above the bumper opened up to a giant radiator and fan, very little was accessible from it. Trying to open up a valve cover to replace injectors inside those little side doors was a giant PITA. 2008 and later had a more side-mounted radiator, but now you're into Maxxforce years, a rant for another thread.

*The two RE300s I had felt like there was noticably less ground clearance for mounting under-chassis things. That said I never actually measured it to see if it was real or perceived. On the flip side, without a long drive axle and tailpipe, there's definitely more room under there than a conventional.

*Flat noses take a little getting used to the weird feel of steering since your steer wheels are behind where you're sitting. It's a little hard to describe until you've experienced it, but on turns you feel like you're riding outside the curve. We had a maneuver back in the day when I drove city bus with 40' Gillig Phantoms on a tight right turn where you had to steer the bus in such a way that the drivers seat actually went over the curb by the stop sign but the steer wheels stayed on the road.

Personally as a CDL bus driver I prefer the flat noses. I like the better visibility and not constantly having to worry about tailswing. They're also quieter. Conventionals aren't bad but I absolutely hate front-engine flat-noses. Hot, loud, and climbing over them to get to my seat sucks!!

My bus conversion is a conventional though. I'll also be towing and didn't want to deal with the hitch fabrication, and since I'm not much of a mechanic I wanted the easier engine access.

Best of luck to you, please make a build thread when you start... I love following those!

 

[Joe45]

That's good to know. Thanks!
I still have a bit before I do this, and am gathering information.


My biggest concern is the sheer length towing a trailer with my Land Cruiser on it. Something like this would be left in temp storage whenever I want to go deep into the woods.



If I do this, I will definitely do a build thread, and a youtube video build series, as before.
Thank you!