Hi everybody!
I'm new to this kind of government surplus. As my moniker says, I'm more familiar with military surplus. I own an M1031 and 3 M1009s. This is the first "civy" surplus vehicle I bought. I replaced an M109A3 with "Big Mac". She's a 26 passenger Ford B600 with the hydraulic wheelchair option. I bought her about two weeks ago for $500 from San Antonio. And for the record NO she's NOT for sale!!!! They did about $4K in repairs in September '09. She has new brakes, tires, 2 new A/C compressors (she has A/C in front & rear), belts, hoses, alternator, and a bunch of other goodies. I'm working on finding a highway gear ratio for the Rockwell rear axle so I can do better than 50mph. She gets 13 mpg with the A/C on (2 mpg better than the old Deuce WITHOUT A/C). I'll be installing an air compressor, 5KW diesel genset, a class 3 hitch for our 32' travel trailer, and a bunch of other goodies. Here is the listing and some pics from the auction:
https://www.lemonsauctioneers.com/item. ... 0000031493
I'm having a bit of frustration in posting pics from my desktop, so the link will have to do for now.
Anyway, the evening before we left I had my son's truck loaded up with all of the goodies I figured we'd need for a complete service on the engine, a lube job, and any lights that might not be working. Needless to say I was so excited about getting this bus I couldn't sleep very well that night. We left out at 0400 on Tuesday of last week to get Big Mac. We arrived at the San Antonio storage yard where she was parked. They gave me the keys, and after a 1 hour inspection (and discovering she came with a FULL tank of diesel!!!!!), we were headed home! My loving wife was driving behind me complaining about the diesel exhaust the whole way since our M1009 doesn't have any A/C. I definitely was enjoying our first vehicle with A/C since dumping our P-71 Interceptor when the computer croaked about four years ago. Texas is not known for being very cool in the summer. So having a bus, no less, with A/C definitely helped me with the drive home.
Since then I parked her in our field where there are plenty of chiggers ready to eat me alive while I'm working on various areas of the bus. I've replaced the stereo antenna, installed a stereo CD player, gotten quite a bit of help from Ford on the rear axle and where to get a better gear ratio for the Rockwell axle (4.88 is REALLY low!!! - top end right now is 50mph!!!), cleaned up the interior, found a realitively new conversion chair for me from a Ford conversion van, another captain's chair and a slide-down bench seat from the same van for my wife and son, repaired and modified the short wave antenna for a CB radio, and bought schedule 8 nuts and bolts for the class 3 hitch. I'm looking to use the bus as a garage-on-wheels until my son is old enough to use it with the travel trailer. Then my wife and I will get another bus and completely convert it. Big Mac is exactly what we needed. She'll have shelving, a workbench, and my tool boxes all securely mounted in her for the road trips we will take. Look out Grand Canyon!!!!!
I'm new to this kind of government surplus. As my moniker says, I'm more familiar with military surplus. I own an M1031 and 3 M1009s. This is the first "civy" surplus vehicle I bought. I replaced an M109A3 with "Big Mac". She's a 26 passenger Ford B600 with the hydraulic wheelchair option. I bought her about two weeks ago for $500 from San Antonio. And for the record NO she's NOT for sale!!!! They did about $4K in repairs in September '09. She has new brakes, tires, 2 new A/C compressors (she has A/C in front & rear), belts, hoses, alternator, and a bunch of other goodies. I'm working on finding a highway gear ratio for the Rockwell rear axle so I can do better than 50mph. She gets 13 mpg with the A/C on (2 mpg better than the old Deuce WITHOUT A/C). I'll be installing an air compressor, 5KW diesel genset, a class 3 hitch for our 32' travel trailer, and a bunch of other goodies. Here is the listing and some pics from the auction:
https://www.lemonsauctioneers.com/item. ... 0000031493
I'm having a bit of frustration in posting pics from my desktop, so the link will have to do for now.
Anyway, the evening before we left I had my son's truck loaded up with all of the goodies I figured we'd need for a complete service on the engine, a lube job, and any lights that might not be working. Needless to say I was so excited about getting this bus I couldn't sleep very well that night. We left out at 0400 on Tuesday of last week to get Big Mac. We arrived at the San Antonio storage yard where she was parked. They gave me the keys, and after a 1 hour inspection (and discovering she came with a FULL tank of diesel!!!!!), we were headed home! My loving wife was driving behind me complaining about the diesel exhaust the whole way since our M1009 doesn't have any A/C. I definitely was enjoying our first vehicle with A/C since dumping our P-71 Interceptor when the computer croaked about four years ago. Texas is not known for being very cool in the summer. So having a bus, no less, with A/C definitely helped me with the drive home.
Since then I parked her in our field where there are plenty of chiggers ready to eat me alive while I'm working on various areas of the bus. I've replaced the stereo antenna, installed a stereo CD player, gotten quite a bit of help from Ford on the rear axle and where to get a better gear ratio for the Rockwell axle (4.88 is REALLY low!!! - top end right now is 50mph!!!), cleaned up the interior, found a realitively new conversion chair for me from a Ford conversion van, another captain's chair and a slide-down bench seat from the same van for my wife and son, repaired and modified the short wave antenna for a CB radio, and bought schedule 8 nuts and bolts for the class 3 hitch. I'm looking to use the bus as a garage-on-wheels until my son is old enough to use it with the travel trailer. Then my wife and I will get another bus and completely convert it. Big Mac is exactly what we needed. She'll have shelving, a workbench, and my tool boxes all securely mounted in her for the road trips we will take. Look out Grand Canyon!!!!!
