General questions for a newbie

[Twigg-SKO]

That’s kind of my point. If they have issues..... how much more expensive are they? That’s all. Trust me I’ve been soaking all of this up and greatly appreciate everyone’s input!

No idea ... but ...

if you can't remove and dismantle the engine yourself, then it will run thousands of dollars.

Buy one that you can see and hear is running clean and smoothly. Check the blow-by tube for excessive oil (there will always be a bit). Check the oil pressure is where it should be, and stable.

If that checks out the chances are that you will have many years of trouble-free service. We always worry about engine issues, but the reality is that most have no problems at all.

 

[GBuch]

Thanks Twigg. That’s what I was looking for. A ballpark number. I can see why that my be a negative for those engines.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Thanks Twigg. That’s what I was looking for. A ballpark number. I can see why that my be a negative for those engines.

So don't get me wrong ... If that CAT is running well and doesn't have too many hours on it, I wouldn't let it break the deal.

 

[EastCoastCB]

That’s kind of my point. If they have issues..... how much more expensive are they? That’s all. Trust me I’ve been soaking all of this up and greatly appreciate everyone’s input!

I had to have my International towed to the dealer for work recently.
Tow guy said "at least you're not getting a tow to a Cat dealer".

 

[GBuch]

Pusher, SAF-T, B22.....Any major difference in these 3 models?

So don't get me wrong ... If that CAT is running well and doesn't have too many hours on it, I wouldn't let it break the deal.

Ok, thanks for this info. I'm looking at a couple of buses. Let me know what you think of these.

2001 Thomas Pusher 64,107 miles
2001 Thomas Pusher 37,571 miles
2001 Thomas SAF-T 109,561 miles
2001 Thomas SAF-T 113,318 miles

According to the dealer, all have these buses have the following:

CAT 3126 6.6L 66 DIESEL engine
Allison transmission
suspension: spring,
steering: power

I'm not sure if there are any major differences between the two models above. They also have the B22. I'm about 2hours away from the dealer and haven't had a chance to visually inspect any of the buses yet. Anything I should look for or verify while I'm there? Is there a site to type in a vin to a bus and the site bring up the specs of the bus? Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

[Robin97396]

I'm initially put off by the low miles on these buses. Sounds like the old fashioned used car trick.

There's really not enough information about these buses to be able to make a judgment call. At this point you would want to know the engine trans and rear end information. They all have cat 3126 engines.

If all the buses were equally good in appearance, next I'd be looking at which has the best tires on it so I didn't need to be buying tires right away. This is all speculative on my part.

I'd sure want to crawl under and over those buses and hear them run. We haven't even seen pictures so I don't really think it's possible to make a call on which one would be best.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Also ... They are all Saf-T-Liners, the pushers are just the ER instead of EF.

Check the ceiling heights. The 78" are generally better than the 72"

 

[cadillackid]

for hauling something heavy like a car id be concerned about the transmission just as much as the engine..

you;'ll want a manual srtick or one of the automatics with lockup converter (MT643,AD2000,MD3060), the AT545 is a great transmission but for towing heavy loads on long highway trips its not the best choice..
-Christopher

 

[o1marc]

for hauling something heavy like a car id be concerned about the transmission just as much as the engine..

you;'ll want a manual srtick or one of the automatics with lockup converter (MT643,AD2000,MD3060), the AT545 is a great transmission but for towing heavy loads on long highway trips its not the best choice..
-Christopher

Why would you be concerned? 65 -150lb passengers weigh 9750lbs, that's 3 of my Dodge Dakota pickups. I think that tranny would handle any car easier than a full load of passengers. My Dakota weighs about the same as 22-150lb passengers.
When towing, you are not towing the total weigh of the vehicle, but the rolling weight which is considerably less than hauling the weight inside.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Point is that the AT 545 was marginal at best when new. After a decade or two they are typically stressed close to their breaking point. Locally, the truck shops don't even want them as cores anymore. I tried giving away a working 545 for free and no one was interested. They have literally become the proverbial boat anchors in the business. Can you still get them rebuilt? Yes, but parts and service have become a real issue. Several of the "big shops" here in Houston won't even work on them any more.

Just sayin'.

 

[o1marc]

Point is that the AT 545 was marginal at best when new. After a decade or two they are typically stressed close to their breaking point. Locally, the truck shops don't even want them as cores anymore. I tried giving away a working 545 for free and no one was interested. They have literally become the proverbial boat anchors in the business. Can you still get them rebuilt? Yes, but parts and service have become a real issue. Several of the "big shops" here in Houston won't even work on them any more.

Just sayin'.

Still, the average weight of what ever car you would haul inside is light enough that if I was concerned about the tranny handling that much less than it's intended weight, I would think the tranny was on it's last leg already.

 

[brokedown-SKO]

AT545 is great for around town stop and go, normal school bus work. In my trip around the country in our shortie, I consider it to be the weakest link in the platform by a considerable margin. The 545 is not a good match for heavy loads at speed.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

The weight used to calculate school bus loads is actually 80 lb per passenger.

Add to that about the same again for the seats you removed (I think mine were about 100 lbs each).

So in a typical 66 passenger bus you can deduct 66 x 80 and 22 x 80 for a rough estimate of the payload available before you reach the "bus full of passengers" weight.

In this case ... 7040 lbs or 3.14 tons.

It is very unlikely that you will add anything like that back into the bus during the build, so your RV will have an easier time than a loaded school bus.

Ideally you would get the actual axle weights when the shell is stripped out, then weigh it again when it is built-out and ready to tour.

One implication is that if your bus will be quite a bit lighter than the usual weight they are expected to carry, and will be driven at moderate speeds, re-caps on the rear are much safer than they might otherwise be, and that's a big cost-saving.

None of this alters the fact that the AT545 is not best suited to towing, but it does give you a bit more headroom in the calculations.