Going Bus Crazy......NO MORE!

[dlor1]

Well I did it! $1500 bucks to my door, including fuel even. I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me out with my decision. I surfed these forums for the past seven months and you guys are genius.

It's a 1989 TC2000, 5.9 turbo, air brakes, 72 pax, at 545 with 4.33 gears
Drives great, took her about 100 miles back to Breckenridge, CO. 10,000ft altitude and mountain roads. Good test for the first time driving a bus, air brakes are awesome!

Got pulled over about 10 miles away from home by a very attractive chick cop, who thought I was transporting illigals, (picked up 3 hitchikers on the way). Lucky for them, they were going where I was. Actually one of them is sleeping on my couch. Anyway chick cop, totally cool, had no tags, and my liscence was a little funny too, scott free.

Anyway, mission success and on to the WVO conversion!

 

[phillbus914]

Congratulations!

Do you have any pictures of it? What did you get for mileage? Sounds like you have the same set up as me.

You must be so excited. I know I was.

 

[Elliot Naess]

Never mind pictures of the bus -- I want pictures of that police officer!
We have a new officer here in Clearlake that fits that description and I'm totally in love.
Like any new hire in an unfamiliar town, she's been cruising all the streets to familiarize
herself with the territory, so I'm "living in my front yard" hoping she'll make a second
pass down my street.

Oh, the bus. Sure, congrats!

4.33 sounds like a decent "highway gear". Mine's 4.78, and I have calculated
that my 5.9 was turning around 22-2300 RPM at 55 MPH. I'll know more once I
get the tach installed.

Now, I don't wanna hear any whining about removal of seats! :wink:

 

[dlor1]

Pics soon, rounded up about 20 of my friends last night for a little inaugeration drive around town.

Elliot, totally kicked myself in the ass after the legal ordeal was over, she was so cool, but all I could think of was how illigally I was driving. Might have to go back and get pulled over again. Started tinkering today not as easy to take seats out as I thought.

Bus got 227,000 on it but to my knowledge runs great, little churping sound though coming from the tranny from 1st to 2nd, is that something to worry about?

 

[Elliot Naess]

Might have to go back and get pulled over again.

Same here -- I looking around my spread for the most illegal vehicle I own.

Don't know about that transmission sound. Is the fluid clean and pink? Change it anyway,
and the filter. Most likely it has an external in-line spin-on filter which looks like an
oil filter. Read the number off it and buy the same kind. (May cost 40 bucks.)
Do not take the pan off.
You want to keep the fluid clean and you must not overheat it.

 

[the_experience03]

Pics soon, rounded up about 20 of my friends last night for a little inaugeration drive around town.

Elliot, totally kicked myself in the ass after the legal ordeal was over, she was so cool, but all I could think of was how illigally I was driving.

Keep driving around with 20 people on board and no CDL and you probably will get pulled over again. For commercial purposes or not, you need a CDL with a passenger endorsement if you're going to drive around with that many people. The limit is either 15 or 16 including driver....an extended van, basically.

The Allison transmissions are big pieces and they shift like a heavy duty transmission. They're no 8 speed Lexus. They let you know when they're shifting and my 1-2 and 2-1 shifts are very firm in mine as well. Check that fluid and check your driveshafts. A u-joint on its way out of town or a bad carrier bearing will make some noise and that first-second shift is one of the harder ones because you're accelerating, the engine is usually wound pretty tight, etc.

 

[dlor1]

well, tryin to put some photos up, feel like a retard but how do you do it?

 

[Elliot Naess]

Hmmm... Maybe we should put this under Tutorials? After we perfect it....

Here's how I do it. Your milage may vary.
To put pictures on a bulletin board, the picture must be on a full time web site where
it can be accessed any time someone looks at the board. I use Photobucket.com.
It's free -- they make their money by having ads on the screen (not pop-ups or any such),
and they also sell a "pro" version of the service. I upload the picture to my account at
Photobucket. Then I copy the internet address of that picture and paste it into the bulletin
board post. In days past, this required a bit of extra typing. Now, you just click and click.

The size of the picture file that you place on Photobucket (or a similar service of your
choice) is VERY IMPORTANT. Although Photobucket will automatically resize a file that
is humongous, it may still be too large for people's screens. I resize mine to around
400 to 500 pixels wide. That's the size of most of my photos on the Millicent thread.

PM me for more info. I'm definitely no komputor expert, but this works for me.

 

[sportyrick]

transmission mission

If that tranny fluid isn't as pink as a daisy get it changed. After 30 years mine was gravitating toward a syrup you put on your ice cream made in Pennsylvania. There is a BIG filter in the pan that needs to be changed as well as a spin on, I had both changed and 18 quarts of fluid. I didn't know a thing about Allisons so I had my local Kenworth dealer do it, it wasn't cheap, but cheaper than a breakdown out in no mans land. Mine also does the sneeze thing when shifting, must be normal for a Allison but it does seem to shift a little better after the PM. Also drop ALL your driveshafts and check bearings, u-joints, slip yokes, brake shoes, etc better safe than sorry. A trashed driveshaft has to be one of the hardest things to get fixed on the road, especially on a weekend or in the middle of nowhere, there's only 55,000 different lenghts and u-joint configurations, I'm sure the local shop WILL get the right replacement sometime in YOUR lifetime. Before you take them out to look them over spray paint a LINE at each joint (each a different color) to make sure you put them back (clocked) EXACTLY the way they came out or you will fight a vibration from **** as long as you have your bus. IF YOU DO lose a driveshaft most welding shops (little or big) have experience doing these things for vehicles as well as PTOs, stationary pumps etc. (I am speaking from experience working in these kinds of shops) so don't be shy about asking about local shops of this kind if nothing else is available. May your fluid always be pink, your shafts straight and you shifting firm. sportyrick