New and need help!

[American]

Good morning.
We are new to this forum...new to school busses...seasoned in life on the road. More about that later.

My need is pretty specific right now. 422sales.com is having an auction on 9/10. The have a fleet of about 20 small buses to auction off. They have a bunch f larger buses but I'm needing a small bus.

The problem...they are all 2006 Ford Diesels!

I have seen enough info on these engines to know they were not Ford's best engine. I am sure there are a million threads confirming that here.

My thought is this. I only need the bus for a short time. (12 months). If they are ten years old, could I not assume a lot of the "kinks" have been worked out? I realize I will not be getting 500,000 miles on these engines. Most have about 130,000 right now. I will be putting on about 1,000 a month.

I think i can get one for cheap. Insurance is acceptable. The engine makes me hesitant but I think my conclusion is....I'm not sure. A bit of a gamble. But I don't need it for long.

Thanks for any insight.

Doug

 

[VanFreedomUSA]

2006 Powerstroke

Good morning.
We are new to this forum...new to school busses...seasoned in life on the road. More about that later.

My need is pretty specific right now. 422sales.com is having an auction on 9/10. The have a fleet of about 20 small buses to auction off. They have a bunch f larger buses but I'm needing a small bus.

The problem...they are all 2006 Ford Diesels!

I have seen enough info on these engines to know they were not Ford's best engine. I am sure there are a million threads confirming that here.

My thought is this. I only need the bus for a short time. (12 months). If they are ten years old, could I not assume a lot of the "kinks" have been worked out? I realize I will not be getting 500,000 miles on these engines. Most have about 130,000 right now. I will be putting on about 1,000 a month.

I think i can get one for cheap. Insurance is acceptable. The engine makes me hesitant but I think my conclusion is....I'm not sure. A bit of a gamble. But I don't need it for long.

Thanks for any insight.

Doug

The 6.0, 6.4, and 6.7 are prone to problems even if they are maintained properly, the best powerstroke is 1998 to early 2003 7.3 so i would stay within that range otherwise i would find a minibus with a duramax.
i have a 7.3 with 166K miles that was fleet maintained and it runs as good as new.
if you are only planning on keeping the bus a very short time just make sure whatever you get is running good at the time otherwise i would be leary of the new Ford diesels.

 

[American]

Thanks VanFreedom USA. I like your name!

Your insight is good about those engines. I just don't have any time left to find the perfect engine and my funds are super tight with my business. It's a gamble for sure.

Do you know of any threads that give a good checklist on purchasing a bus?

Thank you VanFreedom USA! Go American!

 

[EastCoastCB]

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f6/on-the-verge-of-buying-14250.html

 

[American]

Nice work. Thanks EastCoastCB

 

[VanFreedomUSA]

YouTube

Thanks VanFreedom USA. I like your name!

Your insight is good about those engines. I just don't have any time left to find the perfect engine and my funds are super tight with my business. It's a gamble for sure.

Do you know of any threads that give a good checklist on purchasing a bus?

Thank you VanFreedom USA! Go American!

thanks i made the name back when i had the van and i don't want to change it to bus freedom because technically it has a van nose lol.

there is a guy on YouTube called powerstrokehelp and he knows all about the different engines and which are more prone to break down and so on.
when i can afford a large bus i definitely want something with a cummins engine, i like them the best out of all of the diesels out there especially the mechanical cummins.

 

[American]

Yeah. I like the small buses but they are definitely a van with a big turtle shell. Thank for all your help today. Hey, did you ever notice a difference between the Corbels and the Collins'. Anything I need to be aware of. They have both available. Thanks

 

[VanFreedomUSA]

Corbeil

Yeah. I like the small buses but they are definitely a van with a big turtle shell. Thank for all your help today. Hey, did you ever notice a difference between the Corbels and the Collins'. Anything I need to be aware of. They have both available. Thanks

up until 2007 Corbeil was made in canada and designed to handle harsh winter conditions, they also used light weight parts, for instance the hood on mine is plastic.
Collins bought out Corbeil in 2007 and started to assemble them in Kansas.
they are now built strictly by Collins design and no longer Corbeil design.
Collins makes a good bus and you can order parts from them online.
any bus you are considering buying you should look at the frame all the way through for rot or bad mounts, you are going to see rust but stay away from rot.
check fluids, filters, lights, tires, etc, try to get the best condition bus for the money and spend a little more if you need to if it means having something in better overall condition.

 

[American]

up until 2007 Corbeil was made in canada and designed to handle harsh winter conditions, they also used light weight parts, for instance the hood on mine is plastic.
Collins bought out Corbeil in 2007 and started to assemble them in Kansas.
they are now built strictly by Collins design and no longer Corbeil design.
Collins makes a good bus and you can order parts from them online.
any bus you are considering buying you should look at the frame all the way through for rot or bad mounts, you are going to see rust but stay away from rot.
check fluids, filters, lights, tires, etc, try to get the best condition bus for the money and spend a little more if you need to if it means having something in better overall condition.

Wow. What a great tip. That is such a good clue. We are heading to upper MN. The have a bunch of 2006 corbell avail so I will use your tips and take a look. Thank you.