Single most costly.

reprobate

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
Posts
226
I've been curious. All these converters on this forum, I wonder what's the one item you have spent the most $ on (beside the bus). I'm sure for Lapeer it is a jacuzzi.

Me. Without a doubt.....bourbon. I've found it takes a lot of bourbon to convert a bus.

Anyone else?
 
not jacuzzi.....I've aquired at least 6 over the years, some for buses, some for other things, and i think all of them were under $300 dollars. The one in the current bus was free, paid $30 for one, i have one at my house that's been running since last june i picked up for $80.

i'm not sure what the single most expensive item is in the buses....besides the buses themselves.

Fuel is always my number one expense, i spend way more on this than i do on the price of the bus...with the exception of number III which didn't belong to me.

jacuzzi bus I......prob the glass block wall

jacuzzi bus II....prob the paint job, although it's under $300 to paint a bus, including clearcoat. I spent that much on the alternators i replaced if you add them up. come to think of it, the honda eu2000 was the single most expensive item for the
bus @ $857.00 times two. I had one of them die a horrible death in the desert. oh wait.....i forgot about the texas beach incident and the $3,500 :shock: i paid to all texas towing...those cheating lying sob's!!!!

Jacuzzi bus III....generator: About $500. subaru engine, over 5kw, and the best part is that the box claimed the generator was "QUIETER THAN A TRAIN WHISTLE"

jacuzzi bus IV Electrical system: 2nd alternator, inverter, pair of 4d batteries and wire to hook them up was over $700
 
thats an easy one BEER,BEER,BEER then the next one is MORE BEER when i get to drive my bus it will be to the recylers to take the empties in.im sure the next big one will be when i go through the brakes, could be a grand. thats what i paid for the bus. i paid 125 for the master cylinder and the rear slaves are 80 x 4 im hoping the shoes and drums are good SPEND ON SKOOLIES
 
timbuk said:
3500 TOW BILL? THAT BEATS SPORTY RICKS BILL CARE TO ELABORATE LAPEER?

i guess not everyone was around for this......

complete story here:

http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1143

Img_1417.sized.jpg


phil found this photo of my bus while searching Google

00820010_G.jpg


in retrospect, i should have rented the dozer!
 
lapeer20m said:
timbuk said:
3500 TOW BILL? THAT BEATS SPORTY RICKS BILL CARE TO ELABORATE LAPEER?

i guess not everyone was around for this......

complete story here:

http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1143
[/size]

Hahaha... good times eh Jason? Still better to be stuck on the beach when it's 85 than back in Michigan where it's 25 and snowing, right?

The most expensive thing I think I bought for my bus at once was my paint, I got automotive paint and I think I paid about $600 by the time I was done with that project - I'm talking, paint, spray gun, clear coat, tape... everything.

My clear coat came out rough for some reason, in hindsight I should have went with rustoloum or something cheaper... oh well.
 
:D
Six new tires and tubeless wheels, $2200+. Millicent didn't really need the rims, but I bought them for my first bus and promptly transferred the entire set to Millicent. So make that $1600+ for six tires, assuming re-use of wheels. Drive tires are fresh recaps on Michelin and Toyo casings, fronts are new Double Coin (Chinese) tires. Meaning... this was the CHEAP way to get get really reliable tires. And at the price my employer, a good size trucking company, pays.

Yes, I hate flats.
:D
 
$3000 for a new engine. Had I known what I know now though, it would have been a new bus. Oh well, it has been a great bus and it will probably outlast me.

-Richard
 
I actually started this thread kind of tongue and cheek, but I guess for us the single most costly item has been the generator. $1600.

Were you by any chance stuck down along Boca Chica beach, Jason. We worked behind those dunes and all along the river last year. I drove along the beach down to the Rio Grande confluence almost every morning and evening and probably walked every inch of that country. Lots of BIG rattlesnakes and cool wildlife.
 
jimmy that is the ultimate price but hopefully the bus will pull it all together thats what its for right? im keeping my old baby for at least 10 years for sure the auto hobby is a big time robber cause its easy to spend 100s of hours on all this stuff but im looking forward to hanging with the family in the bus timbuk
 
Gentlemen, just a word to the wise if your bus gets stuck... and yyou don't have Good Sams RV towing. Go to (hitch hike) to the nearest truck stop where there are a lot of over the road truckers parked, and ask any owner-operator if they would be interested in making 1 or 2 hundred dollars to pull your bus onto solid ground. Most flat bed drivers carry 10 to 20 chains and would be glad to help you. Depending on the distance, many won't even charge you a cent. I know this from over 40 years of truck driving experience. And don't be afraid to flag one down, otherwise they may think you've got towing insurance and are just waiting on a wrecker to arrive.
 
kotflb said:
Gentlemen, just a word to the wise if your bus gets stuck... and yyou don't have Good Sams RV towing. Go to (hitch hike) to the nearest truck stop where there are a lot of over the road truckers parked, and ask any owner-operator if they would be interested in making 1 or 2 hundred dollars to pull your bus onto solid ground. Most flat bed drivers carry 10 to 20 chains and would be glad to help you. Depending on the distance, many won't even charge you a cent. I know this from over 40 years of truck driving experience. And don't be afraid to flag one down, otherwise they may think you've got towing insurance and are just waiting on a wrecker to arrive.

That's good to know. I bet a lot of them would kill to make $200 as they sit idle at the truck stops with fuel prices and freight prices as they are. :?
 
how about brakes anyone done a old skool hydraulic brake rebuild? thats where im going and im sure it will cost a few bucks any tips?timbuk
 

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