Testing Fate. My $800 Bus

[Calibuslife]

It's been a while since I've posted. Busy busy busy trying to get the bus skinned and sealed before the worst of Louisiana hurricane season.



My raise went well. Ended up stopping at 23". I was reluctant to post my plans for the raise as I wasn't sure if it was a smart thing to do. My lack of all thread/farm Jack's/ extra square tubing made things a bit more tedious, but the end result was the same.


The ceiling panels I pulled down only allowed me to delete two windows after everything. I will happily delete a few more when I come across the steel.

 

[cadillackid]

looks good!.. be sure to overlap your metal.. butte edges will result in leaks.. overlapped so water runs over the top..and doesnt get "caught by an edge"..

-Christopher

 

[BUSfan29]

I just bought a 2003 Freightliner FS65 cat3126B with Allison 2500 PTS.. Will be picking it up in a couple weeks. I test drove it around the minneapolis metro area in heavy traffic. drove like a gem and managed to get it up to highway speed for a bit..sped up quickly... nice with overdrive! Got a heck of a deal on it, $1500 !! Will go back and pick it up in a couple weeks. its a 71 passenger bus.

 

[HoggerTheNomad]

Congrats, you made it.
Now the conversion begins. Please keep us updated and Good luck.
I had no where to work on mine so I purchased one with the 7.3 turbo.
Exciting Times !

 

[BUSfan29]

Congrats, you made it.
Now the conversion begins. Please keep us updated and Good luck.
I had no where to work on mine so I purchased one with the 7.3 turbo.
Exciting Times !

thanks! sort of easy driving it for me... I drive school bus already..

My idea is turning it into a park storm chaser mobile.. im a ham radio operator... and have it be a part mobile amateur radio shack.. part RV/Camper... Don't plan to live out of it. Just want something to go out for the weekend and have a hotel on wheels or go out for a week at a time when i have down time in the summer or during winter break can fire it up and drive south for a week or so and come back.

 

[cadillackid]

thanks! sort of easy driving it for me... I drive school bus already..

My idea is turning it into a park storm chaser mobile.. im a ham radio operator... and have it be a part mobile amateur radio shack.. part RV/Camper... Don't plan to live out of it. Just want something to go out for the weekend and have a hotel on wheels or go out for a week at a time when i have down time in the summer or during winter break can fire it up and drive south for a week or so and come back.

that would make a fun Field day rig too!.. seal it up tight.. I did a little storm chasing in my DEV bus as it is heavier than my red one.. i thought I had things sealed but dang i still had water coming in all over..


I accidentilly let me license expire a few years ago.. but a buddy of mine brings his nice little Yaesu 2 meter rig and we slap a clamp-to-frame antenna / weather instrument pole he made, off the back of the bus and we can always make the local weather-net repeater..


its surprisngly (to me) easier to see out of a bus windshield in a torrential rain on the road than a car.. im not sure a skoolie isnt a bit tall and light for getting into really bad stuff though.. and I definitely wont Blizzard-chase in a bus.. even with my Unoroyal RD30 drives which are really aggressive, snow slows the bus down pretty quickly.. not like a regular car. but definitely cant go through stuff guys in aggressive-treaded 4x4 jeeps or pickups..
-Christopher

 

[Calibuslife]

I've got the bus skinned now! Just need to spend a couple days making sure leaks are taken care of.

 

[Brewerbob]

nice lookin bus!! a 3 foot roof raise on a bus like that is going to put you in pretty dangerous territory as far as legalities.. you will end up over the 13 foot height which may make you an oversize load in many places.. I would go 2 foot raise Max.
-Christopher

Didn't notice if he had roof stuff or not but a 3 foot raise on mine would keep me legal. My flashing beacon sits at 10'0", legal is 13'6".

 

[cadillackid]

they all likely sit at slightly different heights.. my DEV BUS on 11R22.5's site at just under 11 feet.. of course most all freeway bridges are well over 14 feet... and travelling to NJ / NY theres a lot of stuff thats 12 feet and under so any roof raise would cause issues there.



I do know I dont want my bus to look like something from 11 foot 8 dot com..
-Christopher

 

[Brewerbob]

they all likely sit at slightly different heights.. my DEV BUS on 11R22.5's site at just under 11 feet..

A foot of difference?!? That's insane. The beacon is probably 5" tall itself and I was eyeballing it but it's damn near 10'0".


There are bridges near the gf's that you aren't getting a conversion van thru without leaving parts on the ground. Single lane train bridges often made of stone. With a running start and 100,000 lbs you aren't bringing it down.

 

[BUSfan29]

week closer to picking up my bus!!

the 21st is getting closer Looking forward to picking up my bus and getting it back to Central WI. Only have to drive it over from the Minneapolis Metro area.. that's only like a 3 hour drive to where I live in Wisconsin I will keep everyone posted and will take pics and video of the big day when I pick up my bus from the Sellers maybe do like a pose with me standing with the guy at their shop handing over the keys in front of the building and shaking hands I have to do a little bit of running around to the DMV in the cities to get a 30 day out of state resident plate to drive it away to your home state.. only for a $1 cardbord deal at the DMV office! then come back. drive the bus somewhere like a truck stop park uber back to the garage get my car then bring it back to the truck stop or mall parking lot and hang round there to wait for a friend to meet me to drive my car back to WI.