Too much corrosion?

[CatawamBus]

Hey everybody, I've read that if there is rust underneath the bus you should run. I'm looking at one right now that's promising, has everything I'm looking for, but there is some corrosion underneath. It's 20 years old but it's in OK so it hasn't seen snow or anything. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

[Tango-SKO]

From the pix it looks like mostly surface rust which is common. The only way to really tell is to go all under and look for any rust-through.



Most common areas are around the rear wheel wells and the entry steps. Once again, some is to be expected.


However, any full rust through on any frame or crossmember components can be costly to impossible to repair.



I poked around with a Phillips screwdriver on mine and found nothing significant. However...the area under the rub rails (completely hidden) were totally rusted out. Not that big a deal for me as I expected to replace major portions of the body sheetmetal anyway.

 

[Paulymac]

Check it carefully! I've got the same year International and it looked good too. Got the seats and rubber pulled out to discover large rotten spots in the floor. Not just the plywood, in the steel too. The windows were leaking for a long time.

 

[o1marc]

Check it carefully! I've got the same year International and it looked good too. Got the seats and rubber pulled out to discover large rotten spots in the floor. Not just the plywood, in the steel too. The windows were leaking for a long time.

Not just window leaks but all the rain/snow/sleet tracked in by students for 20 years. You'd find yourself hard pressed to find a 20 year old bus that does not have floor damage from rust. It's rare to find one with none, and not unusual to find buses from desert areas that still have rusty floors. Fortunately, once you have it that far striped it's just fabrication to fix it and not hard to do.

It doesn't snow or rain in Ok.?

 

[arod79sae]

Yes most looks like surface rust . Poke around with a screwdriver and some types with a light hammer and see . I found that the area where the heater coolant lines were ran is where the rust is at .