Hey Guys,
Any thoughts on reasonable freight companies that can handle moving a motor/tranny combo from Florida to Minnesota on a rolling stand?
I may just end up borrowing a friends truck and trailer and driving both ways. Just trying to find the most economical way of getting it here. Seems like fuel will end up being about $600 and the lowest shipping price was around $1100. Any of you have any connections? The motor is in Port Charlotte.
Rick
Good going Rick wish I could help,word of advice if you can trade for a 5 speed CR Allision it would make the 8v92 very happy with the extra gear
good luck
About 5500 lbs there ? Commercial freight to terminal to terminal Might be best bet. Then load at terminal on your trailer. Long trip -lot of time=warm in Fla and excuse for vacation. Fly down rent truck haul back. Bob
Clifford, I have the 754 2nd gear start transmission in my bus now but if you remember back a few years it was slipping in 2nd when I took off on an incline or on soggy ground so I started running 15/40 rotella in it and it quit slipping but when you're almost doubling the horsepower I think it may not be able to handle it. I plan on sticking it in the shed and slowly getting it running again. I do have a friend that is capable of rebuilding my 754 if you think that would be a good idea although my wife may beat me senseless for buying it if I don't use it.
This motor is gonna need some work, it said in the ad either a seal or a head gasket had went in it but according to the seller both the transmission and motor were rebuilt less than 10k miles ago. I am wondering if it was one of the guys that is on the board here that I bought it from on ebay as it looked like it may have been a converted bus. How many folks out there are from Port Charlotte Florida?
Bob, I'm thinking more like 4000 lbs. 3250 for the motor 840 for the transmission
RB
Rick,
It will probably be the cheapest to pick it up yourself IF you have the time off of work. The 1100 number sounds about right to me, if you are going to freight it up. I am with Bob on this one. I would fly down one way and rent a truck back up. You will want to watch the GVWR but, a small uhaul would probably do it (with the front axle sticking up in the air LOL).
As you know, your buddies truck would be an option. However, fuel will probably be more then you think. $600 is sounding pretty cheap for fuel. I don't know what your buddies trailer weighs, but you add that to the weight of the engine and tranny combo. Then if it is gas, take whatever your normal MPG and drop it. If it is diesel, then should stay about the same.
John
Have you checked into U-SHIP?
How uShip Works (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtA4B9hFzhw#ws)
Don't know how far away Duluth is but Feb 15 you can fly Allegiance $70 bucks to Orlando one way. Bob
This is the CR you need Rick lots of variations of the 754
1st 3.69
2nd 2.00
3rd 1.58
4th 1.25
5th 1.00
most manual shifts are 7.97 in 1st the above mention starts in 1st fwiw
good luck
Bob, the plane flight isn't the problem I can fly a redeye to tampa for $129. It's the 14' uhaul truck that's a grand without fuel to get the thing home. It's seems either uship or another freight company or a long two way drive is gonna be the most economically feasible option. Still have a feeling that whoever is selling this thing may be a member here. Well, I contacted the owner with some questions and I'm just gonna give it all a minute to see what develops.
RB
Clifford, how would I find out what my individual gear ratio's are?
From here (SW indiana) it's 800 miles and prob another 600 to you. 200 gal fuel. Could prob end up with at least 2 grand cost plus. A friend did the swap gears and all in a 9. With wife in co-pilot seat first trip got ticket doing 85 in a 55mph. Talk about the wife look!
Rick,
I agree, Uhaul is expensive. Try getting a quote from Penske or Budget. Fill in all of your contact information, then check the price. After that, give it a day or two. They will usually call and try to give you a better price so you will rent with them. A two day one way rental shouldn't be that much (including mileage).
FWIW
John
Quote from: RickB on January 14, 2013, 04:14:25 PM
Clifford, how would I find out what my individual gear ratio's are?
Rick -IIRC, if you pull all the numbers off the builder's plate on the side of your Allison (driver's side, I think) and take it into a DDA dealer, they should be able to give you that data.
I'm guessing, tho, that you've got a CR box, that's what was most commonly installed by MCI.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
take a truck or suv with a hitch, drive to Fla., rent a U-haul trailer and haul it home. That way, if it is damaged in transit, it's your fault.
I would try UShip! (you don't have to accept the bid if you don't like it!) and if you let Jarred haul it don't expect it to be on time! LOL!
Also keep in mind if you borrow a trailer heavy loads and long miles usually end up with blown tires. (or worse)
Also might check with some local trucking companies to see if they would be interested in a partial back haul.
And just to be sure nobody thinks your trying to pull one over on them tell them it's 5500-6000 pounds and about the size of 2 pallets! (the trucking companies will appreciate this info more than the UShippers)
Now the next thing is if the place where it's at doesn't have a forklift or crane to load it with you'll need a medium duty wrecker to come out and load it for you. (probably $75-100)
;D BK ;D
Getting really fair bids on uship. It's looking more and more like I'll get this thing back here within a week. It's funny BK I was trying to think of how I'd get that darn thing into my shed and you gave me the best idea ever. I'll just call a local towing company and have them come on out and get it set down onto the rollers. Thanks for the knowledge my friend. There is only one thing that would make this not work out for me and that's spun main bearings and I'm really hoping that isn't the case and that if they got it hot they didn't get it super hot. If it's a head gasket or a main seal it will still be a good investment if I can get it up here reasonably. After reading Bryan's struggles to change bell housings, turbo mountings and all the other things that he had to do I made up my mind to find an 8v92 in an MCI cradle with all the aux drives intact and I got all that I hoped for and a rebuilt transmission to boot. All in all I'm cautiously optimistic.
RB
Rick,
Just be sure to specify a medium duty truck! Preferably with dual winches to use one on each end to make it easier to keep it level while putting it on your rollers.
(trust me I have a century dual winch bed on a 1 ton GMC and a 6V92 & 740 makes the front wheels "float" so you'll definitely want a "medium duty" truck to do the job.
;D BK ;D
8V-92TA=2,450lbs. HT747=900lbs-total=3,350lbs. Any vehicle capable of loading 4,000lbs will work-including many 3/4 or 1 ton pickups. Have to load it far enough forward in the bed not to raise the front wheels off the ground-load engine forward. Good Luck, TomC
Rick we had no problem hauling my 6-92 from Kansas along with an 8-71 we stopped in Denver to pick up for Clifford with our 1500 Silverado and trailer. Just sayin'
good luck
Van
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi457.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq292%2Fcwvanhagen%2F4-15-09triptokansas-denver007.jpg&hash=cad0199eff3e4d8460721a70059f9c4f356941b8)
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi457.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq292%2Fcwvanhagen%2F4-15-09triptokansas-denver008.jpg&hash=b8940a5a1a02262f3b0b1994b3e110791aba4d1f)
Was well worth the trip!
Rick, I sure hope this engine works out better than the last one. I thought this time you would just get the rebuilt 8V92TA out of an MCI that Curt, at Central Truck, has sitting in his shop. But maybe that engine was too expensive. Do you plan to do the changeover yourself? I am feeling so good now that I could help with the project, if you want help. Here's hoping things go well for you.
Good luck, Sam
Sam, Curt wants $8500 for the motor, which doesn't address my transmission issues, I would need air filter, exhaust and intake tubing and probably a muffler as well. The guy I bought this from is throwing in all of those things. Got a better understanding of what happened to the motor. He was driving down the road and lost power, pulled over, went in back and looked for obvious signs of an issue and noticed coolant coming out of the slobber tubes. He checked the oil and found what he believed to be fuel had leaked into the block to the tune of 4 or inches on the dipstick. I told him today that it was coolant and the reason it was coming out of the slobber tubes is because the engine was full to overflowing with 5 extra gallons of liquid in it. I have no idea how much he hurt the motor but he told me he never tried to start it again and that it didn't let him run for long with the coolant in the oil. Worse case scenario is still spun main bearings. I will get it home and take a nice long slow look at a long term plan to get it running correctly. I'm thinking the original problem was an o ring issue as he said it never overheated. I'm thinking it would be best to drain the oil as well. The good news is he just put a ton of money into the transmission so there is a plus. So I have an 8v92 with alternator, power steering pump, air compressor and ALL the stuff to hook it up and a rebuilt 740 for $1125. Now if I can get it home reasonably maybe I can get this one to work eventually. Okay guys have at it with advice and idea's but keep the "you're really a dork for buying this" stuff to a dull roar. I do have an ignore button now after all ;D ;D
RB
Rick,
That is crazy. There is NO WAY you can make that engine work. It will be a nightmare.
ROFL ;D :D ;D Sorry. I HAD to say that.
Joking aside, sounds like you have a great solution there. That will give you plenty of time to work it over, and make it as bullet proof as you can. I think you will be really happy with the extra power. It will also be good to have the time you need to get it set up right. Go for it!
John
Gumpy is gonna read the first part of your post and stand up in his kitchen and say "EXACTLY"!!! Then he's gonna read the rest of it.
That was funny John. No two ways around it.
Maybe I should call Gumpy and see if he's up for a road trip to Florida. I'm thinking he might become super busy with home projects real quick like.
RB
Rick,
I know you are looking at renting a truck, but if you decide to drive down you are welcome to borrow my trailer. I have a couple year old tandem axle 10000 lb trailer you are welcome to borrow. Both axles have electric brakes on them also. I hauled home a 7000+lb tractor from upper Wisconsin a few months ago without any problems. Let me know if you would like to borrow it.
Leave it to my buddy Brian Diehl to be the grace filled guy I know him to be and offer to help me. Thanks Brian I may take you up on it. Half because I may need to and half because I miss you and the family a lot! I'll let you know and say hi to everyone from the Barron's.
I have to admit I'm kind of excited to have a long term project to distract me from time to time and to give me a little more get up and go.
I just hope when when I pull the pan I'm not looking at a spun bearing anywhere. That would be a game ender I'm afraid.
Rick -
Just did a little number crunching for you. This is based on you having a pickup suitable for pulling Brian's trailer. Numbers have been rounded off for simplicity of planning purposes.
Round Trip from St Paul to Port Charlotte, via Brian's is approximately 3600 mi.
If the pickup/trailer gets 10 mpg, that's about 360 gallons of fuel, @ roughly $4 per gallon equals $1,440 for the trip. Obviously, if the fuel mileage is better, the cost is less.
Three days down, three days back equals seven motel stays, roughly $550 @ $75/nite average, and figuring 500 mi/day. (10 hrs driving/day @ 50 mph average - same as Greyhound, btw!)
So, ballpark $2,000 for you to bring the motor home yourself, not counting food enroute.
Or, you could tow Brian's trailer behind your coach, and eliminate the motel stops, but your fuel cost would go up for an overall cost of $2,400.
Does that help muddy up the decision a little more?
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
RJ, using your math I think I may have it put on a pallet and shipped up. But I was looking forward to seeing some friends in Nashville and playing golf with a buddy in Orlando. Still haven't made up my mind. Sure would be nice to getaway seeing that I've been working on a record I'm producing for the last 6 months and the warmth wouldn't be such a bad thing come to think of it. Well we'll see soon enough.
RJ,
I think your mileage estimate might be low. My '95 F350 4 dr Dually with a 460 4 spd auto gets 12 MPG EMPTY, LOADED, 75-80 MPH or 60 MPH with cruise on.
And I really feel like "MOST" 1/2-3/4 ton pickups today get lots better than that.
We all know a guy up in YUPPER country that has an iggle who rode with me up to Eastern KY to pick up a wrecked F250 extended cab w/utility bed and haul it home to Union City. 1st stop we made 1/2 way up there I topped of the fuel and he told me "ya know you'd get better mileage if you'd set your cruise about 5 under the speed limit."
So for the next 150 miles I did (@ 65 mph, just to prove him wrong) and after we loaded the trailer, I pulled into a station before we ever hit the interstate and topped off again.
Still 12 mpg. So on the way home even with that heavy load I set the cruise @ 75 and let 'er rip 1/2 way home we stopped and filled up again. Yup 12 mpg heavily loaded and roll'n on!
But again my truck in my opinion gets bad mileage. (several I have borrowed got 20-25)
;D BK ;D
Quote from: B_K on January 15, 2013, 11:52:37 PM
RJ, I think your mileage estimate might be low.
Bryce -It was low on purpose.
I suspect you do the same thing when you're figuring fuel stops for your charters. Better to err on the side of caution than be caught having to reprime alongside the road with a load of passengers on board, eh?
Same philosophy behind my number crunching.
;)
I've heard about nightmares with U Ship in the distant past, but maybe things are better now with the feedback system. Shippers would at times hold shipments hostage for more money. I have also heard of shipments where the shipper simply left the shipment in some random city and never completed the job.
RJ,
Great numbers. I agree with them. Fuel, with your numbers, could include food too. Either way is pretty accurate.
Rick, go for it! Drive down. Take a bit of a vacation. Just you, or take some of the family. Go and enjoy yourself. It will cost more, but who cares? It isn't my money ;D. Really though, you should just go for it. Drive down, and enjoy yourself. That sounds like the kind of trip I would have a lot of fun doing.
Cheers,
John
Rick,
The trailer will tow real nice behind your bus. In fact, you will hardly even notice it is back there. Could be a fun trip/vacation.
Just sayin' ...
Quote from: John316
RJ,
Rick, go for it! Drive down. Take a bit of a vacation. Just you, or take some of the family. Go and enjoy yourself. It will cost more, but who cares? It isn't my money ;D. Really though, you should just go for it. Drive down, and enjoy yourself. That sounds like the kind of trip I would have a lot of fun doing.
Cheers,
John
Quote from: Brian Diehl on January 16, 2013, 06:31:11 AM
Rick,
The trailer will tow real nice behind your bus. In fact, you will hardly even notice it is back there. Could be a fun trip/vacation.
Just sayin' ...
Rick they both have a great idea, an if you include the family on the trip, the wifey might be more receptive to the new engine deal.
Just say'n.....
;D BK ;D
An update... After speaking with the owner of the motor in Florida yesterday and finding out that the motor is still in the bus and it will be "extra" money to have it pulled I think I have a fair reason to consider not buying this because he was less than honest in his description of the item. Here's my thinking and I'm open to thoughts.
He agreed to throw in all the intake and exhaust tubing, air filter and housing and all the aux drive stuff, compressor,power steering pump and alternator, he had the transmission rebuilt for $7k 5000 miles ago, (I'm not sure if I can verify that) so those are the up sides. The down sides are, because he didn't state in the auction that buyer would be responsible for removing the engine or would have to pay a modest fee to have it removed I lost a little trust in the process. So now I'm questioning everything. if, and I stress the word, if, he was correct about the coolant coming out of the slobber tubes I'm thinking that basically every bearing in the thing would have to be replaced. That's cam bearings, blower bearings, everything... that would be very, very expensive. Well, my thinking is, if it was in Chicago and I could drive 400 or 500 miles, pick it up and take a year rebuilding it would still be cool, but when you drive, ship or fly down and drive back 3000 miles roundtrip at a cost at least $1500 and more likely $2500 it starts to get you thinking. Couple that with the real possibility that this block has spun one or more bearings effectively making it a boat anchor and I start saying, I have an out, the seller wasn't completely honest in his description, and with that in mind maybe I continue looking for a good turnkey type deal like this appeared to be from the surface. I could really use some input from my trusted bus nut friends. I can't have repeat of a couple years back where I take a bath on a motor, wifey would never let me forget it. Regarding the comments about turning this into a family vacation I think my wife frowns on bus related vacations. She's more of a Yellowstone girl than a quartzite girl. ;D ;D Which is a total character flaw in my book!
A spun bearing is not a deal killer new main caps and a 500 buck line bore cheaper than 500 if not a mobile service fwiw
good luck
Alright Clifford, my old friend I was hoping you'd chime in here, so, say it's your motor, what bearings are you changing if it was indeed coolant out of the slobber tubes? If it was rebuilt 7000 miles ago which is what the guy he bought it from told my seller are you doing liners, piston's etc because of the possibility of coolant contaminating rod bearings etc. Also, if this hydro'd are the rods bent.
We, as a group, never seem to tire of asking you questions do we? If you charged for advice we'd all be broke and you and Don would be very. very rich men LOL!
I thought line boring an 8v92 was like $4000 that is indeed a big difference
Still thinkin'...
RB
Rick,
Honestly, just so you know up front, I am clueless about the engine. I would love to rebuild one sometime just to learn, but I have zero knowledge on that.
If it was me in your shoes, I would want to make it work, just because I always love an excuse to go somewhere. Then, the practical side of me would kick in. This guy was less then straight with you about one thing. The nagging question is, what else? What if it wasn't rebuilt recently? What if the tranny didn't have the work done to it? What if you end up getting nothing but a 8v-92 block? Would it still be worth it to you?
I know these questions are probably already plaguing you, but I had to say them again. Sorry, but I do TRY (sometimes it works too ;D) to have a realistic/ worst case side of me.
Cheers,
John
Rick, if you by and it needs a crank I have a couple of std cranks 1 for the shipping
what's going on? The picture that I saw, showed the engine and transmission out of the vehicle on a stand on the floor. If it is still in the bus, move on...there will be more show up without so many issues down the road. Those pics didn't look like any rebuilding was done any time recently.
rick i am in central florida. was the engine from a charter co? i think jp charters. if it was let me know. thanks jim i have the 8v that has the fuel in the oil
Now I have changed bearings , rods & mains in a dozer that drank a 50/50 mix and spit the dip sitck out. The crank was good, it was still running. Yes the bearings pealed babbit.
BUT, If a 8-92 sucks water mix, is it head gasket???? cracked head should not leak that quick??
Did former owner check oil level, water, etc before running , (I check oil, water, belts an leaks) before each start.
To me, Its to far to put a socket on the crank to try to turn it ,or pull the air box covers, for a look.
Lots of ???'s
If only fuel in oil much different, to esier fix.
I am looking at a 8v71 in a MCI with fuel in the oil Geoff is working on not pretty 2 well done rods don't buy into fuel won't is not all that bad in oil
good luck
Rick,
Any update on your purchase? I was watching that one also and was tempted to bid.
Jason
I passed on it
Thanks for the update.
Quote from: RickB on January 20, 2013, 06:26:35 PM
I passed on it
Well, I came to this party late. I didn't know any of this discussion was going on but I did notice my name was mentioned in unfavorable terms ::) . What's up with that?
Rick already knows my feelings about changing his motor, but he's going to do it eventually, anyway. However, based on what I read here and my personal inexperience
and lack of education, it is my unqualified opinion that you did the right thing by passing on it.
Senor Gumpy,
A sandwich just isn't a sandwich without the great taste of Miracle Whip and a repower discussion just isn't a true discussion until the big dawn barks. Gumpster I miss you brother. Come visit soon.
I might call you alot of things but I would never call you uneducated. You are, without a doubt, one of the smartest guys in my phone book. Of course, my phone book only goes to the letter "G". Lol!
I thought you'd be proud of me on this one, stepping away from the ledge and all.
Say hi to your bride and know that I'm smiling after reading this post. God broke the mold on you my friend.
RB