As some of you know I bought a bus that was originally converted back in the 80's, and has seen many owners and many changes to all the systems. The last owner that I bought it from, barely told me anything, and some of which he said wasn't true :o I have been so overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done, that I wasn't even attempting to do anything.
I am now starting to work on the bus, and running into many things that I don't understand, and was wondering if I could ask some ongoing questions, as I trudge the road to happy destiny ::)
Scott, that is what the boards are all about dude. I take away as much as I can and try to give back when I know something or think I do and then Clifford, RJ, Ed, Uncle Ned, Don, BK, etc. will tell me to learn some more because I am not there yet. I hang my head and go out and look at what they were telling me and sure enough I was wrong or looking in the wrong place.
For instance did you know that if you just tap into a 24 volt system with a 12 volt system and no Vanner ( isolator etc.) and charge at both end of the bank you will lose 2 batteries in a year or less. I do now( don't ask me how I know).
Sometimes it helps to just go out and sit and have coffee in it or go for a ride!...
It can get pretty costly at times but if you ask a lot of questions, it gives the older guys something to do too besides trying to jack their buses up high enough to get their walkers under them, it's a good day. ;D
Dave
Quote from: Dave5Cs on July 14, 2014, 09:33:27 AM
Ask a lot of questions, it gives the older guys something to do besides trying to jack their buses up high enough to get their walkers under them....
That's not true, Dave. My walker will fold!
Scott, what are you into? I'm sure that someone here can help. We've all been overwhelmed at times.
Jim in NC
I try and help Scott the lad has a long learning curve with that bus a mixture of about everything Mike K had laying around 4104,4106 , MCI parts and no telling what else, one has to see that bus to help Scott but he will get it done with little help from all here
good luck
Quote from: luvrbus on July 14, 2014, 10:05:04 AM
I try and help Scott the lad has a long learning curve with that bus a mixture of about everything Mike K had laying around 4104,4106 , MCI parts and no telling what else, one has to see that bus to help Scott but he will get it done with little help from all here
good luck
Hmmm, see I just learned something new about Scott's bus I didn't already know!
I knew it had been converted to a T-drive from a V-drive but not much else.
"that bus a mixture of about everything
Mike K had laying around 4104,4106 , MCI parts and no telling what else"
Says a LOT about it! It tells me "all bets are off!"
But like Clifford said with time, patience, more time, help from someone w/patience, & $ it will work out!
;D BK ;D
Hmmm what am I working on...... EVERYTHNG :o LOL Everything I look at makes me scratch my head. For example I have 2 separate battery banks that are not connected together one was for a 24 volt inverter, but had a 24 amp 12 volt solar controller/charger to charge it,and the other battery bank was for the 12 volt stuff in the bus, and has no way of charging it. The generator is a brand new generator that starts and runs off the start batteries, and has to have the ignition switch on in the engine compartment or it will die . The generator also does not charge the start batteries, and will run them dead if left running without the bus running. This is my next project, which I will be starting as soon as I finishing fixing the copper pipes which froze and broke over the winter, guess I didn't get all the water out of them :-X
Scott.
You have a Mike K bus? Whee. I feel for you, buddy. You just have to keep on pushing and trying. You will get it someday.
Quote from: luvrbus on July 14, 2014, 10:05:04 AM
I try and help Scott the lad has a long learning curve with that bus a mixture of about everything Mike K had laying around 4104,4106 , MCI parts and no telling what else, one has to see that bus to help Scott but he will get it done with little help from all here
good luck
I spoke with Mike, and he said he bought the bus already converted from a movie producer in north Hollywood? I also have some of the original paperwork on the bus, and it says the bus was converted June 14, 1984, by a company called Motor Coach Enterprises, out of Oregon. The paperwork also say it had a brand new motor and transmission (644 tranny ) and that it has a Freight line rear end in it.
Quote from: harleyman_1000 on July 14, 2014, 02:07:04 PM
"I spoke with Mike, and he said" he bought the bus already converted from a movie producer in north Hollywood? I also have some of the original paperwork on the bus, and it says the bus was converted June 14, 1984, by a company called Motor Coach Enterprises, out of Oregon. The paperwork also say it had a brand new motor and transmission (644 tranny ) and that it has a Freight line rear end in it.
All bets are off! (but we still love ya and will help ya anyway we can!)
;D BK ;D
The T drive is the least of your worries ::) I saw that bus all the time in Mikes shop I think he installed the steering or was working on it, you will get it done just have patience. There is another 4106 or 4104 floating around that has a T drive with a Cummins or series 50 I saw it last year at Quartzsite they guy had just bought it
Ok I feel a little better I got something accomplished. I ran some new plumbing to the extra pump motor that was for the misters and tapped into the water line coming out of the fresh water tank. But when doing so I noticed the grey and black(I have one tank for both) tank is rusted out all the way through it where the toilet dumps into it, and rusting through about halfway up the side >:(
Can anyone give me the names and numbers of the rv surplus places in Indiana or a place where I can get one made?
All TV people know, never trust a producer!...
Quote from: lvmci on July 14, 2014, 04:37:56 PM
All TV people know, never trust a producer!...
Ain't that the truth! Scott to bad you did not come thru Vegas on your way back east, we could have probably helped you sort this stuff out.
measurements of your tank? Have a local guy but he only makes about 4 sizes that will fit in our buses.
Maybe a trip to Vegas is in order ;D
Quote from: robertglines1 on July 14, 2014, 06:23:08 PM
measurements of your tank? Have a local guy but he only makes about 4 sizes that will fit in our buses.
15 1/4 " tall 28 1/4" wide 65" long that is as long and as wide that I can fit, but I can go about 5 or 6" taller. I am thinking putting in a black and a grey tank in that space might be better.
Scott that is roughly 118 gallon tank. If you use that for your Grey then make your black about 60-65 and your Fresh about 118-120
Don't feel bad Scott Our 1st bus was a day away from being bought from MK also and I backed out. ;D
Dave
Quote from: Dave5Cs on July 14, 2014, 07:21:41 PM
Scott that is roughly 118 gallon tank. If you use that for your Grey then make your black about 60-65 and your Fresh about 118-120
Don't feel bad Scott Or 1st bus was a day away from being bought from MK also and I backed out. ;D
Dave
I only have space for another tank that would be about 5 or 6" tall 65" long, and it could be about 35" wide. How big of a black tank would that be?
Scott - don't get discouraged. Its like eating an elephant....one little bite at a time. Patience is key.
-Sean
Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org (http://www.herdofturtles.org)
Scott just put the numbers in and it will tell you.
http://www.watertanks.com/calc.asp (http://www.watertanks.com/calc.asp)
Width X Height X Length divide by 231 = Capacity ;)
Oh Van so your one of those smart math type guys? I had someone ask me how much 9 + 2 was and I was trying to figure out how I could get another finger sewed on!... ::)
Dave
Quote from: Seangie on July 14, 2014, 10:05:49 PM
Scott - don't get discouraged. Its like eating an elephant....one little bite at a time. Patience is key.
-Sean
Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org (http://www.herdofturtles.org)
Hmmmm I think my jaw is going to be very sore from all the chewing
Quote from: harleyman_1000 on July 15, 2014, 07:10:27 AM
Hmmmm I think my jaw is going to be very sore from all the chewing
:o ::) ;D
Does anyone know the names of the 2 rv surplus places in Indiana?
How dow you stop filling up the black tank, Depends!
A bunch of RV supplies in Elkhart from what I hear?
Quote from: harleyman_1000 on July 14, 2014, 09:01:37 PM
I only have space for another tank that would be about 5 or 6" tall 65" long, and it could be about 35" wide. How big of a black tank would that be?
Scott, one cubic foot is almost exactly 7.5 gallons. (if you're working in inches, 1) multiply your L X W X height measurements, 2) then 12 X 12 X 12, and 3) divide the results of 1) by the results of 2). That will give you the cu/feet, multiply that by 7.5 and you'll get gallons.
But I'd be really afraid to have a 5-6" tall black tank. You want to get a good flush through a black tank when you're dumping (the tank, that is) and I'd be afraid that it would be hard to clean out a tank that thin. All it would take is a few dumps with deposits of "stuff" in there, and you'd have built up to a mess that would be hard to deal with.
But maybe others have suggestions on that. (One thing that people have tried with good success is to empty their grey tanks through their black tanks after most of the contents of black have been dumped.)
HTH, B Henderson coastal NC
Maybe I'm getting old, but my Plumbing code dictates 7.48 gallon per Cubic foot. I think I read a post that said 14 Ga.
LOL times have changed Mikey it was always 7.48 gals per cubic ft to me also and I don't even have the book ::)
Quote from: luvrbus on July 16, 2014, 09:46:06 AMLOL times have changed Mikey it was always 7.48 gals per cubic ft to me also and I don't even have the book ::)
Yeah, my old brain got it switched with stoichiometry or something. I edited it. Duhh, I guess Dah Gummint's Death Panels will be coming for me soon ...
re places to buy in Elkhart, Technomadia.com has detailed blog posting on their successful experience with some surplus dealers there recently.
Also, some sell on ebay. Look up the item(s) you want and the listing will tell you where they are located under the ships from bit. I purchased some items from ebay sellers in the Elkhart area a few years ago, don't recall names now.
edward
Thanks I found the names of some surplus place by doing a search here. Now yesterday I checked my black and grey tank a little closer where it was dribbling last year. I scraped and wire brushed and 6" pieces fell total into the tank(its metal) so much for having it welded ;D I now have a new problem. A few days ago while working on the bus And trying to get the satellite dish to work( it didn't work so I moved onto something else) The batteries ran dead because at some point the dish started trying to find a satellite and continued spinning until the batteries went dead. I have charged them both up but now the engine won't even try and start. When I turn the 2 switches on in the rear to start it I still hear the click and when I turn the prime switch on it still runs, but when I hit the start button, nothing not even a click? Any ideas? Could there be a reset somewhere? I had the batteries replaced on the way home from buying it last July. I tried to have the tire shop jump it with there jumper, but it didn't work. after some calls to some of you , it was suggested the starter was bad. So I called a local guy that rebuilt starters. He checked it out, and said the starter was good and said one of the batteries was bad, so I replaced them both. The guy installed them and the bus didn't start then he went to the battery compartment and did something and it started right up. I'm wondering if there is something you guys would have heard of that could be causing this? One other thing that happened the day before the batteries went dead(not sure if this could be a clue) was the engine was running and when I turned the switch to turn it off it kept running then started running rough and died. It started and turned on and off several times after it so I moved on to what I was working on. Sorry about this babbling, but I wanted to try and tell you everything incase some of this mattered.