I've been shopping for generators and was quite surprised to find the diesel generators in our size range are basically more expensive than a 25 to 50kw, unless you want air cooled.
I have a powerteck 8000 3 cylinder diesel that came with the bus. It only has 250 hours on it. I was told that it would cost about 10,000 new? Not sure though? I only paid 8,000 for the bus, so maybe I'm ahead after all :-\
I think Peenhead got the deal the generator in his bus a 8kw Wirco only has 2 hrs
Still shopping, but I did find a new 8kw kabota for 6500.
Quote from: luvrbus on December 16, 2014, 06:15:03 PM
I think Peenhead got the deal the generator in his bus a 8kw Wirco only has 2 hrs
Dang it Clifford, you could have at least let me feel good for a minute ;D
Quote from: Dawgs on December 16, 2014, 06:22:06 PM
Still shopping, but I did find a new 8kw kabota for 6500.
I sell you my powerteck generator (3 cylinder cat engine) for 15,000 and throw the bus in with it ;D
Quote from: harleyman_1000 on December 16, 2014, 06:26:16 PM
I sell you my powerteck generator (3 cylinder cat engine) for 15,000 and throw the bus in with it ;D
I'll give you the same deal for my Onan 12.5 KW with 600 Hours on it! ;D ;D ;D
TOM
I also have a friend also shopping for a nicer new 12-15 KWH water cooled 1800 rpm, (max) propane gen set for her off grid kinda remote PV farm homestead out here in SW OR USA. They want $MORE$ than for a nicer barely used smaller car! What happened to all the good RV part bargains?
Is there any way one could consider all of those standard and heavy duty SAE PTO take off points all over our Bus automatic and manual transmissions? Could not some Engineer type Bus Conversion person work up a large generator running off of such? Knowing what you doing helpful. HB of CJ (old coot)
It's not only the price of the generators, it's the price of the engine parts that are out of whack!
I'm rebuilding my Westerbeke 8kw generator. The prices are out of this world. I realize the name Westerbeke commands a price premium, but I've spent dozens of hours to cross part numbers with OEM or aftermarket Mitsubishi parts, and even those parts are stupid expensive.
Example: One piston ring set, $197! For ONE PISTON. The Westerbeke uses a 4 ring set, but Toro commercial mowers which use the same engine use a three ring set. Thank goodness Hastings make rings for it at $60 per set. It took me weeks to get the right rings.
Another Example: Oil Pan Gasket....... $121 from Westerbeke. I bought a complete gasket set for $200, but I did use a OEM head gasket. Cheap head gaskets suck, BTDT.
And Another Example: Water pump, $395 from Westerbeke. I bought a Chinese water pump for Cub Cadet tractor that uses the same engine, $85 minus $25 for the core charge! Is that Westerbeke water pump 6.5833333 times better than the Chinese one? LOL, well, maybe it is, but time will tell. The original one started leaking at 2200 hours, so I'm ahead of the game if I get more than 334 hours out of it!
Let's not even talk about injectors and injection pumps!!!
B&B has a 17KW and a 10KW I think for sale, in LV, lvmci...
I have a 12kv kubota powered gen that I need to sell. It has a water cooled manifold and has 2000 hrs on it. I am asking 3700 for it.
Mark,
I wish I had known you were rebuilding a Westerbeake 8KW. I have the entire engine from my Westerbeake 8KW setting in the shop. You can have it all for $375. Runs good. No smoke, burns no oil. The generator head end bearing came apart & ruined the head. I was going to put another head on it but I found a new genny. If you you want it, let me know.
TOM
Quote from: OneLapper on December 17, 2014, 08:21:38 PM
It's not only the price of the generators, it's the price of the engine parts that are out of whack!
I'm rebuilding my Westerbeke 8kw generator. The prices are out of this world. I realize the name Westerbeke commands a price premium, but I've spent dozens of hours to cross part numbers with OEM or aftermarket Mitsubishi parts, and even those parts are stupid expensive.
Example: One piston ring set, $197! For ONE PISTON. The Westerbeke uses a 4 ring set, but Toro commercial mowers which use the same engine use a three ring set. Thank goodness Hastings make rings for it at $60 per set. It took me weeks to get the right rings.
Another Example: Oil Pan Gasket....... $121 from Westerbeke. I bought a complete gasket set for $200, but I did use a OEM head gasket. Cheap head gaskets suck, BTDT.
And Another Example: Water pump, $395 from Westerbeke. I bought a Chinese water pump for Cub Cadet tractor that uses the same engine, $85 minus $25 for the core charge! Is that Westerbeke water pump 6.5833333 times better than the Chinese one? LOL, well, maybe it is, but time will tell. The original one started leaking at 2200 hours, so I'm ahead of the game if I get more than 334 hours out of it!
Let's not even talk about injectors and injection pumps!!!
I had a Universal 12.5 built in WI when Westerbeke bought that company the prices jumped by a 1000% it really ticks you off at Kobota their dealers won't even try and help with parts
Tom,
Sending you a PM.
Quote from: oldmansax on December 18, 2014, 06:19:18 AM
Mark,
I wish I had known you were rebuilding a Westerbeake 8KW. I have the entire engine from my Westerbeake 8KW setting in the shop. You can have it all for $375. Runs good. No smoke, burns no oil. The generator head end bearing came apart & ruined the head. I was going to put another head on it but I found a new genny. If you you want it, let me know.
TOM
Henry,
Lots of generators use the 8v71 for their power source.
If you could keep the bus engine at a steady speed with some way to increase its rpms when a large load comes on, it could be done. If you just kept the bus' engine steady and not have a huge, huge load thrown on it, it probably would not need the engine speed toyed with.
Regardless of what engine, the carbon build-up would be terrible. That is why generators need to be run at maximum load regularly to burn the carbon off.
Ros
Quote from: HB of CJ on December 17, 2014, 10:34:45 AM
I also have a friend also shopping for a nicer new 12-15 KWH water cooled 1800 rpm, (max) propane gen set for her off grid kinda remote PV farm homestead out here in SW OR USA. They want $MORE$ than for a nicer barely used smaller car! What happened to all the good RV part bargains?
Is there any way one could consider all of those standard and heavy duty SAE PTO take off points all over our Bus automatic and manual transmissions? Could not some Engineer type Bus Conversion person work up a large generator running off of such? Knowing what you doing helpful. HB of CJ (old coot)
Trying to use a 8V-71 to power a generator on a bus is begging for stupid non stop issues.
Have found the best bang for the buck is a Power Tech, perferable with a 4 cyl diesel engine, there are other very fine units. Get lucky dickering on price or build your own, buy engine, generator end, build frame with good rubber mounts or air bags, build controls, had one I put about 6,000 hr on no issues. I have been an Onan dealer for 40+ yrs and do not care for the current crop, comuterized :(, The old air cooled 4 cylinder water or air cooled are way past being desireable, weak link is oil pump due to poor installation. Won't bore ya'll.
Dave M
Generators with 8V71 engines have way bigger generator heads than anyone needs for a bus. Any savings by not buying a generator are probably going to go into engine repairs.
Ros has already brought up some of the issues that might happen with the engine.
I was thinking of some way to exploit the PTO openings on our various transmissions and using the Bus Conversion main engine to power a gen set running off the PTO ... but only while running down the road going someplace. Not as a stationary power source.
Sorry I did not make that clear. I though it went without saying. Opps! I suppose it could be either a generator or an alternator. Battery bank? Inverter? How the voltage and sine wave would or could be controlled would remain to be seen. HB of CJ (old coot)
But ... then what do you do when parked with no electrical hookups? Batteries? None? Dunno. Duhh. :)
It doesn't seem to make much sense to have two generator heads unless you get one really cheap. A typical generator head would not work properly with variable RPMs anyhow. There is the Auragen that produces 120 volt at variable RPMs, but I assume it is pretty expensive.
For most it would seem just running a standard generator while going down the road would be less expensive. If you travel tens of thousands of miles a year maybe it would work out. I do use my DN50 alternator to produce power using an inverter while on the road, but I already had the inverter anyhow so the only extra cost was a solenoid and less than 10 feet of 4/0 cable.
I saw entertainer bus that had a hydraulic driven generator the pump was driven off the main engine nice looking aluminum generator and a nice X3 Prevost
Onan and others had hydraulically DRIVEN generators. Their electronic and mechanical controls were something! Talk about a 'can of worms'......!
Still, it is far from practical to consider a bus engine to be hooked up to a generator head. Ultimately, the generator needs a steady 1800 rpms to produce 60 Hz. Other, less common generators run at 900 rpms or even 450. Depending upon how the fields and armatures are wound, determines how many times the flux field or stator fields are cut to produce whatever voltage that they are shooting for. There are a great many esoteric systems out there.
Everyone is familiar with the El Cheapo gasoline units that scream at 3600 rpms. They do work but for how long?
Here comes Mister oppositional that claims his has worked 24/7 since his great, great grandfather started it one time! SICK OF IT, don't want to hear it.
Ros
Quote from: luvrbus on December 18, 2014, 07:12:58 PM
I saw entertainer bus that had a hydraulic driven generator the pump was driven off the main engine nice looking aluminum generator and a nice X3 Prevost
A good brushless 4 pole alternator (to run at 1800rpm) with a Yanmar, Kubota, Caterpillar, John Deere, 3 or 4 cylinder Diesel will last thousands of hours. I use my 10kw Powertech 4 cylinder Kubota when going down the road to power the roof top airs-since they are my only A/C. Works well. Good Luck, TomC
I believe the only reason the industry went to 3600 RPM was to meet EPA requirements for pollution . The carbs are all now sealed and nonrebuildable, shame since most are now throw aways
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Quote from: TomC on December 18, 2014, 10:30:25 PM
A good brushless 4 pole alternator (to run at 1800rpm) with a Yanmar, Kubota, Caterpillar, John Deere, 3 or 4 cylinder Diesel will last thousands of hours. I use my 10kw Powertech 4 cylinder Kubota when going down the road to power the roof top airs-since they are my only A/C. Works well. Good Luck, TomC
My powerteck generator doesn't have a alternator on it. Do you have a picture of your alternator on your generator?
Clifford,
For some reason, I think Onan (now Cummins) dropped their hydraulically driven generators.
Do you know why?
Ros
Quote from: luvrbus on December 18, 2014, 07:12:58 PM
I saw entertainer bus that had a hydraulic driven generator the pump was driven off the main engine nice looking aluminum generator and a nice X3 Prevost