Due to recent posts (mine included ),what should be the minimum, nice to have and bullet proof kit to always have, for a busnut? I'll take the first stab:
-wire and splicing tools / connectors
- jb weld
- hose clamps in various sizes
- best rtv silicone money buys
- assortment of bolts and nuts
- all different oil products (especially the hard to find ones)
- jumper cables
- coolant and water
- proper tool set (wrenches and large socket set)
- chains to pull your self, or to have schoolie pull you out)
- shovel
- big hammer
- pry bar, big one for tiny guys like me
- drill
- self tapping screws
- drill and bits
- normal set of pliers
- 6 pack of beer
- head light
- reflective vest
- cones or flares or triangles to warn traffic
- duct tape
- Wd-40
- ladder, for shorties like me
- funnel set
- roll of toilet paper
- Multimeter
- your bus's PDF manuals
- spare belts
- rags
- cat litter, 'cause that thing will spill stuff
- spare relays
- number to call for tire swap. ( I've done this several times at a shop, would never attempt roadside.
- internet, especially busconversions.com
Bullet proof ?
New Prevo with onboard mechanic and spare part semi tailing you...
Anybody care to add to the list ?
Sami
There is no one answer BF. It all depends on the year, make and model of your bus and whether it has been maintained properly. I would say your list is pretty expensive extensive but may be more than you need if your bus is in good mechanical condition. I have traveled thousands of miles in my buses over the years and never had a serious breakdown, knock on wood. The worse that has happened to me is running out of fuel 3 miles from my destination. I thought I could make it and probably could have had it not been uphill. But within an hour I got more fuel and was back on the road.
Also if you have a Toad, it makes it easier to run and chase down parts and supplies if you need them depending where you break down. And you seldom break down driving into a truck stop. >:(
It also depends if you have Roadside Assistance. I just had Good Sams come out to my place yesterday to replace a leaky valve stem. So I didn't need any tools for that and you can run a lot of miles with a small air leak. But a blowout in the middle of no-where with no cell phone service is a different story.
If you have been subscribing to Bus Conversion Magazine you know that we run a series called Road Fix. Some folks are pretty ingenious when making repairs on the side of the road to allow them them to limp home or at least to a qualified repair shop. One of these Road Fix articles could pay for a lifetime subscription to BCM compared to having a $120 mechanic bring the service truck out to get you going again.
I agree on almost everything.
But what in the world is the toilet paper for? That should already be on board and not something extra.
And skip the beer. Stay sharp, get fixed quick, and get back on the road.
The first thing is a trailer so you have someplace to put everything everyone is going to recommend you bring. The second thing is a good credit card.
Jeff
4501-847 Scenicruiser
Sierra Vista, Az
We carry a good spare tire & are able to do an on the road change with that being said and having a conventional rig & transmission, the only other thing we've ever needed above the things we already carry for emergency repairs is a toad with all four on the ground capable of pushing the bus - seriously. In our 37+ years of ownership it's bailed us out a dozen times.
Extra set of fuel filters. Your beer won't be there when you need it because you forgot to replenish it. Bottle jack, low profile for GM. Some blocking to put under jack. PB blaster. Accurate tire gauge. Air hose long enough to reach further est tire from air tap on coach. Your water supply is already in coach. Two gallons of oil. Coveralls and a dozen pairs of blue gloves. Zip ties, utility knife with spare blades. Razor blade scraper with spare blades. Dentist pliers ( large channel locks 16 inch). Adapters for different plug ins at campsite. Spare valve cores and caps. Waterless hand cleaner with pumice. Roll or two of paper towells Small stool to sit on. Spare rear lamp bulbs. Good bright led flashlight. Two quart or gallon of diesel fuel. Funnel or two of appropriate sizes for anticipated needs. Small roll of tying wire.
I have friends whose only tool is a cell phone.
As for me, I carry all of my favorite tools - including enough to change a tire.
When something breaks that is a showstopper - I usually consider buying an extra -- if it is small enough, I'll carry the spare with me.
I also carry DOT air lines and a varied assortment of fittings.
However, when we are traveling, our main plan is to be on vacation - NOT perform maintenance. . . . So I have enough to fix the little things, but anything major & I'll have to either tow it home or have someone local repair it.
But, you know what they say about the plans of mice & men . . . .
My suggestion is to take whatever you need to be able to enjoy using your coach.
Quote from: John316 on November 03, 2016, 04:58:32 PM
I agree on almost everything.
But what in the world is the toilet paper for? That should already be on board and not something extra.
And skip the beer. Stay sharp, get fixed quick, and get back on the road.
John 316 I never saw anybody carry a spare fan before what was that for ??? I open the box and there was a new fan with the spare parts lol you guys had a supply of spare parts you needed nothing
What about a spare wife? Anybody have one of those?
A man does not have to be a bigamist to have 1 wife too many . . . . .
Just saying . . .
Regardless of what you HAVE,,,,,,,it WON'T BE WHAT YOU NEED..>>>Dan
Shop compressor that can be ties into the air system if needed or to air up without running your engine in a campsite.
50 feet or 12 and 14 DC wire as well as connectors. 3 different thicknesses of Gasket material sheets. Lock-tite red.
Window cleaner as well as long handled cleaner brush/squeegee. Extra Muffler Bearings just in-case you lose one. ;D
Dave5Cs
Most break downs are on the road and tow is needed there is not much one can do on the side of a road Coachnet is your best friend owning a bus with a DDEC engine
Seriously Sami, buy coachnet or sams club emergency towing. Or even State Farm. I pay a small handful of dollars a month for free emergency towing. My $1300 tow was free
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
$130.00 a year Aprox Coach.net
Oh, and anti-seize, and pint of lacquer thinner. Small hammer for tapping out gaskets. Couple spare axle flange gaskets. Spare plug for Stemco oil cap. Definitely a good spare WITH air. Spare lug nut or l and r. Of course this depends on individual talents. Some only need a good credit card.
I carry very little if you do the maintenance as you should not much is needed on the road you cannot stop and buy at a parts store barring a major breakdown JMO ,in all the years we been on the road a set of wiper blades,a flasher and alternator belts is all I ever needed
I just carry a normal tool set, but I bring the medium and big socket sets. I bring my wheel changing kit, with the jacks, the big breaker bar and the torque wrench, but they live in a bus bay anyway. I bring DC wiring terminals and a crimper. I bring a car so I can drive to a NAPA store if I need anything else.
Brian
LOL I have friends with Prevost they all have nice shinny Snap/On tool boxes and tools set in the bays and all of them will find a Prevost Service center to change a friggn fuse.Jon is the exception he will get his hands dirty
Some of the largest maintenance repairs we've done in the last four decades with the same coach were performed (at least started) on-the-roadside. It's not an issue of "maintenance" but an evolution of "keeping an antique bus running", one that has exceeded all its engineering dreams come true. Younger than I but owning coaches that are going on 70 years roadworthy (a little older than ours) are monkeys that perform more work on others (just to keep them away from the scrappers) than they do on there own. Other than the present engine overhaul that we are performing, some of the largest projects we're performed...on-the-road. Probably because that's where the bus has spent most of it's time - right where it was built to be... In 2011 we completed our climate controlled bus barn with most of the comforts of home (which it sits next to - back acre). So as we evolve through retirement every once & awhile, if we're lucky, it breaks down on the pit, in the barn, next to the house. But no mater where it breaks down, we always enjoy getting it back up & running cause we (it) needs to keep on keeping on...
It's the years of neglect on maintenance for old buses that causes a lot of problems that could have been prevented.How many time have you read here and on other boards where a owner has rolled a new set of bearing into a old 2 stroke,it doesn't happen they run it till it croaks people never change anything if it runs ;D
Quote from: luvrbus on November 03, 2016, 06:51:23 PM
John 316 I never saw anybody carry a spare fan before what was that for ??? I open the box and there was a new fan with the spare parts lol you guys had a supply of spare parts you needed nothing
Cliff. I forget why we had that. I think we lost a fan in NM sometime. We didn't normally carry that with us, but since we didn't have the bus anymore, no use for that fan.
We carried a crazy amount of tools. I could fix almost anything on the side of the road. However, the stress of being on a schedule, and fix breakdowns as quickly as possible, was no fun at all. I do not miss the bus at all ;D
I have plenty of parts thanks to you and Steve ;D 2 and 3 of the same parts
Quote from: luvrbus on November 04, 2016, 06:34:49 AM
It's the years of neglect on maintenance for old buses that causes a lot of problems that could have been prevented.How many time have you read here and on other boards where a owner has rolled a new set of bearing into a old 2 stroke,it doesn't happen they run it till it croaks people never change anything if it runs ;D
It's that "don't fix it if it's not broke" mentality that guides many people. Sometimes, it's because when you do fix something that might be a problem later, you stir up other problems, or discover other things on their last leg. Other times, it's because people are lazy and/or cheap. When I had a trucking company, I tended to over-maintain to prevent as many problems as possible, but I was not as profitable as other outfits that ran them until they died, and then pulled out a spare old truck to replace it.
ya why rebuild it when you have time at your place for 10 k when you can do it at the side of the road then dragged to a strange shop and spend 40 k to do the same thing ?
visa card , coach net and keep it up so it will not break down
dave
After 21 years and 1.3 million miles truck driving, I would NEVER change a tire myself. It is too dangerous with too many things that can go wrong. Even "professionals" have lost their life changing tires. I do not carry a spare (no place for it).
Best tool is credit cards with at least $20,000 credit line. Good Luck, TomC
I don't know what others do, but I would prefer to replace something at my convenience before it actually breaks. I had a high-pressure hydraulic hose blow out soon after I bought the bus, so I also replaced the other hose that looked OK (the hose that blew looked OK as well). My hydraulic / PS pump has not been working well, so I'm replacing it with a brand-new Webster KB, not cheap, but what would I do if it failed completely on the road? When I took the old pump off I saw that its drive gear and coupler on the back of the camshaft were also worn, so I'm replacing them now - they would probably last another 100,000 miles or more, but why risk it? As part of my cooling system upgrade I've changed out lots of things that were still working, but if I'm getting down and dirty under the bus I'll change anything that's even slightly suspect or old-looking. If I had the opportunity to change something that was worn but not yet broken, but I did not do so, I would always have that niggling thought at the back of my mind while driving.
Now that I've essentially replaced the entire cooling system, I'm much less intimidated now to attempt other big jobs. If I can single-handedly do everything I've done so far in an RV storage yard with a modicum of simple hand tools and a smattering of common sense, then I feel comfortable replacing the bearings in the future - they're at 277,000 miles now, and oil pressure is still OK, but they should be done soon. I just want everything to work right, ideally as well as the day it left the factory 26 years ago, but that's not always going to happen!
I was amused to see that almost every tool and spare part mentioned in all these posts are already in my bus! Because I'm working on it where I store it, I have to keep everything I need in it, so that's a good thing if I ever have a problem on the road. I just don't have the beer!
John
The beer never lasts...
I think it's not necessarily the if it ain't broken attitude,but like with me, I just don't know all the preventive maintenance items there are. One of the other threads mentioned alternator bearings? I can keep up with oils and liquids, but some other items are a bit more harder to figure out. There are just so many items to consider, ...
Sami
Do not forget muffler bearings probably the most need of all.
uncle ned
Muffler bearings, always a spare with me, as well as piston return springs and compression powder.
;D
luvrbus I must be the exception. I put new rod and main bearings.in my 2 stroke. along with new pressure valves. ;D
And Johnson rods!
Zip ties big and small. HF cheap. ;D
Yep, zip ties. Just not cheap (hf) ones as they don't tolerate cold weather. After the hf zip ties broke I dragged my light bar behind my toad during a snow storm in Utah a while back. I probably dragged it 50 miles or so before I spotted it winking and blinking like a crazed slaloms skier. When I tried to refit the light bar with more hf zip ties they too snapped. I finally tied the light bar on with strips of rags to get home.
Jack