I am considering buying a 2003 Gillig transit bus to convert to a motorhome to use to drive around the US with my young family.
It's a low floor model and I love the tall ceiling.
It has 68,000 miles on the chassis, which, according to the seller, is so low because the school that previously owned it only used it in their parking lot to shuttle students.
The school repowered it in 2012 to comply with California's CARB laws, so presumably the bus now requires DEF and has a particulate filter to maintain.
The bus looks pristine in the pictures, and it's for sale in California so I will be surprised if there is rust.
My understanding is that the emissions equipment requires frequent freeway travel to regenerate the particulate filter, so if this never got to speeds above parking lot speeds, there might be trouble.
But I don't want to just immediately rule out this bus. The bus looks so close to brand new I am enchanted.
If all goes badly with the modern engine, could I just sell the engine and repower the bus with an original engine from a 2003 era Gillig? How much might that cost for a shop to do that? $20K $25K?
If I keep the new engine, will shops know what to do with a repowered coach? I presume yes, since repowers do happen due to CARB.
According to the seller, the school sold all their diesel busses and bought all electric busses.
He said the mechanic he talked to wanted to keep their diesels.
This will be my third bus. First was a 1967 MCI 5a I drove across the US. The second was a 1994 TMC "RTS" transit. That has a Series 50 I found mechanics refused to work on.
The Gillig repower is a Cummins, sorry the ad doesn't say which Cummins. I will follow up here when I find out.
Thanks,
Kevin
From the possible money you are willing to dump into this in the future, better look elsewhere. Many city transits have high ceilings. That bus could be a nightmare since it is a retrofit. What if the regen unit needs replaced.where do you get the parts? How do you diagnose electrical problems? No updated wiring diagrams. This is just the first that comes to mind. I would pass.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/496896622497129/?hoisted=false&ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A900b49e7-f199-41f4-862c-1d984a378518
Here is the Facebook link to the bus.
Since you are in California you have to hope that anything you get as an RV will comply with the state. A lot of the commercial buses are being dumped at low prices because they are not in compliance, but you might be okay with it as an RV. I would recommend considering highway coaches as they will have high enough ceilings, but also handy storage bays underneath. The transits and school buses lack storage space, and as Chessie noted, putting a lot of money into this bus might not be wise. The only transit that I ever saw that had a good appearance was the RTS, but it did not have storage space of any note either.
I kind of doubt that the school district provided couches for the students. The second owner is selling for a reason that you need to find out about. Maybe it is geared low and has a low top speed, etc.
I had a '68 GMC transit bus for many years and we used it for many outings over those years. It is nowhere near this bus by way of style or looks, but nevertheless it was a transit bus with no storage bays at all. It was always a challenge to install holding tanks, generator, plumbing, etc., etc., etc. Even with having beat many of those challenges, it was never ideal. I ended up dumping it and eventually got a bus with bays, and I haven't look back since.
Yeah but he said he had an MCI 5a, wouldn't that have had bays? So I think he knows what he's getting into there. Personally I'd never even consider a Transit bus but I do have to admit the low floor does hold a certain attraction. For me not enough to outweigh having bays downstairs but maybe he has different priorities.
I'd look for a mid 90's DL3 but if Cali is going to outlaw those for private use and I lived there I'd have to be thinking about other options.
Jim
Yes low floors have high ceilings, but then that makes for a difficult conversion-where do you put the tanks, generator, etc?
I had an AMGeneral 10240B transit which is similar to a GMC new look. Under my back bed I had the 130gal water tank, 2-10gal elec water heaters, 2 water pumps, cold and hot manifolds-this kept the fresh water system above the floor. Then underneath I had a 85gal gray tank, 45gal black tank, 20gal propane, 130gal fuel tank, 2-8D deep cycle batteries and a 22h x 99w x 66L storage compartment. Next to the front driver's seat like a front engine was the 10kw Diesel Generator.
I HIGHLY recommend you stay away from any engine after 2002. Good Luck, TomC