Retiring 4104 - Which parts to save?

[TedsBUSted]

Moderator - If this post seems violate rules, feel free to edit or delete as required. It's not my intent to abuse the forum.

Greatings Bus Folk,

Thanks for inviting me and thanks for all the efforts going on in the background here.

Sorry to start off by asking a favor, however, through my own heavy truck and coach experiences I'll try my best to repay.

Anyway, I'm sending off some PD-4104s on their final run to the home terminal in the sky, and am trying to decide which parts should be saved.

First off -  At this time I don't have anything for sale and will not circumvent our host's  rules by selling through contacts made here. If I decide to sell anything, I will do so through the appropriate section. Thus I am not posting any contact information and will not consider any offers. At this time the parts are not being offered anywhere else either. I hope that makes my intentions clear.

Anyway, before the coaches depart I would like to be sure that I'm not wasting any components that a fellow PD-4104 owner may have near-future  needs for. I understand that almost anything may eventually find a need, if saved long enough, but sorry to say, that's not practical in this situation.

These are rough old rust-belt coaches with stripped interiors. Abandoned conversion projects. Manual steering, no AC, generators not alternators, standard trans... you've seen it all before.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions of 4104 parts which would be likely to quickly find new homes. If it's practical, I'll save the parts and list them in the classified section in the future.

Again, I want to be clear that I will not recognize or make any sales attempts through this thread. My intention is strictly to have an informational discussion, for the purpose of identifying 4104 parts which have gone past being expendable and would warrant the effort of saving them.

Thanks much in advance

[Len Silva]

Any curved glass that is in good shape, particularly the three piece rear window.  Also, any of the original marker and clearance lights.

[rampeyboy]

Understanding that you are not offering anything, I can tell you my future needs for my Scenic, I am going to need mirrors, and mirror brackets. Seems that mirrors would be good to save because duplicating the mount from scratch would be difficult, and I can see them getting damaged since they stick out in the breeze! Aftermarket mirrors to me on a classic bus would not look right!

Boyce

[kyle4501]

I'll second Boyce on the mirrors.

I'll also suggest any & all stock trim that is mostly there - doesn't need to be perfect. . . some will work on a Scenicruiser, so you'll have a chance to make someone happy. 

Any glass light lens & associated hardware.
The fluted trim between the windows.
The rear emergency exit with the D windows - since you are scrapping the bus, cut the whole section out complete.
Entry door
any bay door that still resembles a bay door - new outside skins can be bought new, but the formed back is old parts only.
Any unbroken glass
Anything related to DESTINATION SIGNs & associated hardware
Alum front & rear bumpers - it's easier to straighten a bent one than to start from scratch.

[Charley Davidson]

I'm looking for the rear portion of the fluted aluminum skin and structure behind it from side door to side door plus enough matching straight stuff for my rat rod shop truck bed (doesn't need to be from your model) about any old aluminum bus will do.

[RnMAdventures]

I don't need anything, but when I had a 4104 there were some rare parts. The passenger side front marker light and lense... for that matter all of them. The front right was very rare.

[artvonne]

  Rick4104  needs parking brake/johnson bar parts.

[TedsBUSted]

Thanks for the input.

With unit one, about twelve man-hours has saved a lot of components, however, with less than friendly treatment to the adjoining pieces. Mirrors, center clearance lamp assemblies, corner clearance lamps...saved, but mostly all in rough condition.

Engine was dropped by cutting cradle supports. Axles dropped with cuts through radius  arms and bags. Baggage door hinges sliced. Even the long bundle of copper tubes located in the center were extracted with a brutal heavy pull.

We'll see about a few more saves tomorrow but the interior looked  too much like a tinder box to start any cutting late in the day.

Some of the trim panels between the windows look good, but the screws are such a corroded painted-over mess that it'd take a heavy interior strip to access barrel nuts (I'm guessing) from the back.

I wonder if anyone has ever worn out the steering's bevel gear box located at the base of the column?

Well, I'll thin it down a little more, now including the parking brake control which I was going to pass up, and hopefully in the future all these parts will help someone out.

Thanks again

[WEC4104]

To the various glass components, I would add/include the lenses for the fog lamps behind the front bumper.  Also, I have heard that the cover for one of the thermostats is easy to crack and hard to find. If the dash labels for the Telltale lights are in good condition, i'd snag them

[papatony]

Ted where are you located?

[John316]

Ted where are you located?

First off -  At this time I don't have anything for sale and will not circumvent our host's  rules by selling through contacts made here. If I decide to sell anything, I will do so through the appropriate section. Thus I am not posting any contact information and will not consider any offers. At this time the parts are not being offered anywhere else either. I hope that makes my intentions clear.

[kyle4501]

Yeah, I read that. But posting a geographical location ain't exactly contact information, More like a planning tool.

I can't see any problem with anyone putting out feelers to see what the market interest is. Location is a very important piece of information that I need before I can determine what my intrest level is. If he is local, I could assist in part removal. I ain't driving 2000+ miles for a rear emergency exit door, but 200 miles is doable!

I support this board & will continue to do so.

If necessary, the moderators will move the relevant posts to the spare parts section.

I think it is very ON TOPIC & appropriate to post where vintage buses are being scrapped & to poll what parts are desired.

[artvonne]

I think it is very ON TOPIC & appropriate to post where vintage buses are being scrapped & to poll what parts are desired.

  I agree. Even though I dont own a Bus (yet), and will likely never own a 4104, having scrapped over a dozen Buses I can appreciate the need for unique parts and pieces off an old Bus, and a 4104 is not only old, its almost an antique.

  And having been in that scrap business, y'all need to make the work to save this stuff worth the mans while. If its not worth more than scrap price, its not worth the effort to be careful and sit on it waiting to sell it. I had people asking for 3751 parts that didnt even want to pay what is was worth melted down. Get real folks. Its a lot harder and more time consuming to carefully take a Bus apart than it is to cut it up and hack it apart and throw the chunks in a melting pot.

[Len Silva]

There are some folks tracking these old buses on various websites.  It might be nice if you could post the serial numbers of those buses going to scrap.

[Barn Owl]

It might be nice if you could post the serial numbers of those buses going to scrap.

Cut out and save the serial number from the frame and save the build plate at the steps.