Anyone keep a spare engine in their garage ready to be shipped to themselves?

[artvonne]

  Most of the failures ive read about here were with unknown engines, usually something recently bought and trying to get home. Or a first trip out after converting something with no history, and/or no maintenance. Its a recipe for disaster.

  But surprisingly, most of those failures were not so extreme you couldnt have nursed it down the road a ways with some jerry rigging. The 71 series seems more robust in that regard, the 92 with wet liners, once they start leaking it looks like your done. But even that is rare and generally, and again, its older stuff with no records.

  I think in many cases its too easy to freak out and find yourself at a shop far from home, and the next thing your talked into a big expensive job you didnt plan for. Logic suggests it would be wise to find a place to park and talk about it here first, before making any decisions.

[TedsBUSted]

. . .  But surprisingly, most of those failures were not so extreme you couldnt have nursed it down the road a ways with some jerry rigging. The 71 series seems more robust in that regard, the 92 with wet liners, once they start leaking it looks like your done. But even that is rare and generally, and again, its older stuff with no records. . . .

Even though he's probably ignoring me and thus won't see this, I have to agree with artvonne.  

I've seen some terribly sick puppies crawl all the way home. Sometimes with practically a steady IV feed of oil or water to keep 'em alive, but they made it, and then the  trucks were lifetime rust-proofed to boot.  

With most engine troubles, it seems like you can always scratch around and come up with some workable solution. Especially the same person who's able to pull-off buying a spare bus, dismantling it, and having parts on the ready for shipping.

Although a spare diff or trans or drop, when one shows up at the right price, probably isn't a bad investment. With some driveline stuff, if you have to "buy it now" you can really be on the hook. And of course driveline may be more practical to store, ship and field install than an engine too.  So if I was going to spend parts "insurance" money, driveline is probably where I'd invest it.

Ted

[luvrbus]

Trying to keep a engine in reserve to ship if not specific for your model bus would be a nightmare Don I don't think would touch that.

So many different configurations for bus engines buy the time you changed everything over you could have yours out and rebuilt ask Brian lol  
We do have a small network for Eagles parts drop boxes rear gear and etc but no engines to ship no 2 engines are the same in that group I can tell you, raise the skirt on one of those old girls no telling what you find could be a 650 hp series 60  to a 160hp 6v53 lol

If engine failure happens it happens not a thing you can do about it could happen in your driveway or 5000 miles from home,just control what you can in your life let part you have no control over slide has worked for me lol   

good luck

[Busted Knuckle]

Trying to keep a engine in reserve to ship if not specific for your model bus would be a nightmare Don I don't think would touch that.

So many different configurations for bus engines buy the time you changed everything over you could have yours out and rebuilt ask Brian lol  
We do have a small network for Eagles parts drop boxes rear gear and etc but no engines to ship no 2 engines are the same in that group I can tell you, raise the skirt on one of those old girls no telling what you find could be a 650 hp series 60  to a 160hp 6v53 lol  

good luck

Or a BIG OL' YELLA CAT!
  BK 

[luvrbus]

 BK our pal Sonnie has a small kitty now, Mel has a C15 in his Eagle big kitty there lol

good luck

[white-eagle]

i found a bus that looked just like mine on the outside, said it had a good 8v92 with maintenance receipts, good rubber, but only partially finished inside.  Bus bathroom and a small kitchen area with 2 sleeper sofas.
on ebay for just $15k.  i was ready to buy for a spare.  put a tow bar on it and pull it behind.  if "Just Cruisin" failed, just rotate it to the back.

Momma said NO!!!  Loudly.

[boxcarOkie]

Honey, can I buy another bus or maybe build up an engine to ship to myself?



Now that is funny ... no really ... that is REALLY FUNNY ... ship it to myself.

That is almost as funny as all those nimrod's over at Off Topic at You Can't Fix Stupid commenting on something that isn't even there ...

Have a good weekend (or don't it's your choice).

BCO

[JohnEd]

Have a good weekend (or don't it's your choice).
BCO

Well I am retired so not only do I NEVER get a day off but I keep forgetting it is Sat or Sun and I can back off a touch and relax.  Every day is a good week-end. 

Thanks for the kind wishes, though,


John

[boxcarOkie]

Have a good weekend (or don't it's your choice).
BCO

Well I am retired so not only do I NEVER get a day off but I keep forgetting it is Sat or Sun and I can back off a touch and relax.  Every day is a good week-end. 

Thanks for the kind wishes, though,


John

As long as you are "on the right side" of the dirt, that is all that matters.  I ran into a guy not long ago and he said, "What's up?" and I said, "I just got back off vacation."  And he looked at me kinda funny like and said, "How do you know when you are on vacation and when you are retired?"

Good question eh?

BCO

[bevans6]

just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.  It was a good topic, you aren't supposed to delete topics anyway it's against the rules here.

Nimrod

[boxcarOkie]

just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.  It was a good topic, you aren't supposed to delete topics anyway it's against the rules here.

Nimrod

You aren't supposed to hijack 'em either ...  Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there? The comments didn't even relate to the subject matter.  I understand what you are saying, in the future, I will just "edit my stuff" as I see fit and that way I don't break any rules.  It is there now, in all its splendid glory, go chew it to pieces, have at it.

End of story.

BCO

[gus]

If you read some of the problems the owners of new grossly overpriced S&S are having and the problems they have getting mfgs to make good on their warranties you would realize our buses do very well without those real big investments.

I just returned from a 5000 mi trip in my 4107, first one since I bought it in Dec '10. My genset failed and I had to get another used one. It was 24 yrs old so what could one expect? I had a couple of other minor problems which I took care of myself.

I drove  the 4104 for five years and put 64,000 mi on it. Every long trip I made something broke or failed. What could one expect with a 53-56 year old bus? The last trip I blew the front main seal but kept pouring oil into it and made it 150 mi home. It is now for sale but only because at my age I need AT and full time PS.

I've been lucky in that every problem or failure was near a repair place or I could fix it myself. I've never used road emergency service except to get information on repair shops.

The point is, if you're afraid to venture far in your bus, you're missing the most fun part of all and many adventures to tell your grandbabies!!

[belfert]

The very first trip I made in my bus was driving it 1,400 miles to home.  The first camping trip I made was 4,000 miles round trip.  I'm planning to drive my bus nearly 5,500 miles before Oct 1st.  No real worries about any drive train problems.

[artvonne]

The point is, if you're afraid to venture far in your bus, you're missing the most fun part of all and many adventures to tell your grandbabies!!

 Some people cant afford some of the adventures they read about. Some people cant fix too much themselves, and so are dependent on shops if the worst happens. And reading of shops that are less than helpful, getting into full overhauls, it does make one ask some hard questions.

 I dont know about too many Buses, my MC5, IIRC most figured 13 hours to remove the motor. You can then plan on another 13 hours to put it back in. At $100 hour thats almost $3000 to R&R the motor without doing anything to it. I seem to recall hearing 4 to 5 hours to pull a GMC sidewinder. Your still talking $1000. IIRC, Jumpsuitman got out of Williams for about $4500. I dont know how a spare motor sitting at home would have saved him any money.

 But in his situation, I honestly believe he could have limped it home and fixed it at his liesure. In fact, his situation taught me a lot that could be done to keep one hammering toward home.

 There will always be failures we cant foresee. We could rebuild and overhaul everything, replace it all with brand new, and still have a major failure simply because we are human, and things we make, break, and sometimes when its a bad time. Like when the Challenger launched that day.Or when the Columbia came home on another day. We flew a Beech Debonair around for an hour running in a freshly, completly overhauled engine, and it froze to a stop 5 minutes after we parked it when a lead plug came out of the crank. A Bus could do a lot of bad things, but I can absolutely assure you, that you will never have to worry about landing it into a freshly plowed field at 80 mph when the engine throws a lead plug out of the crank and the engine siezes. You also wont ever have to worry about the intake choking on ice and trying to kill your engine while your flying low over trees.

[boxcarOkie]

"The point is, if you're afraid to venture far in your bus, you're missing the most fun part of all and many adventures to tell your grandbabies!!"

Hear - Hear.  We take our grandbabies with us most of the time, so they already know about "fun issues" with a bus, you make a good point.

BCO