overcoming "will the bus embarrass me" blues

[bevans6]

I could take my bus on a 3,000 mile jaunt to a car race in June.  All I can think about are the things I know are not 100% and fresh.  Who has a 100% fresh bus?  I've never been stranded by the bus but I have a fear of taking it on a long trip.  I guess I should just do it...

Brian

[muldoonman]

Brian, You never know until you try. Have put 20,000 miles on mine since I bought it  a couple years ago. Most trips under 6 or 7 hundred miles round trip. Heck, get Coach Net and keep that credit card clear and enjoy.

[lvmci]

Hi Brian, how many horsepower does your turbo charged 8V71 have? Lvmci...

[Eagle Andy]

Brian lol Glad iam not the only one who has had them thoughts, I have been to arizona twice now in our bus and had the same thoughts. I just do all i can do and go for it. Hell i have had more problems with the motor homes I have owned than with the Bus  Good luck and have fun

[Dave5Cs]

Other than taking ours out a handful of times in 2 years after we got back from the camping resort for 18 months. i have been working on it when I can or have time. I take it out every other month or so. But still have thoughts of long distance travel, just haven't got there yet. We have Coach net.

Dave

[belfert]

I take my bus on a 4,000 mile road trip at least once a year, twice last year.  Never not made it home yet.  We've had a number of issues on the road over the years, but most were easily fixed.  The biggest issue was a wheel bearing failure that cost us 18 hours stuck in Wyoming a few years back.

We've had bigger issues with our trailer.  Both axles broke loose the first trip, had a hub failure the second year, and had two sidewall punctures on one trip after that.  The trailer always made it home one way or the other.

[lvmci]

Heavy smoke on startup was always uncomfortable in the tight spaces of some RV parks, but Clifford told me to plug in the engine block heater which reduces the smoke, good advice, lvmci...

[luvrbus]

Go for it Brian you are a good nut and bolt guy I have faith in you

[Brian Diehl]

I'm usually fairly nervous the first trip of the year.  Once I get a few hundred miles behind me on the first trip I usually feel much better.  Best advice I could give would be to take a shorter trip before the big one so you feel more comfortable.

[Dave5Cs]

So lets analyze why you are afraid to take it on a long trip. A- you fear the worse breakdown and lot of funds to fix it or do you just dump the bus at that point.
B- Don't want to be stranded on the side of the road in somewhere USA with no cell signal to call Coachnet.
C- You have really bad luck and know DW will want to go home with no way to get there and you will have to listen to it for years to come.
D- It will be fine and if anything happens you will have a great story to tell for many years!.....

HTH Dave

[Ryan B]

The day after I bought my bus I drove it from Vancouver to Ottawa, 5 days, 5,000 km and nearly 50 hours of driving time with absolutely no issues. I have a professional licences and some experience with big rigs so it helps me maintain and spot issues but our buses we're built to last, and what's it worth if you don't trust it to get you there Surely things can always go wrong unexpectedly but I think that if you take care and drive it like the vehicle it is then it will reward you by getting you home

IMO & FWIW

[wdtjawshwdt]

Brian I am with you.   I just imagine the catastrophic... It could wreck a vacation real quick especially at the beginning.

[Fred Mc]

The problem I have is I spend too much time on this board reading about problems other people have. So when I do take the bus out (not often enough) I am always surprised when it makes it to the end of my driveway and as I drive further I worry less and less until at some point(usually within an hour or so) its like driving any other vehicle.

Maybe you need to take a couple or short weekend trips before your planned long one to build up your confidence. Being in NS I am sure there are some good places for weekend camping along the ocean.

Regards

Fred

[bevans6]

I think I'm going to go for it.  All of my trips have been "big"trips and I've always been fine.  After I installed my new engine the first trip (aside from going to get fuel) was from Hamilton Ontario to Nova Scotia, a mere 1200 miles.  I had a fuel-in-oil problem bad on that trip, which has me spooked, but the bus and engine ran perfectly.  I just ended the trip with a gallon more oil than I started with...

Lvmci, my engine install is documented here:  http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=21836.0  Since then I had the fuel-in-oil situation and suspecting a leaky injector I installed a set of N75's so it's probably making around 350 hp.  With the original N80's it was rated at 405 hp at 2300 rpm.  Noticeably less power now but also significantly less smoke.  It would pull almost any hill at 65 mph in top gear with the N80's, even pulling our car, but the smoke was prodigious...  Now I get just a whisper of smoke under full power.  I believe the fuel-in-oil issue was leaking stand-pipes for the fuel tubes to the injectors.  I had done them up snug, but didn't torque them to spec.  The correct torque is a lot more than "snug".

Brian

[Jon]

Stuff happens. It's part of owning a bus.

We have had nothing but store bought conversions, all of them fairly new and in excellent condition. But despite that I have still dealt with issues on the road despite the fact I am anal about trying to keep the coach in perfect operating condition.

My issues have been as simple as a failed eye bolt on the radiator fan drive to a failed charge air cooler that was blowing so much air I lost boost. I have had numerous small problems, and I have had a serious fire that put the coach on a hook.

The flip side is we put 9500 miles on the coach between the first of the year and the end of March and my only repair was to replace a light bulb in the kitchen. Do the best you can to verify the coach condition, hop in the seat and enjoy the ride.