Just bought our first bus!

[eagle19952]

Remember this tho, Joe's bus has an 8v92....with significantly more hp. than a v71..... nice coach Joe !! 

the most recent previous owner of my coach actually toaded a Town Car.
I would not enjoy that at all.
My hitch is well over built and I am very happy with an 800lb+ tongue weight.
having said that I can get up to speed hauling about anything I want with the 71 series that I want on reasonably flat interstates. I believe my trailer has gross'd out at 5-6k lbs. it will do 77-80 mph.
It just won't do 45 mph coming into Sedona from the south or even east into Albuquerque...
sounds to me that your coach will suit your needs as is.

[akroyaleagle]

Don,

Thanks for posting the photo. I tried but I'm too ignorant.
That link takes you to my facebook page. There are a lot more photos in the bus album.

I pulled a 20' trailer all over North America with the 8V71.
It was fine in the east but tried your patience in the West and North.

[Seangie]

DriverGT5 (name?)-

Welcome to the club. Its a nutty place to be. We just now entered our 3rd year of bus ownership.

Like yourself we have never owned an RV or driven anything larger than a U-haul before.  I think I was a bit off my rocker the day we bought the bus.  The bussing community is by and large a great support system.  I suggest going to meet some of the people that live around you at bus rallies.  There are a good number of bus folk in NC - Tom Hamrick and Eric Brown both live out by you.  Frankie Goodson has a bus parts/sales shop and is out in western nc. 
Lots of others too.  All good people.

Parts are out there.  The single most difficult part to find and replace will be the torsalstic suspension. After that most parts are out there or can be fabricated or you can get creative enough to make it work.  The one thing Ive learned about a bus is that time slows down.  Aint nothin gettin done in a hurry.  So take your time with it and enjoy it.  Dont try to get it all done in a year or youll burn out.

Make a list and plan all your projects and tackle one at a time. Dont be afraid to take things apart.  It can be intimidating but if you have half a mind and can turn a wrench youll figure it out.  Dont be afraid to pull the tires and check out whats behind there.  Give the engine a good once over.  Change your oil and tranny fluid and filters and check as much of your airlines/airbrakes system as you can. 

Most of all dont be afraid to use it.  Even if its not ready.  Take a trip down to walmart and stay overnight.  Find a state park and dry camp for a few days.  Thats the best way to figure out the RV setup that works best for you.  Ive overthought so many things on paper that have become negligible now that we live in the bus.  Using it will keep you motivated.   I love driving our bus.  Its all stoke.

Have fun.  Feel free to pm me if you want to chat.  I dont know much but Im a good motivator. 

-Sean

Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org

[lvmci]

Sean, nicely put, lvmci...

[DriverGT5]

Kelly and I picked up our new bus Thursday night and drove it 150 miles home to Charlotte. Friday I gave it the first bath it's had in two years....

Aside from almost driving it through a fence when I got to the first turn we did great and the trip was uneventful. That was lucky since we arrived at about 1:30AM...

The bus has been converted to an air throttle and power steering so it is really easy to drive. Checking it out over the last few days I definitely have some front end parts to replace because I'm getting some pretty wicked tire wear on the front. It has cruise but I have no idea how the system is setup and it doesn't seem to work at the moment. I'll have to check that out at some point in the future.

The torsilastic suspension looks like it might have been replaced once before. The adjusters all look like they have 6" or more of adjuster rod still showing. If I'm looking at the front adjusters correctly the rod facing me is how much is left correct? In other words I am moving the adjuster arm further out to raise the bus or is that backwards?

I get the feeling this bus was fully gone through in 88-89 from the frame up. I found some fiberglass in the wheel wells that I assume is from previous rust repair when the conversion took place. The odo has 127,000 miles on it and the engine and generator are showing ~3400 hours. From the condition of the two I'm hoping they were new/rebuilt in 88 when the conversion was done and the hours/odo aren't just because the gauges were new back then.

Now we have a long list of projects to go through. While the mechanical side of the bus is nearly all positive, the interior and cosmetics are mostly negative. The guy who built it was a heavy smoker with a dog and the bus was pretty gross when it was sold in 2006. The second owners cleaned it up and raised 4 kids in the bus nearly full time. Now that we own it, the interior looks like it had 4 kids and a dog living in it but again it's all really cosmetic.

We have a lot of cabinet work to do, fix some of the wood floor, wall treatments, etc. I'll start a project thread as we get into it.

So far I'm trying to get the bus AC working. There's a power supply issue to the switch in the control panel and judging from the melted wires I will have to re-wire a few things to get that working. The fuel cut solenoid on the generator has locked up so you must manually flip the fuel arm back and forth to start and stop the generator so that needs to get replaced.

We are planning to take a 500 mile trip in two weeks to Road Atlanta and camp for the weekend so no need to worry about breaking the bus in before the projects get completed....    We are more "trial by fire" kind of people. Which reminds me, I need to get a fire extinguisher....

[luvrbus]

Over 2 grand for parts to rebuild the front end on a Eagle see what you got into Jefferson has the parts it maybe over 2 grand now

good luck

[bevans6]

A lot of people remove the stock over-the-road (OTR) air conditioning and use the roof AC (or whatever they have) to cool the bus while driving.  Some use the generator for power, others use the big alternator and an inverter for power (which is what I do).  The amount of cooling isn't as much as the OTR bus system.  But - the OTR system can cost a lot to maintain.  Mine was going to cost several thousand dollars to get running.

I am pulling my 20 foot race car trailer in a few weeks, for the first trip.  Looking forward to it!  Scared, anxious and ready to get it done!

Brian

[luvrbus]

I don't see the fresh air intake on the side of the bus for factory air in the 1 photo ?

[Dreamscape]

Welcome!

Nice bird you have there! What is the VIN #?

We love ours and the 8v71 works just fine. A little slow on the big hills, but I'm in no hurry to get there.  We also have an Allison 740 which makes driving a pleasure.

Get the manuals and study them, they come in handy.

Have fun and be safe!

[DriverGT5]

The bus number is 7616 on the plate. I have no idea of the history before 1988 aside from the fact it was built in Belgium by Bus and Car Co. Any ideas?

I have a 4" thick parts manual that came with the bus. I was very excited when I saw that. It has helped me already in getting the right front end parts for the steering and figuring out how all the parts go together. I plan to take some pictures as I get it setup and aligned.

[eagle19952]

The bus number is 7616 on the plate. I have no idea of the history before 1988 aside from the fact it was built in Belgium by Bus and Car Co. Any ideas

You have a celebrity bus...

Can you Limbo Rock....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTKj_Vd5_Bk


1968 VIN#7616  SE05  SOLD originally to Continental Trail Ways   1968   To Mr. Chubby Checker – band bus,
then to Andy & Eleanor Hoag - motorhome.
I assume this means Chubby had Trail-Ways maintain it...

Click, download save to open,:
https://xa.yimg.com/df/Eagle_Bus/BUS%26CAR_7000.doc?token=CEf8IWLBCakmA6eU0oRE9uzuQZDPOssV-T2g-QGrYIqAnO5HpM_AKMGgkzlzRQn3HMofHEg8v02N-gTA518C_rtohul5DLRtliBc9yX_IJ-Y2gaOouhgm7yeo7qIi2I2edogJG8cU3OhcwfPlx4&type=download

[DriverGT5]

You have a celebrity bus...

Can you Limbo Rock....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTKj_Vd5_Bk


1968 VIN#7616  SE05  SOLD originally to Continental Trail Ways   1968   To Mr. Chubby Checker – band bus,
then to Andy & Eleanor Hoag - motorhome.
I assume this means Chubby had Trail-Ways maintain it...

I found the engineering schematics from the conversion with Andrew Hoag's name on them. I gather he was some type of engineer or boat designer.

The Chubby Checker part is a bit of a surprise....

[DriverGT5]

Click, download save to open,:
https://xa.yimg.com/df/Eagle_Bus/BUS%26CAR_7000.doc?token=CEf8IWLBCakmA6eU0oRE9uzuQZDPOssV-T2g-QGrYIqAnO5HpM_AKMGgkzlzRQn3HMofHEg8v02N-gTA518C_rtohul5DLRtliBc9yX_IJ-Y2gaOouhgm7yeo7qIi2I2edogJG8cU3OhcwfPlx4&type=download

I try to click and I just get error messages. Right click save as just gives me a word doc with error messages. What did I miss?

[luvrbus]

All the Chubby Checker buses I ever saw were MCI his 8 was the ugliest bus you ever saw with the checker board paint job

[eagle19952]

I try to click and I just get error messages. Right click save as just gives me a word doc with error messages. What did I miss?

I am not sure, send this Email:
eagle_bus-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

and join the group, it is an open yahoo group, Clic on the files tab and scroll down to the 7000.doc..