What supplies and tools to carry to avoid towing

[chessie4905]

Oh, and anti-seize, and pint of lacquer thinner. Small hammer for tapping out gaskets. Couple spare axle flange gaskets. Spare plug for Stemco oil cap. Definitely a good spare WITH air. Spare lug nut or l and r. Of course this depends on individual talents. Some only need a good credit card.

[luvrbus]

I carry very little if you do the maintenance as you should not much is needed on the road you cannot stop and buy at a parts store barring a major breakdown JMO ,in all the years we been on the road a set of wiper blades,a flasher and alternator belts is all I ever needed

[bevans6]

I just carry a normal tool set, but I bring the medium and big socket sets.  I bring my wheel changing kit, with the jacks, the big breaker bar and the torque wrench, but they live in a bus bay anyway.  I bring DC wiring terminals and a crimper.  I bring a car so I can drive to a NAPA store if I need anything else.

Brian

[luvrbus]

LOL I have friends with Prevost they all have nice shinny Snap/On tool boxes and tools set in the bays and all of them will find a Prevost Service center to change a friggn fuse.Jon is the exception he will get his hands dirty

[dtcerrato]

Some of the largest maintenance repairs we've done in the last four decades with the same coach were performed (at least started) on-the-roadside. It's not an issue of "maintenance" but an evolution of "keeping an antique bus running", one that has exceeded all its engineering dreams come true. Younger than I but owning coaches that are going on 70 years roadworthy (a little older than ours) are monkeys that perform more work on others (just to keep them away from the scrappers) than they do on there own. Other than the present engine overhaul that we are performing, some of the largest projects we're performed...on-the-road. Probably because that's where the bus has spent most of it's time - right where it was built to be... In 2011 we completed our climate controlled bus barn with most of the comforts of home (which it sits next to - back acre). So as we evolve through retirement every once & awhile, if we're lucky, it breaks down on the pit, in the barn, next to the house. But no mater where it breaks down, we always enjoy getting it back up & running cause we (it) needs to keep on keeping on...

[luvrbus]

It's the years of neglect on maintenance for old buses that causes a lot of problems that could have been prevented.How many time have you read here and on other boards where a owner has rolled a new set of bearing into a old 2 stroke,it doesn't happen they run it till it croaks people never change anything if it runs   

[John316]

John 316 I never saw anybody carry a spare fan before what was that for I open the box and there was a new fan with the spare parts lol you guys had a supply of spare parts you needed nothing 

Cliff. I forget why we had that. I think we lost a fan in NM sometime. We didn't normally carry that with us, but since we didn't have the bus anymore, no use for that fan.

We carried a crazy amount of tools. I could fix almost anything on the side of the road. However, the stress of being on a schedule, and fix breakdowns as quickly as possible, was no fun at all. I do not miss the bus at all

[luvrbus]

I have plenty of parts thanks to you and Steve  2 and 3 of the same parts

[DoubleEagle]

It's the years of neglect on maintenance for old buses that causes a lot of problems that could have been prevented.How many time have you read here and on other boards where a owner has rolled a new set of bearing into a old 2 stroke,it doesn't happen they run it till it croaks people never change anything if it runs   

It's that "don't fix it if it's not broke" mentality that guides many people. Sometimes, it's because when you do fix something that might be a problem later, you stir up other problems, or discover other things on their last leg. Other times, it's because people are lazy and/or cheap. When I had a trucking company, I tended to over-maintain to prevent as many problems as possible, but I was not as profitable as other outfits that ran them until they died, and then pulled out a spare old truck to replace it.

[sledhead]

ya why rebuild it when you have time at your place for 10 k when you can do it at the side of the road then dragged to a strange shop and spend 40 k to do the same thing ?

visa card , coach net and keep it up so it will not break down

dave

[TomC]

After 21 years and 1.3 million miles truck driving, I would NEVER change a tire myself. It is too dangerous with too many things that can go wrong. Even "professionals" have lost their life changing tires. I do not carry a spare (no place for it).
Best tool is credit cards with at least $20,000 credit line. Good Luck, TomC

[Iceni John]

I don't know what others do, but I would prefer to replace something at my convenience before it actually breaks.   I had a high-pressure hydraulic hose blow out soon after I bought the bus, so I also replaced the other hose that looked OK (the hose that blew looked OK as well).   My hydraulic / PS pump has not been working well, so I'm replacing it with a brand-new Webster KB, not cheap, but what would I do if it failed completely on the road?   When I took the old pump off I saw that its drive gear and coupler on the back of the camshaft were also worn, so I'm replacing them now  -  they would probably last another 100,000 miles or more, but why risk it?   As part of my cooling system upgrade I've changed out lots of things that were still working, but if I'm getting down and dirty under the bus I'll change anything that's even slightly suspect or old-looking.   If I had the opportunity to change something that was worn but not yet broken, but I did not do so, I would always have that niggling thought at the back of my mind while driving.

Now that I've essentially replaced the entire cooling system, I'm much less intimidated now to attempt other big jobs.   If I can single-handedly do everything I've done so far in an RV storage yard with a modicum of simple hand tools and a smattering of common sense, then I feel comfortable replacing the bearings in the future  -  they're at 277,000 miles now, and oil pressure is still OK, but they should be done soon.   I just want everything to work right, ideally as well as the day it left the factory 26 years ago, but that's not always going to happen!

I was amused to see that almost every tool and spare part mentioned in all these posts are already in my bus!   Because I'm working on it where I store it, I have to keep everything I need in it, so that's a good thing if I ever have a problem on the road.   I just don't have the beer!

John   

[Beachfinn]

The beer never lasts...
I think it's not necessarily the if it ain't broken attitude,but like with me, I just don't know all the preventive maintenance items there are. One of the other threads mentioned alternator bearings? I can keep up with oils and liquids, but some other items are a bit more harder to figure out. There are just so many items to consider, ... 

Sami

[uncle ned]

Do not forget muffler bearings   probably the most need of all.

uncle ned

[Beachfinn]

Muffler bearings, always a spare with me, as well as piston return springs and compression powder.