Torn between mini/short school bus or van

[highdesertranger]

yes I will be at RTR and will be giving a prospecting seminar. so hope you an make it. highdesertranger

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Where have you people been all my life??? lol. I am so excited!!

 

[Gary68]

Most of those would be a big plus in my mind !!
A lot of those are things that women would run from if I said them too.
I do see your point , most would be running away from anyone adopting this mobile lifestyle and that's fine by me.

There was another post a while back where some one said something like this as a vandwelling pick up line.
(not an exact quote) Hey , would you like to move into my van and poop in a bucket ?
Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh ......Too funny.........but very real.

i'm going to start charging royalties,should be worth a pork chop or quart of oil dont you think?

 

[rvpopeye]

Gary , was that you that came up with that wonderful line?
Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh How'd I do ?

OK , now the big question.......Has it ever worked ?

 

[akrvbob]

Let's stay on topic.
Bob

 

[Fabber McGee]

Been about a week since the last update. I guess if your house sold or you found a home on wheels we'd have heard. Nothing new?

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Been about a week since the last update. I guess if your house sold or you found a home on wheels we'd have heard. Nothing new?

I do have a potential cash buyer for the house! I had some delays showing it because my son and grandson live with me and he didn't find a place until yesterday. Hard to rent with 2 dogs and a kid and being a single dad but he finally found a house with a fenced in yard so that's a big relief!

Of course it poured rain yesterday and we moved some in the rain but still have a lot to go. I have been mad packing 2 days now to get this place empty and I am beat. It's pretty much packed up now and I am presently waiting for my son to get here tonight with his truck to start hauling it out so I can clean tomorrow. He had to work til a few minutes ago so as soon as he gets here the worst will be done tonight.

On pins and needles about buyer. I will be so relieved when this place is sold!!

My son can use all my household stuff so that is a big relief as well. I don't mind giving it all to him and my grandson. Especially my Christmas stuff that I have had many years and is sentimental to me. I don't need it and knowing they will enjoy it makes me happy.

I can also stay at my sons new place while I wait to close and to fix up whatever I buy. I found a good deal on a little bus but it sold today :-( I'm sure the right one will be there when I am ready though.

Hopefully I have good news in a few days

 

[rvpopeye]

Best of luck ,fingers crossed.
Great news on your guys finding a place!

 

[highdesertranger]

great news that you are making forward progressed. highdesertranger

 

[buckwilk]

Good news, things are looking up the way you wanted. Happy for you !

 

[Fabber McGee]

Sounds great. Have you been looking on ebay for a bus? That's where I got my "Twinkie Hotel", a Hostess delivery van. Picked it up outside St. Louis. I took a peek for you today and a couple interesting ones showed up right away (interesting to me, at least).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221953465765?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

And

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321936682084?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The Freightliner will have a far superior chassis to GM, Dodge or Ford. That Mercedes diesel with only 121,000 on it would last about forever, although when it does need to be fixed the parts will be high. Bodies are by the bus builders and I don't know who is better in that department.

Good luck, we'll see you at the RTR.

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Sounds great. Have you been looking on ebay for a bus? That's where I got my "Twinkie Hotel", a Hostess delivery van. Picked it up outside St. Louis. I took a peek for you today and a couple interesting ones showed up right away (interesting to me, at least).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221953465765?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

And

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321936682084?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The Freightliner will have a far superior chassis to GM, Dodge or Ford. That Mercedes diesel with only 121,000 on it would last about forever, although when it does need to be fixed the parts will be high. Bodies are by the bus builders and I don't know who is better in that department.

Good luck, we'll see you at the RTR.

I have looked a little on Ebay but wasn't really sure how that works with vehicles. If you can't go see them ahead of time... what if you buy it and it's no good? Any advice here?

Also, that's helpful about the different types. All I have concluded from research is get the 7.3 Diesel. I'll take take any tips I can get. My son is young and clueless about diesels. My dad is pretty knowledgeable but not in good health right now and unable to go with me to check one out. Normally I roll with mistakes in life, but I won't have a lot of money so I need to avoid a costly mistake. I'm putting everything on the line here.

Can't thank everyone enough for taking time to help a complete stranger who is clueless. It means a lot to me. I hope I can pay it forward someday.

 

[B and C]

Can't thank everyone enough for taking time to help a complete stranger who is clueless. It means a lot to me. I hope I can pay it forward someday.

I don't think of you as a complete stranger.  You have been on the forum a little while and seem to be very forthright and upstanding.  Me on the other hand, I might be a little strange

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Thoughts on this one?

https://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/cto/5333446943.html

 

[buckwilk]

Red Flag----could use a good run, maybe a fuel filter. Dollars to donuts this rig has problems. What ever you go with, make sure you pay an independent mechanic to look at it.

 

[Fabber McGee]

Red Flag----could use a good run, maybe a fuel filter. Dollars to donuts this rig has problems. What ever you go with, make sure you pay an independent mechanic to look at it.

I agree, you sort of need to read between the lines. Says it was used as a work truck, which means it was no longer part of a bus fleet with regular maintenance schedule and drivers writing up all the little annoying things like lights that don't work and heaters and squeaks. Even if it was still with the bus company and painted white it probably wasn't, it would have been last on the list for maintenance. Sort of, run it til something falls apart, then fix it as cheaply as possible to make it keep running.

My guess is that with that many miles and such a low price, it has a transmission that slips or the engine is running very rough, or some other big expense is imminent. The 7.3 diesels switched to electronically controlled fuel injection in the mid 90's (not sure which year) for emissions reasons and though they run quite well, they are far more expensive to repair than the earlier mechanically controlled injection engines. My 97 F350 pickup is waiting right now for me to change the engine to an earlier one that I have in another old truck. It has 265,000 miles on the original engine that is probably still in pretty good shape, but it needs a couple thousand dollars worth of injection parts that I refuse to give it, so I'm going to just change to the earlier style engine.

Buying a used truck of any kind is sort of a pig in the poke proposition. You might get an excellent rig or it might be a real turd. If it comes direct from the fleet owner, it is likely to be in pretty fair condition. If it has been privately owned for a while, it may not be too good. For instance, it might belong to a carpenter that used it for hauling materials and tools to his jobs and even though he's a nice guy and pretty honest, to him it's just an old truck and he's interested in his jobs, not in keeping his old truck in top shape. Even if you are there to look at a candidate and drive it, you need to get someone who's familiar with them to take a look. You can crawl underneath yourself to see that there are no big leaks or places that are damp with vital fluids. Then drive it to see if it's smooth and powerful with no transmission noise or slipping and no big howl or clunks from the rear end gears when you accelerate or decelerate and it steers well without wandering all over the road and stops straight and quietly. If it's too low to slide under, find a high curb to put 2 wheels up on. If it passes your inspection and test drive, then get it looked at. If it's a long way off, you need to pay someone to do all that for you.

Not too encouraging I know, but that's the facts and any rig that is priced very low like this one is needs a very careful and competent inspection. Call the guy and ask about it, but I think this one is probably one to pass on. Shoot, they didn't even clean their work debris out of the back.

 

[karl]

x3 on that one.

All good feedback

 

[LowTech]

They did the change over in 94. That year they had both the "bullet proof " IH idi, w/ mechanical injector pump, and the first "Powerstroke" w/ the electronic ip. They also started adding the turbo as an option.

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

They did the change over in 94. That year they had both the "bullet proof " IH idi, w/ mechanical injector pump, and the first "Powerstroke" w/ the electronic ip.  They also started adding the turbo as an option.

LowTech.....Does that mean pre 94 is better? or post 94? Thanks!!

I was thinking the same thing as you all posted. Usually too good of a deal is for a reason. I'm just checking out what is out there while waiting to see if house sells. Better to learn now than after a purchase. Thanks everyone!

 

[highdesertranger]

pre 94 is mechanical = super simple, post 94 electronic with all kinds of gizmos, thing-a-majiggs, and doo dads. with 94 for being the split year it could go either way. highdesertranger