Bryan Larrabee (204.244.158.202)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2001 - 1:22 pm: | |
While talking to a guy who runs the shop for a local charter company, he said.. "When we retire a bus from service, believe me it's DONE. A lot of people want them for motorhome shells, but they don't think about the structural wear." This company runs Prevost and MCI's.
Living on the West Coast, we're not as vulnerable to rust, but his comment about structural wear bothered me. I talked to a fellow from our local transit company, and he says virtually all the late 1980's vintage Flyers recently pulled out of service had cracked frames, and were scrapped.
Considering that it's impractical and dangerous to crawl under a bus, are there any obvious signs to tell if a frame is cracked or if there is metal fatigue and excessive wear on the structure?
I understand from reading posts on this Board, that GM's have some kind of frameless structure much like an airplane design. Can anyone tell us a bit about this? Also, does this structural design apply across all models (4104's to 4905's, Old Looks, Fishbowls to RTS's)? |