| Author |
Message |
Dave Wilson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 04, 2006 - 2:06 pm: | |
Dont hear much about Blue Bird Coaches any one out there own one what are they like,alote less money then the other guys |
Larry & Lynne Dixon (Larry_d)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 04, 2006 - 10:24 pm: | |
Dave
I had an 83 BB Wonderlodge 40' 6v92 turbo, weighed 50K. I liked it quite well to drive had lots of power got about 7 mpg. The prior upkeep on it was not very good and had lots of repairs. It drove better than the 4905 I now have but upkeep on 4905 better. Larry 4905 |
Dave Wilson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 05, 2006 - 4:22 am: | |
Considering purchasing a new Ltc 40 ft 46 passenger coach,i dont hear much for reviews they look like a well built bus in my price range,i presently run mc9.Dont know anyone that has one.Thanks Larry for your input |
Doug Wotring
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 05, 2006 - 8:01 am: | |
Company that does my maint has had two, both pretty well worn out as Charter Coaches in 5 years |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 05, 2006 - 10:16 am: | |
A good friend of mine has a 40 footer, rear engine, and I'm just in the process of converting a shortie, a 29 footer front-engine. Both flat noses.
They are great busses to convert... TONS of space below the frame (yeah-they HAVE a frame, meaning no hassles messing with the body, and really easy to hang tanks and storage compartments!) and very easy to raise the roof (with exception of having to drill a few hundred rivets out) Plus super good ground clearance.
I just did my 1' roof raise start to finish in two days. Super easy.
I'd buy a cheap one 1990 or newer if you can (lots on ebay all the time) and plan on just putting in a rebuilt engine or at least long block, since mostly what you'll find out there are used skoolies which in my recent experience (not so good) is that by the time they're sold out of the scool system the engines are pretty well in need of a rebuild.
The rest of the bus is extremely well made, robust and easy to convert, and I'd recommend them to anyone. |
Jarlaxle
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 8:01 pm: | |
I agree, with one warning: on the front-engine flat-nose TC series (TC2000 & the smaller TC1000), the electronic gauge cluster is VERY troublesome. Otherwise, they're pretty strong. |
Mark R. Obtinario (Cowlitzcoach)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 09, 2006 - 11:29 am: | |
Blue Bird makes a great school bus.
The commercial buses they make based on their school buses are hard to beat (the government has purchased hundreds of them).
But their transit and coach products leave something to be desired. While a Gillig or GM transit coach is still going strong after 15-years of line service you will be hard pressed to find any Blue Bird transit coach still in service after 10-years. The same can be said for the Blue Bird motorcoach.
Their coaches cost less because they are not built to the same standard as MCI.
A couple of operators I know have purchased them and their experience is mixed.
On the one hand they were able to get into a new coach for considerably less than the same size MCI D4000/4500 or Van Hool C-coach. The Blue Bird looks nice and has some pretty good curb appeal. The Blue Bird comes equipped with some of the same components as the competition--Series 60 engines with Allison transmissions for instance.
But on the other hand, they have been plagued with some really troubling problems.
The first problem encounterd was luggage bays are smaller in comparison to the competition.
The second problem encountered has to do with curb appeal. When the Blue Bird is standing alone they look great. But when the Blue Bird is parked next to a bunch of the competition it looks like somebody's kid brother.
The third problem encounterd was the HVAC doens't work as well as the competition (one operator told me the A/C system just wasn't big enough and had to be operated at full tilt 100% of the time once the temp went above 75 degrees if he wanted to keep the inside temp somewhat comfortable).
The fourth problem encounted was the coaches were high maintenance. No real big problems but a myriad of small problems--small parts breaking, bay doors not closing properly, service door not working correctly, etc. Most of the problems were not out-of-service problems but they were the sort of problems one doesn't associate with brand new equipment.
And the most troubling problem encounterd is the Blue Bird coach is prety well used up just about the time an MCI is getting well broken in.
So if the question is would I purchase a Blue Bird coach if I was wanting a revenue producing coach the answer is a big fat NO! If the question is would I purchase a Blue Bird coach in order to convert it to an RV, yes I would with one caveat. Not all of the older Blue Bird buses, older being defined as pre-1980, were built on Blue Bird chassis. The bodies were all the same but the vendor supplied chassis were not as heavy duty and parts availability is becoming problematical.
Mark O. |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 09, 2006 - 11:12 pm: | |
Yeah jar, you're right. The gauge cluster for starters is hooked up with a nifty multi-pin connector... nifty until you realize that Bluebird was too cheap to spend the extra ten bucks and use gold plated pins. They're tin. They fail, and in an automotive environment, pretty quickly. I'm replacing all of mine with gold plated...
Then there's that stupid "engine warning" light, which doubles as oil pressure and overtemp. And last, the really dumb combo gauge that puts oil pressure, water temperature, volts and fuel level all in those rediculous can't readem tiny meters.
For my bluebird, that was the first to go. I kept the speedo and tach, and dumped the rest.
Got me a bunch of "real" VDO gauges- water temp, oil pressure, fuel, volts, amps, plus a few extra ones like tranny temp, EGT, Turbo Boost. And I put in individual idiot lights instead of combined ones... also a switch to turn the fan clutch on manually- nice when you're trying to cool her down prior to turning the engine off just after a hot grade...
All the electronic gauges went nicely in a newly punched panel. Then I relocated the air, mechanical water gauge (a 2nd one for backup to the electronic one) and turbo boost on to the nice big dash panel area down to the right that was unearthed when I got rid of the door closer handle. That way all the mechanical gauges with hoses and cap tubes don't have to be harrassed every time I remove the main gauge panel.
Now it's pretty darned nice....reliable too...
Oh yeah, I like to remind everyone, if you get new gauges, at least to me it's more important to find gauges that have the needles straight up under normal conditions, than ones that match. Unfortunately this usually means a few SW gauges, a few VDO gauges and maybe an Autometer or two, some chrome and some black.
I've found that when the needles all point up normally, a simple glance tells you everything is groovy. You don't have to stare at each gauge and figure it out to see if it's right. Especially at night, it makes polling the gauges a snap. If any needle isn't straight up, then you pay attention to what it is and why...
And Mark, I agree about the Skoolie being nicely built. It's actually quite similar to my Crown in construction.
BUT oh those rivets... someone in Bluebird must have stock in the rivet company!!!! (way too many and a pain to remove during the conversion... ugh...)
Cheers
(Message edited by boogiethecat on June 09, 2006) |
Dave Wilson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 1:24 pm: | |
Thanks for all the info pretty much what i heard from friends in the industry,have contacted prevost in regards to purchasing new h345 it seems that Prevost is the best new bus out there now.Was in Edmonton on charter last week talked to several operators while we sat out side rexall place looked over newer busses the prevost seem to have the least of trouble.The new mci are falling apart Greyhound are having nothing but trouble with the new G one fellow was up from Texas his new G looked like it had came threw world war 2 my mc9 looked better |
Mark R. Obtinario (Cowlitzcoach)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 12, 2006 - 9:13 am: | |
Out here in the west Greyhound has had very poor experience with their G-models. It seems the electrical panel underneath the windshield isn't sheilded from the weather as good as it should be. With all of the rain we get here in the NW one of the G-models got a little too much corrosion and caused an electrical fire. The driver said if it weren't for the fact he was the only one on the bus at the time it would have been really bad news because he barely made it out in time.
Raz Transportation/CUSA recently lost one of their He-45's in a fire. No one will ever know what caused the fire to start because there is too little left of the bus to make any determination.
My choice for a new coach would be a Setra S-417. IMHO it is the class act of motorcoaches.
Mark O. |
Dave Wilson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 2:32 am: | |
I thought they looked like a well built machine with lots of style but my buddy that has been pulling wrenches on bus for years says to stay away from them hard to work on and no parts. |
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