| Author |
Message |
Bob Damm (216.134.164.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 12:42 pm: | |
Now that our church/school has bought an MC-9 what would be the recommended maintenance schedule? The bus will probably average 4000 miles a year with no use in the summer months.
Thanks,
Bob |
DaveD (142.46.199.18)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 2:00 pm: | |
I would suggest a visit to a reliable garage at least twice a year, regardless of mileage driven. It may be worth while to purchase an MCI maintenance manual, not necessarily in order to do the work, but so that you will have an idea of what is required. A copy can be purchased from an aftermarket supplier or from MCI.
You may be subject, since you are carrying passengers, to certain legal requirements pertaining to daily inspections and also restrictions on who can perfrom brake adjustments.
Find a bus mechanic or garage that you can have confidence in and stick with that one garage. Over time the garage will become familiar with your bus and will be able to identify potential problems so that you can schedule them for attention before they develop into something more serious. Of course certain things will need immediate attention. Generally there are mandatory (typically 6 month) inspections required, in addition to the preventative maintenance. My experience over the years is that careful attention to a reasonable preventative maintenance schedule pays back many times over in reliability, longevity and overall satisfaction with a vehicle.
FWIW
Dave Dulmage |
Nick Morris (Nick3751) (69.34.178.193)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 4:53 pm: | |
Bob,
Take this for what it is stickly opinion, since I have not ever drive a passenger bus. I would think in addition to what Dave mentioned have the buses normal driver do a COMPLETE pre-trip inspection on the bus a week or so before departure. This way if something is noticed to be suspect it can be addressed before the next trip.
I would also suggest that at least one other person look over the bus regularly so that slowly developing things that are seen everyday with the attitude that "we'll get to that later" aren't over looked until later is on the side of the highway. It's very easy, especially for a bus used as you decribe, to put things off that are not percieved to be an imanent problem.
Another thought I don't know where you are but where I got my original CDL's I had heard of both buses and trucks being stoped and shut down due to safty issues i.e. air and fluid leaks on log trucks. These vehicles see much more harsh working condition than your bus will see but the point is I think the law can and will stop you and put you out of service until the problem is repaired. I would also think some things would be more closely looked at on a passenger bus, though that is just a suspision as is most of this post along with a little deductive reasoning.
Just my 2 cents for others to coment on and get the facts. |
Dale MC8 (69.19.146.170)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 5:26 pm: | |
Bob, I pulled this straight out of the Archives for your enjoyment.
HTH
Dale
Wonder if you and all our other new viewers know that the BNO BBS is but a small section of our web site containing over 100 pages of FAQs-like information about your bus conversion.
Some time ago, R.J. Long was kind enough to send along an article entitled, "Daily Pre-Trip Inspection" which you can view online at any time by heading for our home page and clicking on the "Articles of Interest" section from a navigation bar on the left side of your screen.
RJ, who has been a regular viewer of BNO for several years, asked that we delineate his article so that it was printer friendly, so you will see that it appears on screen a little differently that the other articles.
Thanks for a great idea - revisited!
Regards,
Ian Giffin
www.busnut.com |
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