Eagles International Forum

This is our bus. We bought it sight unseen off of an auction site (we know). But for the price we think it was worth it at $4,200. We've since talked to the owner, who has no reason to sell us on the bus since we already own it, who is very confident that it is mechanically sound. We don't know the history yet, don't know much about it at all other than that it runs and needs (at the very least) new steer tires. We plan to re-do the interior so that we can work from our new "home" and replace the bed (our dog isn't allowed on the bed, but she hasn't figured that out yet and always ends up there, and we're not fighting it anymore and upgrading to king size). We also need to fix the bathroom because it is awkward, and whoever did the kitchen layout clearly didn't cook.
So, for now, this is our bus (pictures from the equipment yard that is currently in possession, posted on the auction site). When we go pick the bus up in two weeks (on our anniversary!) we'll update and post more pictures. Our first order of business is to figure out the tire situation!

Welcome to the Eagles forum! Nice looking bus.

First of all Christien and Bryan welcome to our forum.

It sure looks like you stole that puppy .

Unless there are very serious rust problems, you have a great start to life with an Eagle.

It looks like the bus is sitting a bit low. If so, you will need to have the Torsilastics adjusted. Not a job for the faint of heart, but the process is well documented here.

Jim

You will want to sign up for some type of roadside assistance policy. Many folks recommend Good Sam.

We have both Progressive and AAA heavy duty towing.

Jim

Welcome to the Eagles! You are in the right place.

Good find,looks to have a 8v71 with a 5 speed 600 (650) series transmission that will take some practice,just shift it manually with the lever both up shifts and down shifts and you will be fine,enjoy your Eagle

Thanks for the warm welcome!!

Someone already noted that it looks like it's sitting low... so we checked with the previous owner and it has been converted to airbags.
Bryan was a transportation specialist in the Air Force; he's been trained to drive anything on the ground with wheels, and I'll learn! When talking to the mechanic, he described the transmission like a hydromatic. Bryan seemed to know what that meant...
For the roadside assistance, we've heard lots of bad things about Good Sam. We were planning on signing up for the FMCA Roadside service, any experience with theirs?
We're going to order the Garmin RV GPS off of Amazon before we go to Georgia, and we've picked up a Tire Tracker TPMS.
Things that we want to do before bringing the bus home (we have a couple of days):
Oil Change
Replace Steer Axle Tires
Assess Drive and Tag Axle Tires for Replacement
Replace Belts
Check Fluids
Check Brakes

Anything else y'all can suggest?
ALSO: Bryan would like to go prepared. Are these going to need Metric or Standard tools?

-Christien

Road side assistance are all about the same I have Good Sams and Coachnet,I wasn't real happy with Good Sams last week, in Scottsdale we blew a tire on the van and waited 2 hours for the guy to show then he came in a pickup with a dog and no lug wrench to fit the van another hour till he went and found a socket to fit,just be sure they tow buses and not just RV's

As for the shifting part I was just trying to help save him some grief down the road

It sounds like Bryan has a CDL, so he is familiar with pre-trip inspections as described in the CDL regulations. It is imperative that a thorough pre-trip inspection be performed. That is a bit difficult on a bus, but it can be done if you can find a way to get under the bus safely.

Several years ago, I wrote an article for our Eagles International Chapter Newsletter on the subject of inspecting/testing of the air brake system. I have added that article to our website articles page: http://eaglesinternational.net/category/articles.
That article focused on testing that can be done without getting under the bus. However, it is important to check the brake stroke for each axle location. I suspect that your bus has automatic slack adjusters, but they can lock up and fail to work properly.

I am sure that you are aware that in order to release the spring brakes, you have to let the pressure build to full pressure and activate the release button and then give a full service brake application.

Be sure that the folks doing the oil change use 40 wt oil rated for two stroke engines (CF2 as I recall).

Tools will all be standard (no metric). Probably no way to carry enough tools to do much repair on the road.

Be sure to have extra fuel filters and oil.

I am assuming the engine has been started recently. If not, make sure that the rack is not bound up.

Tell us about your planned route.

Jim

Thanks, Jim!

We will definitely check out your article. We have it at a shop right now getting new tires and an oil change, and a nose to tail inspection. Apparently the tires are from 1999/2001 and the owner at the yard that we bought it from said the engine looked like it had been rebuilt at some point and the odometer has 20k miles... we were thinking it had rolled over, but maybe that's from a rebuild and it has been sitting for a really long time. It starts and runs well, no blow by, no visible oil leaks.

I'm not sure our route yet, it really depends on what needs to be done to the bus to make it driveable, and if we can "move in" as soon as we get it. We have a good friend that lives in Florida, and would love to meet us in Savannah, and there are a couple of other bus nuts we'd like to meet to get some conversion ideas. Coming back to Texas, after a quick Google check and the discovery of truckrouter.com, we'll most likely travel I-16 to I-85 to I-65 to I-10 to I-35 (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas). If anyone is on that route, we'd love to meet up with y'all.