hauling a bus??

When I lost an injector, it cost $1400 to have it towed a mile to their shop, about an hours worth of labor while they determined it wasn't something they'd tackle at their shop, and then a 340 mile tow back to my local Mack dealer. Funny thing is, they wanted $850 to go the 80 miles to the Mack dealer up by my parents. For $650 more, take me home! Don't necessarily know what it'll cost until you get an actual quote.

 

11 long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus

 

THIS is the #1 most important reason for taking the time to go see what you're up against BEFORE agreeing to do it.

Sure, you can air up a low tire...but what if it's off the bead? What if the tire is rotten and blows up in your face? Have trees grown up around the thing that you'll have to clear? Any number of issues COULD be present, and what you expect to have loaded in an afternoon might take you a whole weekend (or longer) trying to get it with what you typically carry on the truck. You carry things to repair a running truck so you can limp to a shop...getting a dead vehicle going is an entirely different ballgame.

 

I don't see any circles and arrows and a description of what each one is....

And where's the seeing eye dog?

 

of course it goes without saying i need to get a lot more details before i would go to do it, i know i don't know half the information i need to know, im just trying to get a general idea of what i may be in for from the information i currently have. as well as pointers on what may or may not be a problem so i know what questions to ask.

having them send me some pictures of the bus and where its sitting and the road into the place would be a good idea, hopefully maybe they have another family member in the area that could do that.

 

As a former tower who has hauled more than his share of buses, they suck even when you have the right equipment for the job. Typical coach style bus is 40 foot bumper to bumper, needs about 36 foot from front bumper to rear axle and will overhang the rear of your trailer by 4 foot. Most are 12' tall so you are looking at 15' to 15'6" vertical if using a Landoll style trailer. If it is a typical rear engine coach they are not well balanced weight wise, very tail heavy which makes you nose light on your trailer. Not enough to cause legal problems usually but enough to notice. Most coaches weigh in around 38-42k.

Getting them into neutral without the engine running is difficult at best, many have interlocks that require air and electric to override, depending upon the make and model you may have to cage the brakes otherwise they will automatically apply when the door is opened or no one is in the driver seat. Most buses have an access panel in the left front under the window or behind the bumper with air ports that will air up the system and release the brakes, if this one does that will really help, but be sure to block the wheels before hooking up the air line because if it does have a brake release, most MCI coaches will, it could move away as this port bypasses the park brake valve inside the coach.

Even with out Landoll and TrailEze trailers ground clearance was tight, most times we had to lay out cribbing to keep the rear engine cradle from scraping, also it will be a tight fit motor coaches are allowed to be 102" wide so they may be right on the edge of your trailer. Also, most are 40 foot but some city buses can be 45' long. Steering a non-running coach onto the trailer is fun as well, the way the steering shaft runs makes armstrong steering even more difficult than a disabled road tractor, very hard to turn even when the bus is rolling. There are usually no good places to attach a chain to on the front of a bus, sometimes you can wrap the axle if the tie rod bar is not in the way, be careful of holes in what looks like the frame, many are not structural and will tear if you pull with a winch or tie down chain. To tie down to the deck I usually wrapped the steer axle on each side and then ran a chain between the duals front to back. If I can find any of my pictures I will add them.

For more education and reading pleasure here is a link to another forum I belong to, dedicated to the towing and recovery industry. This is their sub-forum on motor coach towing. You may learn a thing or two, maybe even change your mind about helping out.

Motor Coach & Emergency Vehicle Towing Forum

Good luck and be safe if you do decide to help out for the adventure and experience.

 

Couldn't find any on a trailer that I did, my other computer is back in Pennsylvania while I'm out here in California but here is one I towed from Tucumcari, NM into Rocky Mountian Cummins in Albuquerque, NM. Real fun, now imagine this is the bus your friend needs trailered, it is only 65' long no big deal right!

This one was brand new being delivered from the upper mid-west and broke down. Had to remove an access panel in the floor just to reach the driveshaft to remove if in preparation for the tow. Special attachment on the front for the underlift crossbar, we specialized in buses and motor homes.

 

Or maybe it will be this bus LoL. I was called back in 2013 to lift this bus out of it's grave at a scrap yard and haul it to Belen, NM where it was used as set dressing for the filming of the Johnny Depp/Morgan Freeman movie Transcendence. I spent the better part of a month dragging old campers and trucks around and re-positioning them for the look the director wanted. Paid well, great catering every day, and better than getting hit by passing motorists on the highway.

No, we did not haul it down the highway with the small flatbed, that was only to get it out to the street where we loaded it onto our Landoll, and the homemade dolly was just to drag it around the movie set.

 

Now THAT would make 1 heck of a cool RV conversion! Add a 30' double stacker trailer for all the toys and hit the highway... LOL

 

If they can't afford or DO NOT want to even purchase batteries it's a PASS for me.