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Transmissons
Hello everyone, My wife and I are starting the process of becoming bus owners. Been looking around and seeing alot of needs transmisson work. Right now we are looking at an older entertainer coach it’s a 1990 XL.
ENGINE: 8V – 92T
TRANSMISSION: Allison Automatic 4 Speed
Can anyone give me an expected price range for a rebuild. The seller is asking $25,000 or best for the coach. Would it be an good deal?
Its been a dream for us to travel in a bus and would love to do so while our kids are young but cant afford a $100k project.
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4 Replies
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I do not know your budget, but I can assure you an entertainer or seated coach of that vintage was rode hard and put away wet.
You may think you are saving money by buying a bus like that cheap, but you are going to be waaaaaay ahead finding a similar vintage motorhome conversion for twice the money.
All older coaches are going to appear like a money pit because unless the owner was very careful with maintenance the list of potential issues you are going to deal with range from tires to air bags to brake chambers to leveling valves to radiator problems to possible engine and transmission problems. In the house you could face A/C issues, refrigerator problems, generator problems, etc.
You can mitigate a lot of the costs of getting a coach in reliable condition by doing a lot of your own work, and if you believe in luck you could postpone all work until something breaks, but the bottom line is at the age you mention there are going to be needed repairs and maintenance unless you find that rare well kept older coach and are willing to pay a reasonable price.
The transmissions in those older coaches were fairly robust and if the engine was maintained it too will be reliable, but any bus used in commercial service is going to be worn out and maintenance in its later years will be band aid type just to keep it going without spending money.
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Thanks for the reply.
Am hoping to be able to have about 50k into the rig total. looking to travel in it for a year or two around the US.
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Take your time and really get to know the market. Your budget is NOT going to buy a reliable coach and leave you with enough money to address what seem to be very common and expensive costs new owners face so you need to find that gem that hits the market once an eon.
On occasion that rare “needs nothing” older coach that has a low price hits the market. As a buyer you need to be so well educated as to what is out there and what the prices are that you will recognize the opportunity and are prepared to jump on it.
The key is you also need to be prepared to do a very complete inspection of the coach and its records to verify its condition or identify issues that need to be addressed. You cannot take the owner’s word for anything and unless there are highly detailed records provided any assurances the coach is well maintained can be a bunch of BS. You are going to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the magic prince.
I don’t want to discourage you but to make you aware your dream can turn into an expensive nightmare unless you work very hard to educate yourself.
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Not discouraging us at all, LOL. Good honest feedback is exactly what I’m looking for. Its very much appreciated. Looking at another that has been altered a little, guy says its had the engine, trans, and multiple other systems rebuilt about 45k miles ago. Looks nice for the age.
https://www.busforsale.com/buses/bus_detail-fsbo.php?bus=128&fsbo=true
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