mpierce

Check out the mid 90's Blue Bird Wanderlodges with the Detroit Series 60 engine. Very well built, top end bus. I have a 1990 BB with the 8v92 Detroit. 475 hp

I own a trucking company, and drive myself. 12's are NOT a common truck tire. Since my Bluebird uses them, I checked at a number of truck stops, and truck tire companies last fall driving around the US. NOT ONE of them carried 12's! 305 is a close replacement.

$400?? Wow.

Agreed. A quart or so is not much. Have you tried just letting it be a quart low? Even with calibrated dip stick, I have had engines that will use some oil all the time, IF I try to keep them at the full mark. If I let them stay near the LOW mark, the oil consumption drops A LOT.

Bingo! I have seen this. Preplumbed to add valve and QD to feed outdoor propane stuff.

1996 too old? As we have a 1990 BB, we understand the quality of build. We will take that over new SOB!

Strange. I run semi, 130,000 miles per year. I keep track of fuel down to the .01 mpg! Hundredths of a mile per gallon, both electronically and on paper. I have NOT been able to detect any difference between Bio and Non-Bio. Wind, hills, etc make a HUGE difference, a small amount of Bio, NOT.

I would go. Pinholes usually do not get big fast.

10,000#

I LOVE my 25 year old Bird!

Yes, the companies could offer better quality in the MH's, and RV's. Some do much better than others. But, they then COST MUCH MORE, and the vast majority of people buy by price. I have stood in campgrounds with owners who are lamenting the poor quality and problems they are having with a new, or near new, RV. In almost the next breath, they are bragging about how cheaply they bought it! You can buy cheap, or you can buy quality, but it is almost impossible to get both in one package. When offered a 38'MH at $90k, or a 38"MH at $150k, the vast majority buy the cheaper one. Buyers are voting with their $, and the manufacturers are responding to that voting. It is the main reason I went with a 25 year old Bluebird. I wanted quality, but could not afford new quality! So, bought old quality, and put some money away for repairs. Still loving my decision. Most people want "new", and glitz. And CHEAP!

1990 Wanderlodge, 43,000#. 8V92 two stroke. 6.3 mpg at 65 or so. Not too bad for that weight, and the old, two stroke!

Yes, it is. Although, I would not be able to afford one! It is amazing the quality we got, for a fraction of the price of a new throw away MH!

C-15's in 02 and 03 are good. Pre emissions. If late 03 and later, then they are emissions, and not near as reliable.

Not sure about Cummins, but on the CAT, if you have a manual fuel primer hand pump, replace it. On my CAT C-15 semis, I have had several no start failures, that are fixed by replacing the hand pump. Everything seems fine, cranks good, but will not start. Just replaced one on a 2002 Peterbilt, $108, and you just remove two bolts, take the old one out, put the new one on, and put the bolts back in.

We went down to Q for a coupe weeks this Jan from ND. Pretty cold until we got there. Cold always hurts fuel mileage. We get a little over 6 mpg, traveling interstate speeds. Not quite as good as newer rigs, but when you consider the MUCH lower cost we paid, and the fact that we put on few miles per year, compared to semis, the difference in total cost is not much. Smoke N Mirrors weighs 46,000#, ready to go. LOVED the bus. Did well boon docking. Has 6 12v batteries. Ran the generator a couple hours in the AM, and one to two in the evening. Went 13 days on the fresh, black, and grey tanks. Stopped in Vegas for a couple days on the way home at RV park. Ran out of fresh water there! Pretty good, but, my wife and I both grew up camping with limited water. Same when we had kids camping too. Some had to go to dump and get fresh water every 3 days or so! LOL

I just slide the hitch bar under the MH. All that is out is the wheels of the dolly. Adds 3' or so length.

Agreed, my wife and I both have CDL's, and got insurance discount because of it. If you have a CDL, be sure to let the agent know.

The pink stuff is safe to drink. Yuck taste though! If you have a water heater bypass, it takes about 2 gallons. If not, 2 gallons plus the size of you water tank. I go far enough south to de-winterize, check in at a campground, hook utilities up, and proceed to flush out the system into the sewer. I cannot believe a few gallons of a potable liquid, flushed and diluted into a sewer system that holds thousands of gallons of human waste, etc., can cause any problem. I would think if it did, there would be warning signs all over prohibiting it, or the liquid itself would not be sold. Where were you going to put it in the spring, if you hadn't gone south? Probably in the same places.

OK, thanks. I was just going by personal experience, having several diesels have valves hit pistons in my trucking business, and NONE of them had to be completely rebuilt. I am not saying it cannot happen, it just seemed that the way it was posted, was that if the valve hit the piston, it automatically caused the whole engine to need rebuilding. The point I was trying to make, unsuccessfully it seems, is that it does not automatically cause all these bad things to happen, although they might.

I ALWAYS get all axles aligned on our Class 8 Peterbilts. If the rear axle/axles are out of alignment, they will "push" the front end. Once the rear is straight, then the front can be aligned correctly. Find a good, heavy duty alignment facility, where the big rigs go! Don't mess around with RV or medium duty places. The big boys know what they are doing.

In most small towns in rural, farming areas, there are grain elevators and/or fertilizer suppliers, with scales. Most are out in the open. Most will either allow you to weigh free, or for a small fee. However, if during their busy season, they may not want you to tie up the scale for long. Most of the year, the scales sit there, unused. Some, our local elevator included, actually turn the scale head so it points out the window. That way, it can be used by the patrons after hours to weigh trucks. If that is the case, you are free to use it after hours, for as long as you need!

Not understanding why a dropped valve would require a complete overhaul? You are low miles. Unless somehow other damage done, I would think new piston and bearings in that hole, plus new pieces on the overhead, would fix it. Why would another piston be damaged? Or the crank needing work.

Took the Wanderlodge out for several outings. Love it! We are heading to the big Bluebird Wanderlodge get together at Quartzsite in Jan. Looking forward to meeting a LOT of other BB owners.

Sorry to hear of your problems. Seems like too many for that kind of money. Glad I bought a 1990 Bluebird this summer. Way less than 10% of this cost, Have close to 10,000 miles on it. A few minor problems, but not much.