Jump Starting a Bus?!
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:13 pm
Greetings wise ones...
Situation:
I've got a bus w/ a dead battery that I need to move before Monday (Story below). It's a 1973 International Carpenter. The battery is a huge wedding cake sized drawer mounted thing that I doubt I could lift myself. (6 - 2v cells in a single plastic body, rated 1150 cca).
Can I jump this rig using from a standard vehichle? I've got a '92 land cruiser and a '82 chevy C20 in my stable. Both w/ very large batteries (800+ cca). Just follow typical jump starting practices? Or are there tricks to launching a bus? Can I jump it putting the cables on the + and - terminals of the battery? (since I can't stretch the - to the engine block, and the + down to the battery drawer)
Normally I'd just pull a battery and throw it on the charger, but I really don't think it's physically possible in this case. Once I get it home I can put a tender on the battery and keep it plugged in.
Story:
A long time ago when we first decided to move into busses, we saw an ad in the paper - the school district was takin' bids on a bus that they had to eject from the fleet. Apparently this model has questionable roof strength in a roll-over accident. So, after 32 years as a daily driver, they had to put # 12 out to pasture.
After takin' a peek, we put in the minimum bid (1k), and forgot about it. Well, it turns out we were the only ones to bid.... So we couldn't back out even though we've got another bus in the works. Not that we mind much (other than scrapin' up cash unexpectedly) - this bus is in pretty amazing shape - brand new clutch last spring, excellent tires, no major leaks, no serious rust, and regularly maintained. And the speedo reads 73K! <grin> There was a small pool forming w/ guesses about how many times that has rolled around.
We are going to stick to our second bus plan - pull all the seats, dress it up w/ wood floors, and install shelves on both sides. And finally get all of our books and vinyl out of storage and set up a proper library and listening room. Also dreaming of adding a glassed-in reading nook on the roof, and my daugter has requested a slide down the back of the bus to the ground.
Anyway - dreams are good, but right now we just need to get it stashed while we work on our other bus (posts to come) and prepare for a wet winter in the woods. And Tuesday is the first day of school. Our bus is parked in front of the school... Hence the window of action.
So, thanks for any tips or insight for a newbie learning to jump a bus, and we'll keep you posted. Also, if anyone knows a good source of information on this rig (shop manuals, etc), it would be much appreciated.
TinnedFish
Situation:
I've got a bus w/ a dead battery that I need to move before Monday (Story below). It's a 1973 International Carpenter. The battery is a huge wedding cake sized drawer mounted thing that I doubt I could lift myself. (6 - 2v cells in a single plastic body, rated 1150 cca).
Can I jump this rig using from a standard vehichle? I've got a '92 land cruiser and a '82 chevy C20 in my stable. Both w/ very large batteries (800+ cca). Just follow typical jump starting practices? Or are there tricks to launching a bus? Can I jump it putting the cables on the + and - terminals of the battery? (since I can't stretch the - to the engine block, and the + down to the battery drawer)
Normally I'd just pull a battery and throw it on the charger, but I really don't think it's physically possible in this case. Once I get it home I can put a tender on the battery and keep it plugged in.
Story:
A long time ago when we first decided to move into busses, we saw an ad in the paper - the school district was takin' bids on a bus that they had to eject from the fleet. Apparently this model has questionable roof strength in a roll-over accident. So, after 32 years as a daily driver, they had to put # 12 out to pasture.
After takin' a peek, we put in the minimum bid (1k), and forgot about it. Well, it turns out we were the only ones to bid.... So we couldn't back out even though we've got another bus in the works. Not that we mind much (other than scrapin' up cash unexpectedly) - this bus is in pretty amazing shape - brand new clutch last spring, excellent tires, no major leaks, no serious rust, and regularly maintained. And the speedo reads 73K! <grin> There was a small pool forming w/ guesses about how many times that has rolled around.
We are going to stick to our second bus plan - pull all the seats, dress it up w/ wood floors, and install shelves on both sides. And finally get all of our books and vinyl out of storage and set up a proper library and listening room. Also dreaming of adding a glassed-in reading nook on the roof, and my daugter has requested a slide down the back of the bus to the ground.
Anyway - dreams are good, but right now we just need to get it stashed while we work on our other bus (posts to come) and prepare for a wet winter in the woods. And Tuesday is the first day of school. Our bus is parked in front of the school... Hence the window of action.
So, thanks for any tips or insight for a newbie learning to jump a bus, and we'll keep you posted. Also, if anyone knows a good source of information on this rig (shop manuals, etc), it would be much appreciated.
TinnedFish