I took the bus out last night for about an hour and a half for a test drive. I worked on bus maneuverability in a large school parking lot, then went for a spin in traffic.

I got back safely and parked it just before dark. Every mechanical system worked, so that's good. However, several of the cabinet locks failed, and the cabinet doors opened. The stove also moved about an inch, and the fridge was more "wobbly" than I would have liked. So, I'll spend the next day fixing that stuff before we leave on our trip on Saturday morning.

Post by: windtrader 

I'm glad the maiden shakedown cruise went well. It’s great to see you finally getting down the road in the bus. Good luck and happy and uneventful travels.

Post by: epretot 

We made it to the first campsite by dark. Nothing went terribly wrong. The biggest issue is that the driver's windshield wiper over-traveled and broke. I fixed it when we arrived at our destination. Also, the tag axle light came on and off regardless of the switch position, but it is mostly off.

I’m averaging over five miles to the gallon. I ran the generator to keep the house A/C running, and that used some fuel as well.  I'll give an update after day two of driving.

Post by: bronson 

How did you do on Jellico Mountain? That was the big test on my first big trip. Safe travels!

Post by: epretot 

Sorry for the delay.  I was busy getting us set up in the new location.  Here is the day two travel update.

The entrance door opened on my way up Jellico Mountain. I messed up the switch controlling the door, and it thought it was open. The good news was that it happened right before an exit, and I was able to fix it in two minutes. But that scared the wife in the passenger seat pretty good.

I also successfully navigated my first fuel stop, one of my biggest concerns. The only problem was the pump kicks off at $125.00, which was annoying, requiring me to restart the pump to add more fuel to my tank. Are the big truck stops like that?

The windshield wiper was an ongoing issue. I think there is a gear slipping or something. I knew about this immediately, as I tested it before leaving the campsite.

I bought some Rain-X and applied it to the entire windshield. Then, I drove to Tampa without wipers. The Rain-X helped a lot. In fact, it rained really hard for a while, and I could see fine. However, I was only driving 35 MPH through the rain.

Publishers Note:  If you have never tried Rain-X (rain repellent), just for fun, apply it to the driver's side windshield but not the passenger side so you can see the difference.  The only problem with using Rain-X is it leaves a film on the windshield by design, which gets worse over time. Therefore, I only use Rain-X when I expect rain and I use regular windshield cleaner on expected clear days. But be aware that regular window cleaner will not completely remove the Rain-X film. Rain-X, X-treme Clean is designed to remove the Rain-X film. The haze left on the windshield can make driving toward the sun more challenging.  

I lost the bushings on the front driver's side shock, so I have to replace those. I had just replaced some of the rear ones.

Finally, I was able to pull the bus into our family’s house with little effort. Of course, they all came out and told me to watch out for the hydrant, ditch, vehicles, tree, etc., as though this commotion brought a lot of peace and confidence.  So, I looked for the hydrant, ditch, vehicles, tree, etc., and proceeded to pull in after shutting the driver's window to drown them out.

I was genuinely afraid to drive the bus at first. It is amazing how just a couple of hours of maneuverability practice helped. It was a little scary at times, but ultimately, I had a blast despite having to be on high alert the entire time.

I describe it as being "switched on" for hours at a time.  It's kind of exhausting.  But that's it. We made our maiden voyage without any major issues.

Post by: Coach_and_Crown_Guy 

If you've never driven a full-size MCI or another brand 102" 45-foot long coach, you have every reason to be afraid of driving it. If you weren't frightened, I'd question your sanity and long-term ability to drive it safely. You don't mention any previous bus experience, and I assume as a senior member of this forum, you must have had a bus before this. If so, you already have the basics down, but the 102" 45-foot-long bus is longer than you're used to.

I drive these 45-footers for a living, and believe me when I tell you that they give me pause sometimes, and I've driven every kind of coach and Crown for the past 55 years. That's one reason why I like my 96" wide Crowns and the 96" MC-12 bus I recently picked up. I wouldn't mind getting a really clean Western Region rust-free MCI-D coach; they are only 40 feet long, and even though they are 102" wide, they are much less of a hassle when you get them in close quarters than the 45-foot big boys. 

If you want to feel real fear, try taking your DL to San Francisco and driving the city tours like I used to do with an MCI-J Coach. That'll get the adrenaline flowing for sure. I always came away thinking that the damn buses were not really intended to go into the city proper.  They are just too big and unwieldy, even though we all did it and still do, because that's what the industry uses as the de-facto standard in buses today. 

But for my own personal fun and joy, I find a solid 96" wide older model works better since I intend to go places, into mountains, and out of the way places where the 102" is just asking for problems. 45-feet long, no way. They are also restricted on several of the most scenic roads in the country. Highway 1 south of Big Sur, for instance, down to San Simeon, no 45-foot buses allowed.

My thought regarding your windshield wiper problem is to ask if you have air-powered wipers. You'd know if you have the rotating air valves, one for each side, that you turn to the left to start the wipers running and turn to the right to "park" the wipers when done; that's a spring-loaded position if they are the factory-installed air wipers.  

The industry standard back then, until very recently, was the air wipers.  Now, they have all started using electric motors. The air wipers are something you will get used to and you will learn the various little tricks and symptoms they can give you. They are an acquired taste and can be rather finicky to set and adjust correctly, but once they are set up right, they can be very reliable and give good service for many years. But they are becoming a rather lost art in operating and properly maintaining them.

For instance, if you haven't driven the bus for a while and the air system hasn't been run up to full pressure, you'll find that the windshield wiper control valves on the dash will leak air.  Tweak them back and forth, and they should stop leaking. The leaks are caused by the seals in the valves drying out. This is very typical and a perfect example of how long the bus sits without being driven, and all manner of little leaks, weeps, rattles, vibrations, etc., will be exaggerated.  

But they will all go away as you drive the bus more regularly. Drive it as much as you can afford to, and know that they are all designed to be driven hard and often in commercial service. The more you drive it, the better it likes it, and the little annoyances will soon fade away. Seeing how the buses start performing better with fewer little problems the more you drive them is amazing. 

As private owners with less operating capital, we can never approach the pace of the commercial operators and how they ran these buses 24/7 to generate as much revenue as they could. The buses did this for years at a time, for hundreds of thousands of miles. It is pretty awesome when you stop and think about it.

The fueling issue, where it stops at $125, is usually a factor of the credit card being used.  You should be able to either pre-pay what you think it will take when you open the pump with your credit card or with cash. One thing to remember is just how much that DL fuel tank holds. It should be very close to 200 gallons. The J-Coach I drove held 225 gallons, and when I filled that baby up, it cost $700/800, ten years ago, outside of California.

Without knowing what engine you have, I'd guess you can get at least a 1000-mile range easily before needing a full tank of fuel again. 5-6 MPG is about the average for all the large engines used in the MCIs at that time. By the way, I think the pre-2002 period, and preferably pre-1999 vintage years, were the best for all-around simplicity and overall reliability where a private owner could maintain it without breaking the bank or needing extensive computer diagnostic tools, etc.

Relax in your DL and allow time to get used to the outside edges and corners of your bus that are always trying to hit something, such as the rear right corner, top and bottom, with trees, hydrants, poles, and such. The other favorite is the right side just in front of the drive axle when you turn too sharp and forget it's a long 45-foot bus. That's the new-driver favorite trick.  Another thing to pay close attention to is when you pull away from a curb to NOT turn too hard to the left to merge into traffic. Pull away in a very shallow departure or you will hit that dreaded right rear corner on something.  

The most important thing to be aware of the 45-foot-long buses is the very real danger is driveways, both entering and leaving and the extreme risk of high-centering the bus between the drive axle and front axle. Also, you can drag the tail and catch it there as well, which is just as expensive to call a tow truck to get you out of the jam. Ask me how I know this. 

If you drive it long enough, you will find this all out for yourself.  We all do.  Anyone who tries to tell you they've never high-centered a 45-foot coach is either too new to have experienced it yet or is lying to you. It's a rite of passage. Once you do, you'll forever feel the fear of driveways, sharp dips, parking lots, and many other terrain features that can and sometimes do ruin your whole day. But not to worry, it's usually the one you don't see coming that gets you, as in all things with big vehicles.

That's why I like my predictable, and much more forgiving 96" wide bus with more clearances all around and underneath and the 40-foot length. They are less stressful to drive and can get into places the larger buses cannot. I like to say that with a Crown, if I can drive into something and it turns terrible, I can usually manage to drive myself out of it. With almost any other coach, I can't say that, and that's why I always get out and walk the terrain to scope it out first before I even try to take the bus in. You would do well to consider the same procedure. When in doubt, just don't do it. If you must, get out and walk it first to ensure you can turn around and get yourself out again if things go bad. 

Post by: windtrader 

I'm glad it went well, all things considered. You might want to choose truck stops for fuel. They are designed for big rigs to get in and out of quickly and easily. Get an EFS fuel card, (for diesel fuel only) and you'll find good prices, not the lowest, but at least the pumps in truck stops are set up for big rigs. The local small fuel stations can be full of surprises, and it is very easy to graze something along the island.

Post by: plyonsMC9 

Glad the trip went well!  Re: high-centering, I learned a lot from this thread from a few years ago as you can read here.

https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/forum/index.php?topic=21477.0

And that thread was just for the 96" x 40-foot-long MC-9!! I ended up having a spotter walk alongside, and I worked on the instructions described in the thread as well. The way things turned out on that run, instead of needing the spotter to stop me from high center, I needed him to lift a low powerline off the bus. I crossed the tracks without issues and didn't smash the generator exhaust pipe.

Managing the high center / rear-end drag challenge by doing when I can with the diagonal approach, I think, has saved me many headaches.  At the same time, I will walk a parking lot (or ask the wife to do so) looking for the least extreme angle.  And if I'm concerned, as posted by Coach_and_Crown_Guy, I just don't do it.  I've had enough problems over the years to ask for more. 

I do believe the 96" buses are much easier to maneuver.  Length doesn't seem as problematic.  And I know that the turning radius for a 40-foot-long MC-9 vs. DL3-45 with trailing tag axle is supposed to have the same turning radius, but it just doesn't feel like it's the same and I have driven both. 

No matter what, I love driving the MCI-DL3, and I'm working hard to master the "gotchas." It is a beautiful model bus, IMHO. Keep working hard and respect the vehicle—it seems almost always a mistake to just "go for it." Double/triple-check things before driving on.