Boon docking and off pavement with a 45' coach.

[someguy]

What are the limits of a 45 foot coach as far as going off pavement ? 

I know that wet grass is off limits.  I've seen a lot of regular RVs get stuck in wet grass too.  Many trucks pulling 5th wheels have the truck carrying only 50% of the combination weight.   Not much worse than the drive axle on a coach with the tag up ?   Except the coach ground pressure is > 100PSI, whereas a pickup truck is ~50 PSI.

Will a coach go up a gravel logging road that a logging truck goes on ?  The MCI J4500s have the capability to raise the suspension for a higher ride height.

Anyone have a locking axle in their coach ? 

Highway tires are useless off pavement.  Anyone running a more aggressive tread ?  Have you ever aired down the tires for more flotation ?  Down to 60 PSI ?  Anyone running 365s ?  Anyone carry tire chains in winter ?

Do you carry a tow strap ?  A kinetic recovery rope ?   A winch ?

When you are traveling long distances and want to just stop and overnight somewhere, where do you park ?   

With the 5th wheel, I'd drive until late in the night and then pull over on a side street in a small town.  Did it many times, was never asked to move.   Have stayed at Walmarts but generally avoided them.

I spent a week in California south of LA.  Couldn't find a campsite.  Every morning we pulled into a beach parking lot and stayed until it closed.   Put out the awning, enjoyed the day.   Every night we pulled into parking lot behind a nearly strip mall.  We were sure to pull out at 8AM.  Employees saw us in the morning, but never said a word.

We've also slept in church parking lots with great success.  Never spent the day at these places but the nights were fine.  Generally all we need is a night.  Parking during the day isn't a problem.

What is the closest you've ever parked to water ?

What is the most remote place you've ever camped with your coach ?

Ever needed a tow to get out ?

How does a bus handle icy winter roads ?

[Jim Blackwood]

It's best to avoid driving in the yard unless the ground is very dry or rocky.

Jim

[buswarrior]

No locker diffs available for a coach. Wish there was... might look into what suitable donor could be rolled over, but not bored enough presently...

Trouble with getting pulled out, there's no decent hard points to attach your recovery strap to. Damage to the coach is often a result, and is under reported on these boards, as peeps don't brag about screwing up and/or breaking their coach.

If off roading in a coach worked, those adventurous old men who preceded us, with no internet to distract them, would have been doing it, and we would be following... they didn't, and we best not, for the same reasons... don't buy into this modern idea that everyone who came before us wasn't capable, interested or worthy...

Yes, lots of urban/guerilla camping gets done by busnuts. Many take pride that they have not paid for camping in many years.

Winter operations, nothing beats a 35/40 foot coach in the snow. Absolutely rock solid and stable. Stopping, same as everything else, you need some room. (Provided brake maintenance is up to date... uneven braking is quite exciting in any vehicle on the slippery stuff)

A 45 must have the front axle loaded heavy, as they are proportionately light in the front, and will most annoyingly slide when trying to get turned. They also will spin the drives more, trying to start out, as the tag axle is more heavily loaded/drives less, and the whole coach weighs more/ wider tires plowing, than the shorter buses.

Been driving 45's, DL, E, J, H345, TD925 for many years, up here in the Frozen North, don't really want a 45 foot camper...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[richard5933]

I believe that off-road use is one of the places a school bus conversion will shine. They have much more ground clearance potential. While still a single drive axle without lockup diff, they seem to be a better option off roading.

[luvrbus]

Gravel roads cost you air fliters,In Idaho sometime you have no choice I drove on a lot of gravel roads this summer,mine is heavy on the front axle ,driving in some areas my automatic traction control would engage  at least the light on the dash said it did 

[dtcerrato]

I believe that off-road use is one of the places a school bus conversion will shine. They have much more ground clearance potential. While still a single drive axle without lockup diff, they seem to be a better option off roading.

A steel spring high profile Silversides would be good like a schoolie off road. What sticks in the center of my noggin while off road is the weight & low ground clearance. When lack of power enters the equation - the toad gooses!

[lostagain]

I am with BW re the 45'. Driven them lots in commercial service, too big for a motor home.

Our 35' MC5C suits us well. Driving it puts a bigger smile on my face than driving a brand new Prevost or MCI car...

Closed shoulder blocky tread drive tires that are fairly quiet on pavement, but have good traction in snow and off road. Carrying chains is mandatory in many provinces and states in the winter. Have used them on occasion, but with the weight of the engine and trans on top of the drive axle, the traction is good. If you have tags, you can raise it in slippery condition to load the drives for more traction.

Off road: yea. We live on a gravel road. The farm yard is gravel and dirt. You get good at judging whether to dive in or not. You would miss a lot of nice places if you restricted yourself to pavement only. Driving grain trucks, you go get loaded in the field during harvest. It gets exiting at times pulling a B train out of there in soft ground... The more you drive your bus, the more confident you get, and good at judging the ground in front of you. If in doubt, get out to look on foot. I carry a big tow strap, just in case.

Overnight all over the place: WM, Home Depot, Lowes, Cracker Barrel, truck stops, rest areas, industrial  side streets, etc, etc.

Do you have a subscription to Bus Conversion Magazine? I have written a few articles on winter driving, driving up and down big hills, etc.

JC

[luvrbus]

A 45 ft will limit places you go ,this summer I only found 1 place I could not get into with the tag axle raised and that was a camp ground in Lowman Id I love on the river   

[lostagain]

If I sold my MC5, I would be tempted by a 45 foot, seeing how gorgeous yours is Clifford. I am not totally against them, lol.

JC

[luvrbus]

If I sold my MC5, I would be tempted by a 45 foot, seeing how gorgeous yours is Clifford. I am not totally against them, lol.

JC

Sonja's have to have 4 slides limit mine too JC ,I am going back to school to figure out how to work the TV's

[belfert]

My 43 foot bus has never been in a campground or hooked to a pole except at home.  All of my camping is boondocking and usually requires travel off of paved roads.  I have yet to have an issue with highway tires.  The one and only time I got stuck was after my bus sat in a gravel storage lot all winter.  I was finally able to back out of the spot after spending quite a bit of time trying to get out. 

[someguy]

These replies are more encouraging than I thought they would be.

Yes, 45 feet is long.   But my current rig is 50 feet long and just as tall.  The weight is the real issue.   

The biggest thing I'm worried about is parking in a grass pasture at a music festival and then getting lots of rain and having to drive out on wet grass.   But that gives just about every big RV a lot of grief.  I think I'd carry a pair of light tire chains to help in situations like that.

I'm happy to hear that these buses are well behaved on snowy highways.   

[someguy]

Gravel roads cost you air fliters,In Idaho sometime you have no choice I drove on a lot of gravel roads this summer,mine is heavy on the front axle ,driving in some areas my automatic traction control would engage  at least the light on the dash said it did

The air filter on these coaches is huge.  They can be blown out if you do it carefully.  If you did this a lot, you'd install a prefilter/safety filter inside the main filter, like they do on some tractors. 

[someguy]

No locker diffs available for a coach. Wish there was... might look into what suitable donor could be rolled over, but not bored enough presently..

Pre 2014 coaches run a standard truck rear axle.  It is quite simple to swap gear ratios and put a locker in it by swapping in the center section of a different differential.   The ECM would probably need to be reprogrammed with the new axle ratio too.

You can get a locker in a Prevost from the factory.

Post 2014 coaches use a ZF rear axle.  Not a great thing as far as I'm concerned.

[buswarrior]

Pre 2014 coaches run a standard truck rear axle.  It is quite simple to swap gear ratios and put a locker in it by swapping in the center section of a different differential.   The ECM would probably need to be reprogrammed with the new axle ratio too.

You can get a locker in a Prevost from the factory.

Post 2014 coaches use a ZF rear axle.  Not a great thing as far as I'm concerned.

"Standard truck axle" means something different to you than it does to someone looking to swap one... they are upside down, and not every axle can be rolled over.

Put a regular truck axle under your bus, and it will have multiple speeds in reverse...

The guys who were trying to get different gears back a bunch of years ago, to match their drivetrain swaps, had to do a lot of research and find a bemused representative at the axle manufacturers to give them a hand.

A stock locker would be nice.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior