Bdub753 wrote:
Proxim what gear ratio would you recommend? Also if I do find a shuttle bus with a high GCWR how or who would you recommend to redo the interior? I would love to keep the total cost around $50,000.
If you're going after a bus built on a commercial truck chassis (school, coach, shuttle, etc) then anything from 3.73:1 to 4.56:1 would be good for highway service. Some of these buses (city service) are geared very low, like 6.50:1, which would be insane on the highway and the fuel bill. When it comes to the buses built on heavy duty pickup chassis like the F450/4500 and F550/5500 series trucks/vans, highway service shouldn't be a problem. But you would probably want to get the highest ratio for the chassis, which is typically 4.56:1.
As far as an upfitter, a better source for recommendations would be on one of the bus conversion forums. Most perform a lot of the projects themselves which helps save money, but there's plenty that have their buses converted completely by an upfitter. Here are the biggest groups.
Bus Conversion MagazineSkoolie Bus Nut
