OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY PD4501 now mine

[Mighty_Thor]

I have been pining for a Scenicruiser for years and yesterday I got one. #149 is now mine.
It will need a fair amount of work but There are so few of them left that I couldn't walk away. Now I just have to convince the wife that I am not an idiot and still useful.
Could be I just bought my new home. Oh well, could be worse, I could have had the hots for a corvette.

[luggnutts]

WOW.. now thats a motorhome. Keep those pictures coming .

[BrianinMichigan]

Another one for parts?http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/rvs/5180855927.html

[Mighty_Thor]

Rather than try to repost everything from my other discussions, I will put a link here to try to tie in everything that is happening. I have been spending more time on the second Scenicruiser and that has prevented me from updating this thread as much as I would like. But, I will try to keep things tied together a little better. Also, ended up with a third bus, 1959 4104 that is still set up as a passenger bus. Not sure what the future holds for that one, but it is almost as neat as the first two buses.

Anyhow here is a link to the thread I maintain for the build of the second Scenicruiser. PD 4501 472
Scenicruiser 472 buildup

[Mighty_Thor]

dodge guy wrote:
Anyone see the Future Liner that was just restored on one of the car shows on The Velocity Channel? turned out real nice!

Or the one that is set to be auctioned off at the January Barret Jackson auction?

[dodge_guy]

Anyone see the Future Liner that was just restored on one of the car shows on The Velocity Channel? turned out real nice!

[mike_brez]

http://www.randygrubb.com

[buta4]

K9Sailors wrote:
That'd be the Decoliner. Check out randygrubb.com (unable to link)

YUP. That's the one.

[K9Sailors]

That'd be the Decoliner. Check out randygrubb.com (unable to link)

[buta4]

Dale.Traveling wrote:
Too cool. Think it's stainless under the paint? Could you configure a flying bridge on the econd level? I had one about 40 years ago, a Matchbox. Wonder what mine would be worth today?

I recall a video of Jay Leno and a camper owner who had a fly bridge on the roof of the camper. It was a bus-type rv. real cool setup!

[Mr_Mark1]

Mighty Thor wrote:
We worked all summer getting the little things done so that we could move the Second bus home. We had to build an independent light system rather than depend on the factory system. Also had to repair some of the air system for the warning light and the front leveler. Once we had the bus ready it took a little while to get our crew all lined up. Finally the day arrived and we took off. The trip itself was fairly uneventful. We did get a little video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0_Y3nx4FygY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cCe0lnIVrVY

The video's were wonderful!, thanks for sharing.

MM.

[NC_Roamer]

I am glad someone posted to this thread which popped it up into the active category as I was not on the forum when it originated. What a great old bus!

My dad was a Greyhound driver from 1953-1983 and I used to go to work with him when I was a kid. We never knew what model bus he would be driving when we left the house for the station. I was always thrilled to see a Scenic Cruiser sitting at the gate.

Good luck with your project. It is more than I could ever tackle.

[Bill_Diana]

Lots and lots of info about the PD4501. Just did a google search. Click here.

I can vaguely remember seeing these as a kid on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Thanks for sharing and hope to see some progress photos in the coming months.

[Mighty_Thor]

We worked all summer getting the little things done so that we could move the Second bus home. We had to build an independent light system rather than depend on the factory system. Also had to repair some of the air system for the warning light and the front leveler. Once we had the bus ready it took a little while to get our crew all lined up. Finally the day arrived and we took off. The trip itself was fairly uneventful. We did get a little video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0_Y3nx4FygY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cCe0lnIVrVY

[Mighty_Thor]

OK,
So thinking that one bus was not enough, I bought a second scenicruiser and I will relay that story elsewhere. But it got me inspired to get back to work on 149. One issue that I knew we had was a locked up brake on the tag axle.

First step, remove the rearmost wheels on the driver's side. One of the inner stud/nuts was rounded off so I went to get a new one and luckily I took the old one with me because the parts store wanted to sell me a left hand thread when the one I took off was right hand thread. After some discussion, I got one like I had, and then went back to the bus. Folks in the know suggested that I should check all the wheels on the bus because the left side should have left hand threads. Sure enough, someone has swapped all of the rear hubs on the bus side for side. so now I have to switch them back.


As for the brake issue, I had a little difficulty removing the straight slot screws that hold the brake drum to the hub because someone had previously dimpled the snot out of them, presumably to keep them from coming loose. After braking one impact driver bit, I headed for the local tool supply store to get the big boy set of straight bits. After some generous whacks I got the screws out but I will not be putting the messed up ones back in. I hope to find replacements that are torx or something.

With the brake drum off I found that the rear brake pad was missing, except for a few pieces that had jammed between the drum and some of the brake hardware. Rivets are all gone too. Just a bare shoe. The front pad appeared to be new but was coated in goo that resembled roofing tar. That same goo also covers virtually everything else on that side of the axle.

I thought I would check the inside of the hub and started to remove the cover bolts but the first one I touched fell out in my hand the second I turned it with a wrench. It had been glued in place with RTV because the bolt was broken inside the hub. (crap) Most of the rest of the bolts were stripped or just hanging on by a thread or two. Looks like I will be investing in some machine work before I get this issue resolved. Since I will be working on a similar issue on the other bus very soon I decided to leave the hub problem for another day.