What I play with all day...

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Mike, the VII's mainly have issues with smaller design aspects as well as some larger components (mufflers, steering boxes, hydraulic fan motors and other multiplexing programs)
A lot of the engine troubles are inherent to the CNG aspect of the fuel system.   They run much hotter than diesels and are very finicky with the fuel management as well.
We've been through 2 designs of mufflers (actually melt the steel because of exh temps) 4-5 different designs of exhaust blankets (we have 4 or 5 40ft flower pots in the depot because of fire....real scary on a CNG bus)
Also on the engine side, the low psi regulators (drop the working psi to the engine from 3600 psi down to 110 psi) have been reworked 4 or 5 times as well.
We have outside vendors doing warranty work on the engine side (Atlantic Detroit Diesel)   The MTA bought a 5 year warranty on the New Flyers and only a 2 year on the VII.....all of our buses are almost off warranty now.     This is where the fun begins.   Sadly, out of the 60 or so Maintainers in my depot (thats their title...not mechanics) only a small handfull are decent diagnosticians....all the rest are parts changers.     The parts changers went out with the old RTS 04 & 06......now those were REAL buses!     Black smoke belchin', 8-71 blown, run forever beasts!     I've seen small animals get sucked into the blower screen to stay running!

Funny thing is that Daimler owns Atlantic Diesel as well so they're shooting themselves in both feet!
The MTA has put many a company out of business before.....I believe Atlantic is next!

Never had any VI's here, only V's and they have been retrofitted so many times they cant print up wiring diagram revisions fast enough!

RTS was a real bus when GM owned it.  Couldnt kill them.   The NOVA design is still much better than these low-floor crappers we have.  NYC streets are killers on them.  Because of the low profile tires on the New Flyers you wouldnt believe how many rims/tires we go through a week!   Good Year will never go out of business as long as the MTA is around!  (We're actually starting to convert the New Flyers to use the Orion VII tires now to try and allieveiate some of the damage)   oh did I mention that we got these buses in '99 (N/F) and NOW they are converting the tire sizes???

Here's the newest member to our fleet. The Hybrid electric model.   The MTA has about 50 of these now with about 300 more on order.   Dont have any at my location though



PS---Mike, where do you work???   Orion?

[John_Kunkel]

One of my babies.

[NHCharger]

One of my babies.

WOW.
John, could you give a tad more info? Do you maintain, fly or design that bad boy?

[RD]

I work with the first, to help the second.

[John_Kunkel]

One of my babies.

WOW.
John, could you give a tad more info? Do you maintain, fly or design that bad boy?

Used to maintain them, retired now. The one in the pic (FB111A 67-0159) was asssigned to our engineering flight test outfit at McClellan AFB near Sacramento; it has been repainted camo and resides in the museum there.

[gunner22]

i got you all beat, i get paid to beat meat.
Ben

[TruckDriver]

i got you all beat, i get paid to beat meat.
Ben

Boy, I bet that makes you a cut above the rest. You know, something you can really hack

[yellowcuda]

Should have known this title would hit the gutter sooner or later....can't believe it took so long!

[greenpigs]

It was clean because I stayed away.

[BB1]

Just another desk job that moves at 70mph. It's only 18,000. Horsepower.  

[dodgecharger-fan]

18,000 hp and it only hits 70!???

You should lose some weight off of that thing and maybe look into some different gears.     

[greenpigs]

And 493 thinks he has problems

[Blusmbl]

I don't play with this one anymore, but I usually never have a unique supply of vehicles to "manage".

[The Ghoul]

ok the last two arnt pictures of the ones i get to play with. and the last one is a model, i couldent find a picture of a real one!
Mostly I get to jockie CAD programs for teams that are trying improve these critters.

[73dodge]

Sorry not as cool as a F111 or a choo choo but it's a paycheck

This is the 15th one of these I put in this year

[cvuk2500]

I used to play with Tanks, but now I play with machine tools:

[rollingthunder]

another one of those 70 mph 12000 hp desk jobs.

[charger_72_318]

Sorry not as cool as a F111 or a choo choo but it's a paycheck

This is the 15th one of these I put in this year

[Todd Wilson]

another one of those 70 mph 12000 hp desk jobs.

A bunch of mainline queens!



Todd - grumpy old switchman!

[Todd Wilson]

Hef asked me to post this for him.............

[derailed]

another one of those 70 mph 12000 hp desk jobs.

A bunch of mainline queens!



Todd - grumpy old switchman!

For some reason i still prefer to be an extra board slut on those fat relief jobs claiming all the glory

[rollingthunder]

another one of those 70 mph 12000 hp desk jobs.

A bunch of mainline queens!



Todd - grumpy old switchman!

don't feel bad Todd if it wasn't for the grumpy old switch man there wont be any mainline queens to make fun of.

[Charger_Croatia]

I have to deal with owners with those toys.
Trust me - IT IS NOT FUN AT ALL! (see space around engine)

[73dodge]

Sorry not as cool as a F111 or a choo choo but it's a paycheck

This is the 15th one of these I put in this year

Um, what seems to be the problem? don't like SUN servers or IBM eServers?

Don't be fooled that is actually a PBX VoIP phone system