Hello everyone!

[Ilovectabuses]

I just wanted to share my favorite buses. Not only because of the bus itself, it's the way they looks and sound.

MAN 4003, 4054 and 4357

Flxible 5754, 5755, 5757, 5763

GMC 9799, most of the 1000 series (minus no overhead vents, the 9636, 7874, 9600 fleet maintenance series and the white paint scheme with the dark green strip on the bottom and dark brown interior on the inside

Old Flyers before they changed the transmission, same with the GMCs

And the NABI buses...I with they weren't defective

[artthouwill]

I just wanted to share my favorite buses. Not only because of the bus itself, it's the way they looks and sound.

MAN 4003, 4054 and 4357

Flxible 5754, 5755, 5757, 5763

GMC 9799, most of the 1000 series (minus no overhead vents, the 9636, 7874, 9600 fleet maintenance series and the white paint scheme with the dark green strip on the bottom and dark brown interior on the inside

Old Flyers before they changed the transmission, same with the GMCs

And the NABI buses...I with they weren't defective

I will agree with you on the 9600s and the NABIs.

I never liked the sound (nor the interior) of the 5300s, even the Cummins Engined ones, though the 6000s up to 6303 were good. I never liked the 9800/1600 series Flyers either.

[sw4400]

I just wanted to share my favorite buses. Not only because of the bus itself, it's the way they looks and sound.

MAN 4003, 4054 and 4357

Flxible 5754, 5755, 5757, 5763

GMC 9799, most of the 1000 series (minus no overhead vents, the 9636, 7874, 9600 fleet maintenance series and the white paint scheme with the dark green strip on the bottom and dark brown interior on the inside

Old Flyers before they changed the transmission, same with the GMCs

And the NABI buses...I with they weren't defective

What is so special about #4003, #4054 and #4357 with the Americanas and #5754, #5755, #5757 and #5763 with the Flxibles? The Americanas all had the M.A.N D2566 MLUH engine with the Renk-Doromat 874B transmission, and the Flxibles you mentioned all had the Cummins L-10 with the ZF4HP500 transmission(#5754) and the Voith D863.3 transmission(#5755, #5757 and #5763). Anything specific about these buses?

[Ilovectabuses]

What's special about the MAN Americanas I mentioned was that the transmission held the power band longer between shifts on those bus numbers....so did the flxible buses...the transmissions were different, a few 3 and 5 speeds.

[jajuan]

Basically you'd have to know how to listen to individual differences in the engine-transmission combinations for each bus model to catch what Ilovectabuses is talking about because there were in fact distinct differences in certain individual buses as he described. The ones mentioned above were a few of them, but there were also some others that stood out. 4001 and 4003 were similar to the difference Ilovectabuses picked up on for 4004 and 4054 for example. 4016, 4030, 4032, 4041, 4061, 4062, 4086 and 4088 were other examples out of Kedzie Americanas of being a bit different at some point in their service lives. Whereas 4004 and 4054 had variants of the standard gear shift sequence during acceleration, 4016 and the other buses out of the group I mentioned had a gear shift sequence that was completely different from the standard during a part of their service lives before being reworked to sound like the rest by the time they reached their individual moments of retirement.

[garmon757]

What's special about the MAN Americanas I mentioned was that the transmission held the power band longer between shifts on those bus numbers....so did the flxible buses...the transmissions were different, a few 3 and 5 speeds.

I'm trying to figure out if they (4330-61) had a different transmission because they sounded extremely different like a Voith transmission.

[artthouwill]

Basically you'd have to know how to listen to individual differences in the engine-transmission combinations for each bus model to catch what Ilovectabuses is talking about because there were in fact distinct differences in certain individual buses as he described. The ones mentioned above were a few of them, but there were also some others that stood out. 4001 and 4003 were similar to the difference Ilovectabuses picked up on for 4004 and 4054 for example. 4016, 4030, 4032, 4041, 4061, 4062, 4086 and 4088 were other examples out of Kedzie Americanas of being a bit different at some point in their service lives. Whereas 4004 and 4054 had variants of the standard gear shift sequence during acceleration, 4016 and the other buses out of the group I mentioned had a gear shift sequence that was completely different from the standard during a part of their service lives before being reworked to sound like the rest by the time they reached their individual moments of retirement.

That is partially true. On some buses, if you have full throttle, sometimes you actually have to let up on the pedal before the bus transmission shifts into the next gear, otherwise the engine may scream for a minute (especially the GMC buses but also the Flyers). The MANs had more gears, but I don't recall any particular MAN buses that stood out.

I think 9041 used to go into overdrive at about 15 to 20 mph. That generally is a transmission issue. I drove an Eagle bus that would do the same thing, but I could manually drop the bus into 2nd gear and use the gear selector to shift from 2nd to 3rd to D based on the engine rpms. That made it easier to climb inclines rather than the bus struggling uphill.

[Ilovectabuses]

Basically you'd have to know how to listen to individual differences in the engine-transmission combinations for each bus model to catch what Ilovectabuses is talking about because there were in fact distinct differences in certain individual buses as he described. The ones mentioned above were a few of them, but there were also some others that stood out. 4001 and 4003 were similar to the difference Ilovectabuses picked up on for 4004 and 4054 for example. 4016, 4030, 4032, 4041, 4061, 4062, 4086 and 4088 were other examples out of Kedzie Americanas of being a bit different at some point in their service lives. Whereas 4004 and 4054 had variants of the standard gear shift sequence during acceleration, 4016 and the other buses out of the group I mentioned had a gear shift sequence that was completely different from the standard during a part of their service lives before being reworked to sound like the rest by the time they reached their individual moments of retirement.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who paid any attention to how they sound for a minute and here you go understanding exactly what I'm speaking of!!! Amazing! You know, now that I think of it..after you mentions a few other bus numbers, I can't recall if you posted those numbers because I really don't remember but the MAN Americana had the normal bus tranny sound, then you had the 4003 and a few in its class that had the regular sound until 3rd gear and 4th gear were applied and both held the power band longer than it should. Listening to the way the engine sound gave me chills. I use to hope whoever drove the bus was running late do they can drive fast because that's the only way you would hear what I'm speaking of. In normal slow transit, running hot or whstever, the trans acts normal. There was another distinctive engine sound the Man Americana made but I wasn't too fond of. The 2nd gear seemed to be thrown off and the rest of the gears wasn't sequenced right.

You know, if the 6300 series Flxible buses were still in service, those buses sound similar to the MAN Americana and the 4003 in some ways. That's the best example I can give. But you are right on the money!!!

5745-5754 all had the cummins voith combo but the gears changed 4 times. 5755-5765 changed 2 times after the first gear. Whenever I save my money, I'm going to look for the buses and hope that they aren't scrapped do I can buy it.

GM....CTA pusses me off when they rehabbed not only the fishbowl GMC bus transmission but they did the same to the old Flyers. The old flyer buses had a transmission that was perfect! You may not have been able to hear all gears change unless the drive was running late or if the driver was on a route with no stop signs or red lights, less traffic and can roll like Ashland Av beteren Cermak Td and I-55. When u heard the final gear, again, I had chills...that's something u didn't hear often, lol! Once they rehabbed the trans, it was easier for the final gear to be heard making it boring. The GM was the same way. Before, GM had the normal 2 gear bus. Some buses sounded like the Volvo streets and sanitation garbage truck when the truck first take off...this was in the 90s though. I wish I would have recorded the sounds so you all would know exactly what I'm speaking of.