buying a Bluebird

[Ralph L. Fullenwider]

Welcome to the Forum Bruce:

The PT is Pusher with a tag axle. An SP is an Pusher with a single axle.
and of course the FC is Forward Control.

Vintage Birds has a pretty comprehensive listing of the years of Bird's and
when the up grades took place.

The Na is underpowered. (before the guys jump on me) but if set up right
and proper preventative maintenance maintains road speed well but suffers
in the hills. Turbo's came into being in late '83 '84 Models. Tha Allison
four speed is the primary in the FC's However in the PT's the 5 speed was
used on the 6v92 Silvers until around '85 or so then in '86 the Pt's went
to the 8v92.

The '86 and newer FC's will run in the neighborhood of $55K or so depending
on condition. The air ride started in the late 70's I believe and air
breaks came in the 70's. Air breaks are superior to the hydraulic as far as
I am concerned.

The Bird's are solid heavy and made to last as is attested by the vintage
Bird's on the road today. Will they hold up in Mexico, yes as there are
several Bird owners who frequent South of the Boarder.

Good luck in your search.

Safe travels,

Ralph and Charolette Fullenwider
Ralph's RV Solutions, Duncan, Oklahoma
http://home.swbell.net/rlf47/index.htm

At 11:01 PM 3/4/2006 +0000, you wrote:
>I am an experienced RV'r and have restored in the past 2 old units. A
>69 Winnie and 65 Cortez. We have an 02 Bounder DP but I am bored. We
>live in Mexico 6 months of the year and have travelled south in our
>truck campers here a lot. I would not take my Bounder to the South. SO
>I thought maybe an older BB would be strong enough to handle the bad
>roads. I am a former Hot Rodder and can do mechanical work that is not
>too intense. Have been an FMCA memeber for more than 20 years and seen
>lots of BB's at rallies but never paid too much attention. I have a
>million questions. What is a PT? Fc is of course a Forward control.
>When did they go to air brakes? Are the air brakes better than the
>hydraulic? When did air suspension become standard? Is the 3208NA
>underpowered? First year for Turbo? Are they all Allison 4 speed?
>Perhaps you can steer me to a website with some of the answers? I was
>thinking of something under $40,000, maybe less. 1986 or newer. Is that
>possible? Thanks and I will have more questions.
>
>Bruce
>
>