Thomas School Bus Training Seminar
Tomorrow three of us from the shop are going to attend a Thomas bus seminar which will cover navigation of the accessfreightliner website, servicelink and the thomasbusonline website. The accessfreightliner allows us to log in and enter the VIN of any one of our buses where we can find chassis parts and technical information.
PartsPro
For parts search there is a link called PartsPro which accesses parts related to the VIN. Anything can be found that’s related to the engine like exhaust piping, charge air and coolant hoses for example. This assists us in finding parts quickly with the freightliner part number to assist the dealer to get parts in our hands faster.
ServiceLink
Servicelink gives us access to the multiplexing system and modules using the J1939 datalink connector. After logging in to accessfreightliner.com you get to servicelink from the home page where we can get into the electrical side of the C2 conventional school buses and check out circuits, switches and test components for proper operation.
Having Servicelink is a valuable tool and the only objection in our shop was getting the proper training on how to use it efficiently. So the training tomorrow will really help to clear up some problems we’ve had navigating and understanding the process.
ServicePro
There is also ServicePro which covers the technical side of things. Honestly we have not used this link much and look forward to getting more out of it with some detailed instruction on how to get around the information properly. It just takes so much time surfing back and forth learning as you go so this is a great opportunity to get familiar with the system.
Thomas Bus Online
Last but not least is thomasbusonline.com which is another handy site we have been using to find bill of material information…. in other words what came with the bus related to the VIN (entered on the home page). This site is an excellent resource for body parts like lighting, glass and body panels. There are also chassis information available mostly for the Pusher Thomas buses.
The navigation part has been a learning experience since it’s been around longer than the freightliner site but still we are interested to find out easier ways to find parts faster. So I will be reporting back with a blog post or two to share what we learn at the training seminar.
My Cat Bo
Thanks for reading and excuse my cat Bo for trying to steal the show in the video. He craves attention and it would be interesting to understand what he’s saying. We got him from the local SPCA and picked him because he was the smallest and the loudest cat in the building 🙂
