Hello Forum,
I'm a surprised new Barth owner - won a Navy Barth on a government surplus auction site.

The BARTH id is 8905-3607-34TS-33.
I'm interpreting this to be DOM May89, Seq# 3607, Length 34', T = Tag Axle, S = Spartan?, -33 = ???

Its interior is like a mobile office - no beds, kitchen, or bathroom. Odometer shows 43K miles.

The VIN is 17N640125KW004115. Beenverified indicates this is a Deere Chassis but has zero other information (probably because it was a DoD vehicle).

Is there any way to get more specs on this coach? Also, by the photos, its going to need a driveshaft - not sure how easy this would be to obtain. Any help, guidance, encouragement, and/or redirection is MUCH appreciated.

Welcome to the site. Barth coaches are quite variable: Gillig, Spartan, MCC, GM and John Deere chassis with Cat, Cummins, GM and Ford engines. A few Dodge chassis, too.

The Oshkosh units appeared in the late 80's and had higher GVWR chassis than the GM. The longer GM chassis (31+) required Neway TA-3 or TA-5 tag axles. Most of the Oshkosh units were 30+ without tag axle.

The Oshkosh units are more rare than the GM and your tag axle unit is even more rare. We have records of only one other tag axle unit, a 36ft with a Granning tag axle. It was also a police specialty vehicle.

I think you are mostly correct with your Barth number. 34ft and (T)ag axle should be correct. I suspect the S is for Specialty Vehicle and the 33 maybe for floor plan or layout.

The John Deere/Oshkosh/Ford units usually had Ford 460 V8 engines and C-6 transmissions. Many of the chassis parts are still available. We have a service manual link and a parts catalog here on the site. Not sure what was used for your tag axle, it may also be a Granning axle.

service manual link: http://www.cdr-roc.com/89JD/89-JD-Chassis-manual.pdf

Parts Catalog: http://truckroadservice.com/ba...re_chassis_parts.pdf

Driveshafts p50-16 to 50-19

The Oshkosh chassis was used by Freightliner and parts may be available there. They may be able to help you with the driveshaft. If not, any good driveshaft shop should be able to replace the tubular center, reweld and balance.

Good luck with your project!