Ambulance recovery. Bought without any details and then road trip across the country.

[Ozrockrat]

This is just to provide some background on purchasing vehicles sight unseen on the other side of the country and how I go about getting them.

I live in Phoenix and it seems like all the medium duty ambulances are on the east coast. So for the 3rd time I find myself buying a truck 2000 + miles away without a mechanics report or being able to see, drive or test it in any way.

This one is a 2005 Freightliner M2 106 with a Cat C7. 150,000 miles and the only description was "just removed from service condition fair". A question to the selling authority also got the reply "yes it does run" to the string of questions I asked.

But it's mine now and luckily I work all over the country and happened to be working within a couple of hundred miles of the truck.

I packed my essential toolkit (more details to follow) and headed out.

The basics of my toolkit include:
3/8 and 1/2 harbor freight lightweight sockets.
3/8 and 1/2 non metallic ratchets (oops they were in Australia so this time it was solid metal ones).
Fluke multimeter. (Also sometimes use a Klien AC/DC ammeter especially useful for chasing down parasitic loads)
Screw driver (11 in 1)
Pliers and cutters
Crimpers
Special tort sockets for Freightliner seat and seat belt bolts.
Silver leaf VMSpec adapter and windows tablet with monitoring software.
Nexiq adapter and windows tablet (different version of windows to monitor) with diagnostic software loaded.
Bag of various ram mounts
Bag of USB and other power adapters.
Espresso machine.
Various connectors, tape, screws,
Set of Metrinch wrenches
AC refill adapter.
Adjustable wrench 6" and 10"
Channel locks small set.
A few spare Rok Straps to lash things down and tie cupboard doors shut to stop them banging.
Carpenters rule with standard and metric.
Center punch
Step bits
Heat shrink and solder.
Infrared thermometer
Various bits of industrial strength velcro and alcohol wipes (keeping doors shut, mounting electronics and cupholders etc)
Various ziplock bags. (keeping stuff together and grabbing snack stuff from the hotel breakfast)

One of the spares I carry is the air valve/switch for the airride seats. It is a generic part available on ebay for about $25 but if you go to a stealership they want about $75 if they have then in stock). It takes 5 minutes max to fit them and makes a world of difference if the seat doesn't deflate on you every 5 minutes.

*** After this trip I will also be taking a suspension damper for the seat. All 3 trucks have had shot dampers and you end up pogo-ing down the road after big bumps. All the dealers I dropped into to try and buy a replacement did not stock them. Once again they are available at 1/2 price from the internet and you will probably change them out anyway. Take your VIN to the local dealership before you go to pick the truck up and they can give you the seat type (on delivery date) and a part number for the switch and damper.



AAA card (bloody useless this time as they would not cover this rig as a motorhome and this one wasn't actually titled as a motorhome to be fair).
Credit card (take a couple. US Bank kindly shut one of mine down for suspicious transactions in multiple states without calling me)

If I am buying a non fleet maintained vehicle I will get an oil/filters change before heading out. If you do get an oil change take an oil sample bottle with you to the shop and get them to give you a mid stream sample (i.e. 1/2 way through the drain cycle). These guys will send you the sample bottles free and you just pay when you get it analysed. . If the vehicle (diesel) has been sitting for a while I will also get the fuel filters changed. I didn't follow my own advice here assuming that the city would of been up to date on the servicing. When having an in depth look over the engine when I got home I discovered the primary fuel filter was from Feb 2012. It doesn't pay to assume!!!!

Most importantly an attitude that expects it will be a bucket of pus and a horrible trip home. Then everything is on the up from there.

 

[Ozrockrat]

After doing all the paperwork it was out to the truck for the 1st look.

Good tires.
No keys for the module boxes.
Batteries dead flat.

They call the maintenance guys and they come over and jump start it.

No smoke on startup but it was slow to fire up.

Air comes up and suspension raises OK. Air ride seats seems to work. But the bonus was putting it into gear and seeing 6 come up on the display. Some of these trucks were only programmed with 5 gears and it is a bit of a PITA to get Allison to agree on reflagging them to 6 speed.

Drive to the hotel park it up so I can return the rental car.

Walmart trip for tape to cover the Ambulance decals and front red lights plus a scraper to remove the number painted across the windshield. A few goodies like a cooler, ice, water and snacks and I am back at the truck.

Bugger it will not start again.

First order of business is getting power to all my electronics. This is the first ambulance I have ever seen with no 12v outlet in the cab. Luckily for the initial days running I have a 12v extension cable to run from the module to the cab.

2nd was getting the electronics safely mounted. 2 sets of ram mounts utilizing existing screw holes sorts that out.

The 3rd thing I was concerned about was cruise control. No cruise in this one. So while waiting for a jump start ( I think it was out of service longer than they mentioned) i dug into the dash to bring the connectors for the switches out through the panel. My cunning plan was to drop into a Freightliner dealer buy the switches and see if it worked (like it did on the red truck). But when I dug out the connectors the switches were already connected just left in behind the dash. I think it may have something to do with the high idle . But when I finally get on the road I can see if I saved myself a couple of hundred dollars.

Now all I am waiting for is the guy to co
E back and give me a jump start.

 

[Anton2k3]

cool thread. Did the cruise control work?

 

[patoz]

From what I'm reading, it sounds like you need a battery(s) ASAP, unless you plan on leting it idle every time you stop on the way home.

That was a great find with the cruise control switches. Good thing you looked before assuming they were not there and buying new ones.

 

[rlrenz]

Farther down the road (probably a LOT farther), if you remove the cab headlining, could you please grab some photos of the removal, the roof, and how the light bar is fastened to the roof. I'm part of an emergency vehicle upfitter's group, and there's a steady discussion on how to fasten a light bar to a cab roof.

The most common methods are:
1. Use roof gutter straps if the lightbar is wide enough (usually 72" for a medium truck)
2. Use sheet metal screws
3. Use Riv-Nuts and bolts
4. Use through bolts and nuts with fender washers

And of course, I'm always interested in any photos that show wire routing/antenna leads, etc.

Have a safe and happy voyage!

 

[rlrenz]

By the way - if you decide down the road that you want to look at some high quality LED lights for interior/exterior lighting, consider Tecniq lights. They're made in Michigan, and come with an excellent warranty. I can get you both list pricing, and expected cost pricing, and if there's enough interest in the group, I may take out a dealership.

I have all Tecniq LED ceiling lights in my own buggy, and you can feel the difference when you replace 350 watts of halogen lighting with less than 10 watts of LEDs.

 

[rlrenz]

From what I'm reading, it sounds like you need a battery(s) ASAP, unless you plan on leting it idle every time you stop on the way home.

That was a great find with the cruise control switches. Good thing you looked before assuming they were not there and buying new ones.

The batteries may come back, but being totally flattened while the rig was parked pretty well destroyed the batteries. The Freightliner cab-mounted battery switch doesn't disconnect everything, but a battery switch in the negative lead will even kill off the parasitic loads. MNtal did that with his Freightliner.

Depending on the ambulance manufacturer, you may have either 3 or 4 batteries, probably Group 31.

 

[keons500]

Nice read especially on the packing list! I call BS on the espresso machine

By the way - if you decide down the road that you want to look at some high quality LED lights for interior/exterior lighting, consider Tecniq lights. They're made in Michigan, and come with an excellent warranty. I can get you both list pricing, and expected cost pricing, and if there's enough interest in the group, I may take out a dealership.

I have all Tecniq LED ceiling lights in my own buggy, and you can feel the difference when you replace 350 watts of halogen lighting with less than 10 watts of LEDs.

Guys in Michigan are all about these. No personal experience but I'm looking into TecNiq as a lighting solution.

 

[rlrenz]

Nice read especially on the packing list! I call BS on the espresso machine



Guys in Michigan are all about these. No personal experience but I'm looking into TecNiq as a lighting solution.

Tecniq is starting to show up as standard by some of the ambulance manufacturers, and they also are becoming more common on fire equipment. In fact, my Tecniq ceiling lights came from an ambulance manufacturer.

 

[patoz]

I can vouch for the Tecniq lights as well. Bob turned me onto them a while back, and I have several of them. I purchased two different models, and both are very good quality.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Nice read especially on the packing list! I call BS on the espresso machine



Guys in Michigan are all about these. No personal experience but I'm looking into TecNiq as a lighting solution.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Ok today's summary.

The BASTARDS were just teasing me with the cruise control switches. They did not work. I am suspecting there is an interlock with the park brake so the high idle only worked when the park brake was on (no real science to this conclusion as there is a big sign on the dash saying the park brake must be engaged for the high idle to work).

522 miles at an average of 55 using 47 gallons at a burn rate of 11 mpg.

Not too bad a day considering I didn't get away until 3pm.

Oh and another essential tool I carried with me is the infrared thermometer. Great for checking bearings, hubs and tires to see if anything is amiss.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Oh and the AC worked great until it got too cold and I turned the fan off. Now the fan will not come back on

 

[Ozrockrat]

All is good this morning. Truck started ok and the AC is working.

 

[keons500]

Oh man! That thing is sweet!