Ambulance Camper/ Expedition Rig Conversion FAQ

[Pangle]

i dont see why not..

 

[bryceon44]

Your's is the first ambulance I have ever seen with that kind of O2 cylinder mount, and I've seen quite a few. Most are mounted against the back compartment wall. I have two Wheeled Coach's, and neither one of them has that type of mount, but then they are the full size units, and not a mini-mod.

Ambulance modules are built using a roll cage configuration, which is self supporting. I believe that post serves one purpose, which is to provide a mounting point for the O2 cylinder, and therefore you could remove it without compromising the integral structure at all.

View attachment 454716

Of course asking the manufacturer is probably the safest way to make sure it's OK to remove it.

Thank you for the help. I did ask the manufacturer and they answered me but it did not seem like they really gave it much thought he just said all beams are structural period. haha. So I wanted to see what y'all thought. Actually he said this "All tubes with in the box are structural." So is that a tube what I have or is it not? He also said within the box. Is that considered within the box? Thanks all

 

[Zuul]

Hi All,

Ive read quite a few pages of this thread and am looking at getting a 1992 Ford with a 7.3 diesel (I believe non turbo), with 189k miles. Im curious about what things I should look for when looking at the vehicle other than mechanical things. Or if there are non usual mechanical things to look for.

Thanks

 

[Bikersmurf]

Hi All,

Ive read quite a few pages of this thread and am looking at getting a 1992 Ford with a 7.3 diesel (I believe non turbo), with 189k miles. Im curious about what things I should look for when looking at the vehicle other than mechanical things. Or if there are non usual mechanical things to look for.

Thanks

If posible look at the hour meter. Most ambulances sit and idle for long periors of time.

Look for maintenance records... Some for profit companies focus on making money and minimizing down time... other companies spare no expense.

Frames tend to rust as well as brake lines.

 

[Zuul]

If posible look at the hour meter. Most ambulances sit and idle for long periors of time.

Look for maintenance records... Some for profit companies focus on making money and minimizing down time... other companies spare no expense.

Frames tend to rust as well as brake lines.

Thanks. How many hours is a lot? With 189k I'd expect it to be decently high.

 

[eporter]

Ford equates an hour of idling to 25 miles of engine wear. Use that to ballpark the overall use. If it “only” has 50k miles on the odometer, but has 10k hours on the hour meter, realize that’s more like 250k miles total on it.

It’s hard to tell its history, but a decent guess of use is to divide the mileage by hours. The higher the average speed, the less it’s idled. Just as a ballpark, 189k/25=7560 hours. If your hour meter is less, than it was likely driven more at higher speeds, and idled less. It still could’ve idled for thousands of hours and been driven at 100mph for the rest, who really knows. It’s more of an issue with the “low mile” but high hour ambos.

Some ambos cruise the highway, others idle outside the stadium all Sunday.

http://powerstrokediesel.com/docs/SellSheets-10.pdf

 

[Zuul]

Awesome, thanks for the info.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Awesome, thanks for the info.

Mine has high hours. I’ve got about 200k miles and I’m now at 17k hours. The up side is that for the first 13k hours as an ambulance it was religiously maintained with no expense spared.

It had about 16k hours on it when I bought it. A lot depends on how they’ve been maintained... 7.3psd are known to go 500k miles to 1000k miles.

 

[Groobie85]

Newb question. Are the Boxes on type l and type lll the same footprint or length?

 

[Groobie85]

Never mind. I should read first. Got my answer

 

[Zuul]

Does anyone have e a guide or pictures on how to find out the engine hours? I've tried looking for steps for a 92 Ford e350, but all I could find d was to press the settings and the first # that appears should be hours. Not helpful when I don't know what the settings button is.

Thanks

 

[Bikersmurf]

Probably doesn't help... but mine has an hour meter on the side of the drivers seat base. The other ambulances I've seen also have one.

I'm not aware of annother way to check the hours. There could be a way through the computer... if it has one.

 

[Zuul]

Yup, it had an old school hours counter. It was only at17200 hours. It was too rough around the edges for me so I passed on it,but the price was really good.
Missing some door locks and the rear ac had blown a line.

If anyone is in the SF Bay area and looking I can point you to it.

 

[Bikersmurf]

I see lots of Ambos sold that only have 5000-7000 hours on them.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Looking for options to replace one or both of these bulbs. I know I can wire in replacement sockets or hardwire in something, but my preference would be to find a LED bulb that would fit the socket. Any ideas where to find such a thing, or what the bulbs would be called.

I’m thinking of first replacing the low overhead bulbs... and leaving the high operating lights.

Anyone found a unicorn?