Blights 99 E350 Crestline Ambo

[keane]

Good day all, My wife and I just picked up a 1999 E350 crestline ambulance. We had been talking about looking for one for a few years now after seeing Abitibi's Ambuland in person at the BCOR. We had just sold our rebuild 1962 Serro Scotty trailer that we used behind our car for the last 5 years to fund building an offroad teardrop style trailer. A couple weeks after selling the trailer my wife texted me that she had seen an ambulance for sale in town, I had seen it as well but had been trying to not make eye contact with it. But now with my wife interested in it as well I contacted the seller. The price seamed right so I went and gave it a loo over and took if for a 2 hour test drive to see how it ran cold and warmed up, and in town stop and go traffic as well as the hwy. All seamed good so we bought it. Now the fun will start. The plan for now is to clean it up a bit and get a bed and a bunk built so we can use if for the up coming ski season as my wife and I are ski patrol.

So the list for now;
Change all lighting to led and delete some
Clean up unused electrical
new power inverter and charger
build beds
install trailer hitch

Now some questions;
What size and style of inverter and charger should I be looking for
We want to eventually do a 4x4 conversion, I just found a set of axles from a 99 F250 with 3:73 gears. The current diff is 4:10. Would the 3:73 gears be ok with a 33"-35" tire, or should I keep searching.

 

[eporter]

Those Canadian ambos are cool. Bikersmurf has one, and Abitibi just sold his:

SOLD - 2001 Ford E350 4x4 camperized Ambulance, 7.3 & Agile Offroad

I thought of selling my ambo a few months ago but pulled the add as I was about to travel overseas and decided I'd do a bunch of upgrades before selling her. Now is still not the best time with that dirty virus but she's just about ready to go so I'm listing her and will see how it turns out. I...

www.expeditionportal.com

 

[iggi]

Welcome to the Crestline club @keane

Inverter size depends on what you plan to run with it. I have the factory unit still. Rated for 1000 watts continuous and 3000 peak. Runs power tools, coffee grinders, chargers, etc no problem.

3.73 is kinda high in my opinion with tires possibly that large.

>>Those Canadian ambos are cool. Bikersmurf has one, and Abitibi just sold his:

Correction, Abitibi sold one of his.

 

[keane]

Seeing Abitibi's was what convinced my wife we needed one in our life and I would be lying if I said we didn't wish we could have afforded to by his.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Electric to the sickness. I’d think 4.11... what did @Abitibi have?

I’ve decided to stay 2WD... I don’t see a need for 4WD.

 

[Mrs Keane]

Feeling like Alice in Wonderland. There's cookies down the rabbit hole...

 

[Mrs Keane]

Electric to the sickness. I’d think 4.11... what did @Abitibi have?

I’ve decided to stay 2WD... I don’t see a need for 4WD.

We have ALL the need for 4x4. We both have rubberneck syndrome... Ooh! Trail!

 

[Bikersmurf]

We have ALL the need for 4x4. We both have rubberneck syndrome... Ooh! Trail!

Ambo is much too big for these parts...

Tow bar yet to be installed.

 

[Mrs Keane]

I think that's g

Ambo is much too big for these parts...
View attachment 595532View attachment 595533View attachment 595534
Tow bar yet to be installed.

I think that's going to be really hard on us, going from the Xterra to this on a more full time basis eventually. We aren't retiring our first born son yet of course, there's plans to tow it. But it has seen more highway than it ever should have and deserves a rest.

 

[Bikersmurf]

I think that's g

I think that's going to be really hard on us, going from the Xterra to this on a more full time basis eventually. We aren't retiring our first born son yet of course, there's plans to tow it. But it has seen more highway than it ever should have and deserves a rest.

After 28 years, the 40 has seen far too much highway also. That said I've put 100k miles of the 230k+ miles on it. I bought it with 30k miles on the OD... which was at least 130k miles.... I don't think 230. It has taken me everywhere through everything... and still will.

 

[Abitibi]

Seeing Abitibi's was what convinced my wife we needed one in our life and I would be lying if I said we didn't wish we could have afforded to by his.

Hi and congrats on your new ambo!

Glad to hear I somehow convinced you to join the club, lol

I had 4.10 in mine which worked great. Not sure I'd go 3.73 on 35's (but I'm sure it's been done). On my new one (thx Iggi to point out I'm still in the club, lol) I went back to 4.10 again.

Keep in mind your rear axle has a LSD and is already 4.10 so easier to just re-gear the front... you may need to run an adapter if your wheel pattern isn't the same. On my 2008 they were 8x6.5 and my 2010 Dana60 was 8x170 so I put an adapter on the back.

What are your plans for the whole thing?

Cheers
David



Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[2Fass240us]

Welcome! This is a great forum for conversions, especially mini-mods ala Abitititibititi, bikersmurf, and others.

 

[keane]

Have been making some slow progress. Installed an inverter and battery charger. Nothing fancy, just stuff from canadian tire. Found a leak in the roof seam, so ended up pulling the ceiling panel, insulation and lights. The insulation had a decent amount of water in it. Also opened up the right side wall as the original panel was cracked. Going to add some wood strips to the cross members, re insulate the ceiling then sheet the wall and ceiling with 1/4" sanded one side plywood. We have a diesel heater from amazon that just showed up and some led pot lights for the ceiling that should be arriving in the next couple days. And some misc led lights for the exterior. I am hoping over the next couple weeks to get most of the new parts installed.

 

[keane]

Question on the electrical. To turn on the accessorie power with out having to start the vehiclele, do you wire a switch to the power disconnect instead of having it wired to the oil pressure sensor?

 

[iggi]

In the factory Crestline setup you just need to turn the 'ambulance connect' switch on.