C4500 Ambulance Camper

[mog]

I went with Prime Seats [europepart on eBay] as I was able to get a PR600L (16-way adjustable) with all the bells and whistles, leather, heated, etc for the price of one of their 200 entry-level seats as it was special ordered and then canceled. I've been very happy with it. I especially like that you can dial the resistance (Adjustable Shock Absorber ) so the movement can be fine-tuned. A long-haul trucker friend of mine thinks the 'Fore/Aft Slider' feature is one of the most important features (The Prime Seats have this, and it can be locked out). The quality seems good and the customer service was great. Now the bad news. NO WAY are they a bolt-in installation. Way too high even with the 'low' base, and not even close to lining up with the stock Kodiak seat mounting holes/nuts. I had to completely make a base using the stock seat base cut off and then going from there. I also moved mine back from the stock seat position for more legroom. Also, there is no way to run both armrests unless you rebuild the door panel as the outside armrest interfere with the molded handle on the panel

I'll take some measurements tomorrow to see if they are close to your bases.




UPDATE - in re-reading the OP's post, it looks like he has a suspension base with a rigged seat, while mine is a rigged base with a suspension seat. So apples to oranges.
I'll leave the information posted for future UxT owners who might be looking for suspension seat information. The Prime Seat mounting studs are 9 inches wide by 11 inches long.
UxT - Ulitmate Expo Truck - also known as the C4500/5500 Kodiak/Topkick

 

[cjken]

In other news
Working on shrinking up the Ambo control panel. Was going to just add necessary switches to the dash, but found that there is a whole circuit board below the switches unlike my simple mini-mod control panel.

 

[java]

Pass thru sure looks familiar! Nicely done.

 

[Brewdiak]

Nice job on the switches - does the panel flip off to the side so you can get to the engine? I’m glad mine didn’t have a pc board it was bad enough as it was!

 

[cjken]

Yes, it will be removable.

 

[motorman]

im approaching my pass through cut
are you satisfied with the accordion seal you used?
i assume you used the 4.5"?
any particular 'watch out' for those about the take the plunge and cut their cab?

 

[Korey H]

im approaching my pass through cut
are you satisfied with the accordion seal you used?
i assume you used the 4.5"?
any particular 'watch out' for those about the take the plunge and cut their cab?

Same here. Struggling to find fold flat back seating for four on my end. But so ready to make a pass through.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cjken]

No surprises. It installed nicely.
Just round the corners a bit gradual curve makes it install nicer.
You can use a bit of CA glue at the joint to seal.

 

[cjken]

Tire questions.

I’m still a ways off from needing to figure out what to do tire wise.

On my other truck going to singles was a no brainer. It allowed me to drive confidently on sand and actually improved highway driving, the gearing was such that the 35” tires brought the rpms into a sweet spot at around 70 mph and the bigger tires smoother out the ride.

The new truck is not that simple. The 41’s that everyone seems to run may be a bit questionable in terms of balance and drivability. After searching and reading many threads, I don’t think I seen anyone say they are the perfect solution/best solution. It seems more like people tolerate them, but don’t necessarily love them. Between crazy heavy or custom rims, max speeds, balance issues, and wear and tear due to the massive rotational inertia of the set up, I am not quite ready to commit to 41’s
I’m not opposed to going that route at some point, but I think my first move is going to be to get a set of m608z 265 70 r19.5’s mounted up. They are the largest tire that will mount in the 6.75” wide Alcoa’s currently on the truck.

My only concern with the 19.5 duals is sand. I’ve heard that they don’t tolerate being aired down too much. The truck weighs just under 14k.
5880 front
8000 rear

Can I drive that setup in sand if I am cautious and consecutive and avoid the really soft stuff??

I do t see any real loss in going with the 265 70 19.5’s even if I go a different route later.

Just hoping for input from those who have real world experience with 19.5 tires.

 

[mog]

The 41’s that everyone seems to run may be a bit questionable in terms of balance and drivability. After searching and reading many threads, I don’t think I seen anyone say they are the perfect solution/best solution. It seems more like people tolerate them, but don’t necessarily love them

I'm running 385/65R-22.5 Hercules Ironman I-402s (42"x15", 176 lbs) on Alcoa 22.5 x 12.25 super single rims (62 Lbs) with a 2.75" offset (my spares are 0.56" offset). These have no wheel weights, nor other forms of balancing and run very smooth. The wheels are rated at 12,500 lbs per wheel, and the tires are rated at 9,921 lbs per tire. Also a very easy size to get. My locate tire shop found me two used 80% spares within 10 minutes.

I am very happy with them (I don't know if I can 'love' a wheel/tire combo ).
They ride smoothy (the suspension is certainly rougher than the wheel/tire combo), look good IMO, and probably have another 200,000 miles left on them at the weight I run. No lift, no rubbing issues, etc. The stock front bumper needed slight trimming (I've changed that out to a winch bumper). So zero complaints, and I like them a lot+, but I will not say 'perfect' or 'best solutions' due to the following 'limitation'.

Being 22.5 rims, they can not be aired down very much. as the 'point 5' rims only have very slight 'lips' so it is the tire pressure keeping them on the rim. My tire shop pointed out that while 20 psi would work for the weight of my truck, they would not recommend going below 80 psi. My German friend who retired as an engineer from M.A.N. trucks runs the same size rims/tires on his Mercedes truck (about 2-3 tons heavier than my C4500) and he goes down to 40 psi. But more for a smoother ride on 'rough stuff' than trying to get a bigger contact surface. He said that the standard 'Europeans who run them all over the world' lower limit is 35-40 psi.


Certainly, the tread pattern on the Ironman I-402 is not as aggressive as an XZL


but is fine off-road, and quiet (relatively) on the street. I had 395/85-20 XZLs (on Hutchinson Atlas rims) on my MB1017AF and that was a fine combination also. I think with the size/weight of the truck once we get to 'Kodiak Size' and above, it is splitting hairs as far as off-road tire performance. Hopefully, we are not mud-boggin', rock crawlin' or desert racin'.

On a side note, as the Ironman tires are about 30% larger than the stock Kodiak tires, my speedometer is way off (maybe a good thing as my truck has the 'KYW option' (governor-vehicle speed 75MPH), so now 75 mph plus 30% and even with the 5.13 gears the 'powerband' has shifted. Around town and getting on the freeway, I run with the overdrive off (Allison trans), and it performs great, then when cruising on the freeway, kick in the overdrive and it is in the 'sweet spot' of 1700 rpm (8.1l Vortec)

 

[cjken]

Thanks for the detailed info.
I never really considered 22.5’s
I guess they are wide enough to not need to be too soft for sand.

 

[Brewdiak]

I got a set of Alcoa 22.5’s but with 10r tires the inside dually was pressed hard against the rear air bags...

they aren’t wide enough for singles though. Holding onto the set for now until I exhaust all options to keep it on 20” singles... I agree don’t rush into it. I actually wasn’t going to singles until the 22.5’s didn’t work (on 10r...). Tires and wheels have been the bane of my project

 

[mog]

I got a set of Alcoa 22.5’s but with 10r tires the inside dually was pressed hard against the rear air bags...
they aren’t wide enough for singles though.

Yup, I think 22.5 x 12.5" is the 'only' width for super singles as the 22.5 x 14.5" would be way too wide and interfere with a bunch of stuff. The 'factory' 8-lug 22.5 dually Alcoas are 7.5" wide with a 6.28" offset. Super singles are normally in the 0-3" range

I forgot to mention that the 2.75" offset of mine might not be 'perfect'. I think this offset gives me enough offset to not interfere with anything on full-lock, BUT the tires stick out about 2" - 2.5" past the edge of the front fenders, so my 96" wide Kodiak is now 101" wide ! On the plus side, I wanted to add fender flares/extensions to cover the tires (not only a law in my state, but I think that looks much better) and stock Jeep YJ fender flares work perfectly by combining the front flare and then using part of the rear flare for the section below the hood split. And with all the guys 'upgrading' their Jeep flares they are pretty much free.

 

[cjken]

Hey Mog
Are there any pictures of yours where I can see how much they stick out?

Yes Jim, I remember hearing that the duals touched the air bags.

In the meantime.
I’m still putting the cab back together and thinking through an bed elevator/lift system. Also, waiting for a leveling valve to arrive so I can solve my air ride leak.

The bottom tube inlet leaks, I pulled tube made sure cut was square cleaned it up, but still leaking. Once I install new one I’ll see if I can repair this and keep it as a spare.

But the way I think read that you can glue the dot panel parts together to quiet them down. Any advice on what type of glue to use on that plastic??

 

[motorman]

i have been going round and round regarding tires too 385/65/22.5 singles 43"

the falken GI-368 is a open shoulder tire that i can find for $500 each and the michelin G296 is a similar tire at $750 or so

the problem is that a set of 5 will close on on $6k quickly and my current wheels and tires have about 5k miles on them

but singles and picking up 3" more of ground clearance and changing the departure angle from 15 to 17.5 deg is an improvement

military 20" rims and 46" tires and re-gearing is an option albeit not very good