Freightliner ambulance conversion project.

[rlrenz]

If you don't need official FL labels, you should be able buy equivalent switches from Amazon (Blue Sea Systems).

My nearby FL dealer parts department knows me now, and even though they give me a discounted price on parts, I still ask if they can do any better - sometimes they can. But any way you do it, vehicle-specific parts run into money very quickly.

A friend of mine reminded me that the advantage with a Freightliner is that parts are available - his company has a Sterling truck, and they know that any sheetmetal parts or specific components will be increasingly unavailable now that Sterling is gone.

 

[rlrenz]

I think somewhere along the postings, you mentioned that your ambulance was a Medic Master. The advantage to a Medic Master was that Medic Master was built by Aero Products, which was part of American LaFrance, which was owned by Freightliner (at the time our buggies were built).

The advantage to this was that Medic Master had more engineering involved in their product than other manufacturers who bought a truck and then added a module to it. If you ask emergency vehicle technicians and electricians, they will tell you that the mechanical end of a Medic Master was pretty well done. They are solidly built, and the electrical system is well thought out.

Take a look at any Medic Master drawings from an owner's manual, and they are definitely top notch.

 

[Ozrockrat]

I wish I could look at the Medic Master drawings. All mine came with were a laminated set of module schematics that are hooked to to the electrical panel with a stainless steel cable.

I have never been able to find the user manuals anywhere.

But the tip about the BlueSea switches will help in the future.

 

[rlrenz]

Manuals for these things are nearly impossible to find if your maker is gone.

I was able to track down a manual for a nearly identical Medic Master (1999 on a FL chassis). It only took 2 years to find. When Medic Master went down in 2008, files may have gone to American LaFrance - but they went bankrupt later, so I can only assume that everything is gone now. The drawings are very detailed, and I'd love to copy them - except they are 17x22", which means I have to find someone who can scan them for less than I'm afraid the cost will be.

I'll go through the table of contents, and list what I have. If you see something you want, I can scan it - in pieces on my scanner.

If I ever figure out a way to scan them all as pdfs, I'll let you know.

By the way - www.selecttechambulances.com has many of the switches you may need, including some oddballs.

TIP: the easiest way to find a Blue Sea part on Amazon is to find the part number from Blue Sea's web site (www.bluesea.com), then search on Amazon for blue sea XXX. The amazon price is about 45% off retail.

 

[Ozrockrat]

That's ironic. Mine is a 1999 on a FL chassis. I'll send you a PM Bob.

 

[RiderBloke]

Manuals for these things are nearly impossible to find if your maker is gone.

I was able to track down a manual for a nearly identical Medic Master (1999 on a FL chassis). It only took 2 years to find. When Medic Master went down in 2008, files may have gone to American LaFrance - but they went bankrupt later, so I can only assume that everything is gone now. The drawings are very detailed, and I'd love to copy them - except they are 17x22", which means I have to find someone who can scan them for less than I'm afraid the cost will be.

I'll go through the table of contents, and list what I have. If you see something you want, I can scan it - in pieces on my scanner.

If I ever figure out a way to scan them all as pdfs, I'll let you know.

By the way - www.selecttechambulances.com has many of the switches you may need, including some oddballs.

TIP: the easiest way to find a Blue Sea part on Amazon is to find the part number from Blue Sea's web site (www.bluesea.com), then search on Amazon for blue sea XXX. The amazon price is about 45% off retail.

Try using your digital camera. They give pretty good quality and the photo can be blown up to look at sections. You could even take several part photos of each drawing. That will give you jpg format.


Sent from my iPhone somewhere on the face of the earth using Tapatalk

 

[patoz]

I'll go through the table of contents, and list what I have. If you see something you want, I can scan it - in pieces on my scanner.

If I ever figure out a way to scan them all as pdfs, I'll let you know.

Bob, my printer/scanner allows me to scan something and gives me the option of saving it as a PDF, so I would suggest checking all of the settings on yours. It may be in a sub menu or something.

BTW, mine is an Epson WorkForce 545 Series Printer.

 

[rlrenz]

I can scan documents as either photos, or as PDFs using Adobe - the only problem is the physical size of the documents. The drawings are "C" size ( 17 x 22").

With the equipment I used to have available before I retired, I could have scanned the entire drawing in one bite. Even better, the engineering dept's scanner had an automatic feeder.

The biggest I can scan here at home is legal size. I'm checking with DIY copy places to see if anyone has a scanner that can handle the larger format.

Copying them as 8.5 x 11 and then snipping and pasting is possible, but far less than preferable.

 

[patoz]

OK, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying you couldn't save anything as a PDF.

I see the problem now...

 

[Ozrockrat]

OK the plan for the weekend. I have a guru with a service computer coming by. His worklist:

1. Install cruise control switches.
2. Flash ECU to get cruise control to work.
3. Bump engine to max power (275HP I think) not sure what it is now but somewhere 225-275 according to VIN.
4. Calibrate speedo/odometer.

Then it will be to another guru with a refrigerant recovery system to get the cab AC working before we head to the East coast.

And I think I have found another diff plus the guy just wants a direct swap mine for his. 4.88 should reduce the size of the steps between the ranges and he thinks it may be a limited slip. (he does all highway miles on standard size tires and wants to drop his RPM a bit).

Busy times now I have a hard deadline to meet. Stay tuned for what work I drop off the list just to make our departure date.

View attachment To Do List.pdf

 

[rlrenz]

Looking at your To-Do list, I noticed that you want to run a coffee maker from an inverter. If you're using the standard ambulance inverter, it's probably a Vanner with a 1050 watt output rating. It doesn't have much of a surge rating - 1050 watts will be about it. I had the same challenge, and I found that Keurig sells a coffee maker designed for motels/hotels that only heats water when it's poured in, so it only requires 700 watts. Amazon (who else?) has it available for $69.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Keurig-K-Cup...0/&slotNum=0&imprToken=mLPTC3EZt0fNR5o.72waQg). Both Keurig and Amazon tell you that the K15 coffee maker is an upgraded version, however the K15 pulls about 1250 watts.



And for those folks with Freightliners that don't have cruise control, it looks like two switches are needed (see earlier posting). The wiring for the switches was shown in my FL manuals, but in microprint. I only checked this for the Cummins engines.

 

[rossvtaylor]

Hey Oz, I need your guru's contact info! I wonder what he/she can do with our engine output.

As far as the speedo goes, let me know what you find there, too. I wasn't certain, and haven't yet pulled it out to look at the back, but I thought ours had DIP switches on the back for adjustment. Is that right? If they are AMETEK 700 or 900 speedos, I have the switch codes for that. Or are ours set via the ECU? I'm about 10mph off, so we need to adjust ours for sure...

Glad you will have cruise soon... :smiley_drive:

Ross

 

[Ozrockrat]

Hey Oz, I need your guru's contact info! I wonder what he/she can do with our engine output.

As far as the speedo goes, let me know what you find there, too. I wasn't certain, and haven't yet pulled it out to look at the back, but I thought ours had DIP switches on the back for adjustment. Is that right? If they are AMETEK 700 or 900 speedos, I have the switch codes for that. Or are ours set via the ECU? I'm about 10mph off, so we need to adjust ours for sure...

Glad you will have cruise soon... :smiley_drive:

Ross

The answer to the question is "more power" TIM THE TOOLMAN.

Speedo is via DIP switches but I think the ecu does it as well. Hence the ecu flash.

I did the DIP switches on mine and it is reading about 10% now. That's not 10% off that is 10% of what it should read. I think you shouldn't let the dyslexic guy touch binary. Doing a back calculation on the old setting I get a 28.5 tooth tone ring???

Bob. Thanks for the info. My Vanner is 1800W and does work the Nespresso machine ( being an efficiency expert I only drink espressos so I don't have to pee as much).

 

[rlrenz]

And I, being an engineer, just drink my Folger's coffee - but I keep a 5 gallon bucket under my desk.... (I have a restaurant coffee maker in my kitchen -- 12 cups in about 3 minutes!).

If you're pumping up the HP, at what point do you need an exhaust temperature gauge?

In your note, you mentioned having someone come in to help with some of the adjustments, and to turn on the cruise control. I didn't know that cruise had to be activated somewhere, but considering all the electronics on these things, it doesn't surprise me.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Well absolutely nothing off the Todo list today but I did fit a couple on new Exide AGM group 31 batteries. Funny part is waiting on the other 2 because 4 would not fit in the Nissan Leaf to bring them home. Tomorrow will a the big day I hope. Off to Freightliner to grab a diff gasket (to check all the bolt holes etc before pulling mine out). The head an hour out of town to check/change the diff. Afternoon is the guru for the power/cruise/speedo. Plus fit in whatever else I can.