From Freightliner ambulance to RV - we hope!

[patoz]

Thanks, Pat! But, you forget... mine was a police retirement, not a fire retirement.

Haha, I hear you!

I worked for the Federal Government and we were the lowest paid FDs in the country at the time, due to the Chinese math they used to figure our overtime. If it wasn't for the fact everything I have is paid for, I would be in real trouble!

 

[guidolyons]

Kara and I had a nice outside dinner and some wine-in-the-outdoor-hot-tub time.

Hot Tub? I don't recall seeing a hot tub on the floor plan?!?!

:elkgrin:

 

[rossvtaylor]

I guess I neglected to put the hot tub in the plan, huh? Speaking of which, it was fun to see the inflatable hot tub in use at Expo West this year. Oh, the things we all can do...

Anyway, it's Monday and I ought to be listing all the amazing things we accomplished or did this weekend. The reality is that we did more play than work... which is, I guess, how it should be. We did prep and prime some more exterior places on the box, getting closer to paint. But, our biggest accomplishment was a day trip with my daughter and our new puppy. Both of them seem quite comfortable in the rig. Our 9-year-old daughter, bless her heart, wants me to take her to school in it!



While we were out, we did a little acceleration timing. I've been curious to see, with a timer, how we fared after the tire and wheel changes. See... I've toyed with the idea of a gear change... mostly because Ozrockrat seems to find all these great things ("Hey, mate, I found a rear differential that will fit your rig...") and he and Scooter changed theirs. But, our low-end torque felt good and the acceleration seems fine. Our first gear was already quite low and now, even with the new tires, we have very adequate first gear "umph" (a technical term, of course). We did a run in two directions on the same stretch of road, to cancel out any slope. The 0-50 times were 18.68 and 16.91, for an average of 17.8 seconds. We can live with that. So, we're officially going to live with our drivetrain as it is. But, that just means we'll have more money to spend on other things when Oz makes another discovery. :ylsmoke:

 

[scooter421]

Very cool Ross, congrats on the new puppy! That's awesome you've got good gearing to start with. It is a pricey swap even, if you can do it yourself. If I was ever to buy another rig I would certainly look at gearing and transmissions a lot closer before I put down the money. I was too focused on the motor/chassis (it's a school bus, many available parts) when I bought mine. O'well, live and learn. I bet we've both saved some money with Oz spreading the word at Expo East! That guy can find anything!

I've gotten little accomplished after the bumper, I bought a 1000w toaster oven, and an electric chain saw to try out. We're headed up camping this week.
Still waiting to see your Ambo in color!

Scooter...

 

[Ozrockrat]

I will have some more "awesomeness" for you tomorrow. And there are enough there for all of us!!!!

Interested in seeing how long the prep takes you. There was an ambo at Expo East done with bed liner which looked like an option for those of us with crappy bodywork and paint. Oh wait a second that's just me.

 

[rossvtaylor]

I will have some more "awesomeness" for you tomorrow. And there are enouhgh there for all of us!!!!

Interested in seeing how long the prep takes you. There was an ambo at Expo East done with bed liner which looked like an option for those of us with crappy bodywork and paint. Oh wait a second that's just me.

Exciting! I look forward to seeing the treasures!

We do have a Raptor Liner kit, too, which I plan to use on the front end (grill and other forward-facing surfaces on the hood), the front of the box, and the truck roof.

 

[scooter421]

Looking forward to the pictures as well Oz, I've been thinking about a bed liner paint job for mine as well. I've talked to Universal Bed Liner here on my side of town but it will not be cheap!

 

[Ozrockrat]

Pat, I'll certainly let you know. But, the Amazon reviews of these (and the identical ones from other vendors) are all pretty impressive.

Oz, since I had my dash opened, I reconfigured the switches on my speedo. You're right... those things are a pain. They don't move like a typical DIP switch, which slides back and forth. I dicked with it for several minutes, before figuring out that you have to move it in the opposite direction of how you want the position indicator to lie. Weird!

Here was my speedo, pre-change...

View attachment 367815

Not exactly yours, but within a few hundred pulses/minute of yours... yes, I had to go through the list, working backwards looking for the right sequence of 1s and 0s.

We'll check ours this weekend and see where we ended up.

By the way... our tach also has a DIP switch. Does yours, Oz? Why?

I think I found the answer on my trip out East. The tach gauge reads about 10% higher than the monitoring tool attached which reads from the engine. (1900 on the gauge at 65 v actual 1680 on the monitor). SO I am figuring there is a manual somewhere that tells you how to swap those DIP switches around to get it more accurate.

 

[rlrenz]

Would you like me to dig into my service manuals to see if they say anything about adjusting the tach?

 

[Ozrockrat]

Not sure about Ross but I would be very happy if you can find some info. Thanks

 

[rlrenz]

I'll take a look -- tomorrow with luck.

 

[rlrenz]

I took a look at the FL manuals, and they do have data on the tachometer. A LOT less complicated than the speedometer, though. There are only four different switch settings, depending on which engine you have. Here's the tachometer section of the manual:

 

[rossvtaylor]

Thanks, Bob! I'm sorry it's taken me exactly one month to get back to you and acknowledge this helpful info. It's very much appreciated, despite my delayed response.

Kara and I have been far too busy with work, business, and family stuff to make much (make that, really any) progress on the ambo. I did remove the side strobe lights, the air horns, and some other fittings in preparation for painting. I sanded, primed and generally prepped. I also took off the original side mirrors and got a rivnut set, to install the new electric-adjustable/heated mirrors - these will fold back out of the way, whereas the original ones didn't. But, considering what we need to do still, it's just a drop in the bucket.

In preparation for snow (forecasted to start tonight), I've been working on putting a plow on the old Tundra. We got a really nice setup from a guy's Jeep, pretty cheaply because he'd hit a boulder with it. The blade is bent and has a few cracked welds. I made a new mount for the Tundra and it's ready to install, once I get the blade straightened and do a bit of welding. I don't have a press that will fit a plow blade... or do I? After all, we have a BFT and a jack. So, using a few 4x4 blocks and utilizing some of the BFT's extra pounds, we got it pretty well straightened back out. A bit of hammer work, a little welding, and we'll have the plow in operation by the end of the day today. Which will, assuredly, guarantee it won't snow.

 

[rlrenz]

I know nothing happens when we want it to----

I've been working to get my ambulance into my garage for most of the summer. I used to have a 2 1/2 ton 6x6 in there, but the space was only open for about a day after I sold the truck before a tidal wave filled it in. Plus my daughter moved to MN, and I had to help with remodeling, plus lots of other projects happened. This fall, I was rolling along well on the garage project, when my wife decided to sell her sewing at various bazaars (which meant a little storage space in the garage would be needed for a few months...)

That's life, especially with "spare time"

I have faith -- I'll get the buggy in the garage, but I might need an inflatable place holder for when it's out of the garage.....

 

[Baloo]

I love your tires!