If an ambulance is sold, what replaces it?

[plumber mike]

That's right. I said it. Only thinking, and not yet acting.

Back story. Not too far back as I haven't owned it long, and with limited pictures.

So, my line of work takes me places, and one day it took me to Larry's. Not our Larry, but another Larry who is into jeeps, and 4x4's. We start talking, and next thing you know I'm at the bank getting Benjamin's.:victory:

I lovingly call it my big ball of butt connectors :coffeedrink:
Seriously. A lot of butt connectors.
It's been a good truck for about three months of daily driving temporary plumbing truck. It's only got 60000 original miles, and is in great shape for a 1980, the front axle is a HP60 that looks like it was hacked in although it was how they did it in the day, winch, lights, generator, etc but......
Everything rubber and gasket related is deteriorated. New fuel pump, line, filter have been it's biggest cash outlays. I lost vacuum, I assume, the other day about 20 miles from nowhere, and decide I had to at least limp it to celly service. It made it, but I don't think the C6 did, as it was smoking out of the dipstick on arrival.

Anyway.....hasn't moved since, I'm working out of my plow truck, and I need a van. A 4wd van to be specific. I've used pickups and suburbans, but they are not ideal like a van. My wife thinks I should just get something newer, and ditch my older needier rides. Consolidate if you will. Meh. Sounds nice, but their is nothing out there that fits the bill. An awd express/savanna is the closest "normal" vehicle to fit the bill, but 1/2 ton running gear is not appealing to me. So then custom 4wd van (I'd like GM to make it more difficult)
My mind instantly looks at the price, and reverts back to dropping less coin on the ambulance, and getting reliability, modern overdrive manual 5 speed, stand alone fuel injection, and some new rubber parts. But that also takes time and money, and a good shop, equipped with some tools I just can't justify buying without calling it a career change.

I understand everyone has a different opinion. I'd like to hear them. There may be some obvious thing I am missing, or a tid bit or link that sways my decision. Thanks all. More pics soon.

Argh. Every pic I post is upside down. SFA conversion. Sure. Picture rotation. Impossible. I'll work on that while you guys/gals come up with a brilliant solution for me:sombrero:

And a big thanks to those who already share at this site. Major kudos and gratitude.

 

[naterry]

I went through this myself.

The ambulance was close to it's GVWR and would be well over when loaded for a long trip. This pointed me towards upsizing at first, but ultimately lead to downsizing when I realized that most of the miles would be on roads and that a RB E350 was roomy enough and provided larger GVRW margin for loading...

Before:

After:

 

[flightcancled]

Swap the box onto another cassis?

Or there are always those contractor box units that bolt up to e350s on the side of the road near me, one of those would be sweet on a 4x4 f350. That would also be a beefy plow truck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mwilliamshs]

Upside down pictures suck. Ambulance rocks. Keep it.

 

[Shocker]

Yeah, I like it myself. I would fix it personally.

 

[plumber mike]

Thanks for the replies thus far. And again, my apologies for the pics. I'm hoping to get a little father/ son time after school, and a lesson on posting pics.

I went and looked at the only AWD van advertised in a 100 mile radius. It was an 05 express awd regency conversion van with 93k at a dealer. It had no tranny fluid, bad passenger ball joint, bad battery, broken ground effects, and was three thousand over retail:Wow1: I got there when they opened, and two other people were waiting in case I didn't buy it. For a few thousand more, I could buy a brand new 3/4 ton 6.0. 2wd though. Ah well. Back to the drawing board.

If I fix the Ambo, I'm still without overdrive, and a reclining seat back. I've threatened a few times to turn it into a trailer, but trailers are a pain in the butt for regular use, and one that heavy would be even worse. Plus, it really is too nice to just part out, but putting the stainless box on a newer chassis cab, and selling off the ford part of it would save and net likely more than it's worth siting here not running.

Too many options yet not enough choices. My better half is on me a bit to consolidate my collection into one newer reliable "perfect" vehicle for me. Yeah right. Crew cab/four seat van something, manual trans preferred, 4wd a must, want to be able to work and travel out of it, without much effort to switch between or all on all the time.

It ain't easy being me, but I'm blessed to have such luxury problems. I'll keep you folks posted.......hopefully with better pics

 

[Bikersmurf]

I'd fix the Ambo... Build it into your ideal truck. Buy a 4x4 parts truck with the engine and a 5 speed, and swap away. Sell off he extra axles and parts, and you shouldn't be out too much.

I'd go with a newer diesel with an overdrive auto... But that's because my left knee is toast.

Once it's running again, add a tv, camperize it, and have fun with it.

 

[plumber mike]

Thanks to all who posted.

I picked up a 2014 Chevy express 2500 6.0 6 speed. Certified pre owned with 3000 miles. Loaded up good in the front. Pw, pl , tilt, cruise, ac, backup camera in rear view mirror, the nice lights vs. work truck style. I have found several places that list 4wd conversions for 10k or less, which would put me at a total of 34k......which is a ton to this poor boy, but still 10k less than a similar equipped crew cab 4x4.

It has allowed me to empty out the Ambo. Not sure if I can part with it, but I don't have to decide today.

 

[Shocker]

I would love to see some pics of the ambo. I might be interested in it...

 

[plumber mike]

I'll get some more pics, but to be very honest, three days with a new van, has done nothing but make me miss my older vehicles. The safety/convenience features have intruded more than I want. Unless I can completely disable the traction control and stabilitrak, this new van will be very short lived in my driveway. I've been sick to my stomach to learn these features are such an integral part of the computer, and am finding they will be difficult to remove.

This may turn into a build thread yet, because I hate my new van.

 

[plumber mike]

I would love to see some pics of the ambo. I might be interested in it...

Ok. I'm going to try the pics from photobucket this time. Sadly, the new van is not a suitable replacement. I had no idea that a lot of the new "options" are mandatory and cannot be turned off, so I'm not even going to start on it. Back to basics.

[/URL][/IMG]
The quick reply doesn't let me preview, so here goes. I'll try some more pics.

 

[plumber mike]

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL]\ }[/IMG]

[/URL]\ }[/IMG]

[/URL]\ }[/IMG]

[/URL]\ }[/IMG]
So there it is, back when the weather was a little nicer. I'm slowly removing the emergency lights and sirens.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

If I owned that I would own it forever. Being a 1980 I know it's a gas-burner, guessing 460? I'd prefer the ol 6.9 or 7.3 IDI just because but seriously, what could you want that that rig won't do and can't become? Room, power, traction, cheap...I'm remembering why I love my van and also why I own a 4wd but can't remember why my van isn't 4wd...

 

[plumber mike]

If I owned that I would own it forever. Being a 1980 I know it's a gas-burner, guessing 460? I'd prefer the ol 6.9 or 7.3 IDI just because but seriously, what could you want that that rig won't do and can't become? Room, power, traction, cheap...I'm remembering why I love my van and also why I own a 4wd but can't remember why my van isn't 4wd...

Thanks for the kind words. It's a 460/c6. The more I learn about my newer vehicles, the more motivation I have to fix and keep this one. I guess I needed a new van to really appreciate my old van.

 

[Shocker]

Thanks for the pics! That thing is well worth fixing!!