# Has anybody used a old ambulance for a work truck?



## wyrickmech

I have a opportunity to purchase a Chevy with a duramax and its got a ambulance bed on it just wandering if anybody has a thought about it.


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## PLUMBER_BILL

wyrickmech said:


> I have a opportunity to purchase a Chevy with a duramax and its got a ambulance bed on it just wandering if anybody has a thought about it.


Should have adaquet compartments room for a work bench. Right time to change the business name to Plumbing Doctor. Word of caution, if they took off all emergency lights ect. Make sure they fixed all the body holes properly ... no cock hole covers. ,


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## PlungerJockey

We have or had a member here with an old ambulance. I'm pretty sure RockSteady had one. There are pics in the stickies truck thread.


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## wyrickmech

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> Should have adaquet compartments room for a work bench. Right time to change the business name to Plumbing Doctor. Word of caution, if they took off all emergency lights ect. Make sure they fixed all the body holes properly ... no cock hole covers. ,


The one that I am thinking about has generator with 120/240 volt outlets it has all of the lights bells and whistles. I think it would require some painting back to a solid color with signage maybe a wrap! I just don't know anybody that has done this.


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## Redwood

Rocksteady has one...

Be careful the ambulances may not carry as much weight as you think they would. Suspension and brakes may be on the light side....


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## justme

The Plumbing Doctor is on the way.


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## wyrickmech

justme said:


> The Plumbing Doctor is on the way.


I was working in a hospital one time when the general ask me where I was going to be and I told him to just have me paged. The next thing I know I hear the operator come over the intercom with ( paging doctor plumb, doctor plumb please report to your station doctor plumb) I liked to died laughing!


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## PlungerJockey

The "Turd Surgeon"..... it rolls off the tongue well.


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## Tommy plumber

Dr. Drain the sewer surgeon.


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## wyrickmech

Has anybody seen the bins and drawers up close? Does it have a lot of storage?


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## CaberTosser

wyrickmech said:


> Has anybody seen the bins and drawers up close? Does it have a lot of storage?


 If you're lucky maybe they left a bottle of nitrous in it for date night!


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## wyrickmech

Ok I looked at the Picts of the ambulance it is a 97 ford F350 with a power stroke 120000 miles. I talked to my tax man he said I could use it all as a deduction. They only want 7500 still on the fence.


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## PlumberJ

The plumbulance!


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## Qball415

PlumberJ said:


> The plumbulance!


Not better than the Wambulance!


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## wyplumber

We have the back half of an ambulance for a PVC job trailer it is one heavy son of a gun the bins on ours store a ton of stuff but it is older than a 95 just can't remember what year


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## Letterrip

Get it well inspected before you buy. Some are abused. We bought a retired ambulance years ago that should have stayed retired. Pretty sure someone had died in and and was haunting it. Engine compartment caught fire, then tranny blew. Replaced tranny and engine blew. :furious:"In for a penny, in for a pound", so we replaced the engine. Ran for about 9 months, but it never shifted right. Tranny blew....again. >:-( Thought it had to do with the idiots that did the first tranny/engine replacement. Had found all sorts of things they did wrong. Decided to give it one more try with another tranny. Still doesn't shift right and nobody seems able to figure out why. It's now Re-retired.

That said, when the stupid thing would stay on the road, it was an incredible work setup. All aluminum body. Lots of compartments. Lights mounted on the back outside so you can back up to emergency night calls. And the lights inside!!!! Need sunglasses when you fire them up!! Only challenge was that there was no real good spot for your pipe. No full lenght pipe shoot like the Knapheide's.


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## wyrickmech

Letterrip said:


> Get it well inspected before you buy. Some are abused. We bought a retired ambulance years ago that should have stayed retired. Pretty sure someone had died in and and was haunting it. Engine compartment caught fire, then tranny blew. Replaced tranny and engine blew. :furious:"In for a penny, in for a pound", so we replaced the engine. Ran for about 9 months, but it never shifted right. Tranny blew....again. >:-( Thought it had to do with the idiots that did the first tranny/engine replacement. Had found all sorts of things they did wrong. Decided to give it one more try with another tranny. Still doesn't shift right and nobody seems able to figure out why. It's now Re-retired.
> 
> That said, when the stupid thing would stay on the road, it was an incredible work setup. All aluminum body. Lots of compartments. Lights mounted on the back outside so you can back up to emergency night calls. And the lights inside!!!! Need sunglasses when you fire them up!! Only challenge was that there was no real good spot for your pipe. No full lenght pipe shoot like the Knapheide's.


The one I was looking at has a fresh tranny and it looks well taken care of but I just don't know. He said that it has a lot of power 7.3 power stroke so power isn't a problem. Storage is my biggest concern.


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## Letterrip

If you are comparing it to a standard van, storage wasn't an issue for ours. It was pretty decent there. We had to stay on the guy driving it to keep him from overloading the suspension because of all the storage. The body weighs a lot by itself. In fairness though, he could overload a short bed van. He hates losing time at the supply house, and tried to carry every tool known to man.


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## PlungerJockey

I think a ambulance would be alright, but I think you would be better off finding a used KUV van body. You get all the storage benifits and your not going to be nearly as heavy. Just like the ambulance if you get a new cab and chassis you can switch the old cutaway bed over to the new one.


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## Letterrip

I have a 2008 ford van with the KUV body. Just got it and am still trying to work out the configuration, but I love it. Just hate the 8.8 mpg. And I'm pretty light on the pedal. Pipe rack on top doesn't help the aerodynamics.


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## PlungerJockey

My 2013 chevy has 1500 miles and I'm getting 9.6 according to the onboard display.


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## wyrickmech

PlungerJockey said:


> My 2013 chevy has 1500 miles and I'm getting 9.6 according to the onboard display.


So does the diesel trucks do better on fuel mileage ?


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## PlungerJockey

I can't speak for eveyone, but my F350 with the 6.0 gets about the same. It has a heavy enclosed utility bed, I think loaded it weighs around 14k. 

The only time I drive it is when I need to pull the backhoe. I need to get the brakes fixed on my trailer and I'm going to try to start pulling it with the van. I'd like to get rid of the Ford. It's a 2005 and it's a lemon spent 7k on repairs last year.


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## Letterrip

Our ambulance was a diesel, and it was getting a bit over 9mpg. It was older though. Count the added cost for diesel over gas and the overall fuel cost was similar.


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## PlumberJ90

wyrickmech said:


> So does the diesel trucks do better on fuel mileage ?


Easy and relatively inexpensive upgrades to diesels can can you another 3-5 mpg easy. Over time the savings add up


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## tims007

i to am thinking of this .. i have found a 2000 e350 with a 7.3 diesel in it ... thinking about gutting it and respraying it ... trying to get it for less than $1500 ... but i to am on the fence a little bit having driven nothing but old chevys and one ford the extra room would be cool and the generator setup is nice and the lighting but one wonders what does the customer think when it drives up to their door


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## gilbertjeffrey

I bought an ambulance from the county, but I cut up the back and took it in for scrap and mounted a knapheide bed and modded it to 11'. Truck was a fun project and I built it with the intention of running my business out of it. I worked out of it for probably 3 months before the maintenance costs and down time took their toll and I was losing work cause the truck was bumming out. I ditched it for a 3500 van and don't miss the other truck at all. the ambulance was a 99 f350 7.3


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## PlumberJ90

tims007 said:


> i to am thinking of this .. i have found a 2000 e350 with a 7.3 diesel in it ... thinking about gutting it and respraying it ... trying to get it for less than $1500 ... but i to am on the fence a little bit having driven nothing but old chevys and one ford the extra room would be cool and the generator setup is nice and the lighting but one wonders what does the customer think when it drives up to their door


Ford 7.3 powerstrokes run FOREVER


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## gilbertjeffrey

The engines are strong but two turbos in 3 months cost me $1800 in parts. I couldn't justify it.


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## Master Mark

gilbertjeffrey said:


> The engines are strong but two turbos in 3 months cost me $1800 in parts. I couldn't justify it.


 
High pressure poil pump is about 2000 installed on a 7.3 Deizel

Injectors are 1000 each or more.... 

Its not going to get repaired fast either, you better know a good deizel mechanic .... down time can be very long.... 

they get crappy mileage, and you cant hear yourself think 
or talk on the phone while driveing them...

pulling up to a customers home in a quiet neighborhood
sounds like a jet landing... I dont think it makes a good first impression
..

I got a 2000 ford deizel maxi van in mothballs with 165,000 miles on it totally equipped and decked out for service work, and its gonna stay in reserve and used only in dire emergency ...

cant stand the smelll or noise


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