Ambulance as tow vehicle?

Looking at a 2002 Ford E450 Ambulance as a possible tow vehicle for Chumpcar races. Tons of storage in the back, along with a bed & A/C Who here has used one, and are there any hiccups to look out for? 7.3 Powerstroke, 277K miles, all service done at the dealership, started up with a boost after sitting for a few months, no smoke, went right into gear & pulled around the parking lot fine. I noticed a small controller mounted on the center tunnel with 4 buttons, rpm control, power, something else, and Ford. Anyone know what that is for?

Ambulance's are typically at max payload capacity. It doesn't matter what a vehicle is rated to tow, as at the end of the day the amount the vehicle is loaded affects how much weight you are allowed to put on the hitch/rear axle.

So, YMMV. I'm sure it can tow, but can it do so safely and within the law is another question altogether.

There is (or used to be) somebody on the forum who used an ambulance as a tow vehicle. Nickel_dime , maybe? He posted quite a detailed review of how it worked for him. It was several years ago, but a search might turn it up.

^^What he said^^

Those ambulance boxes are extremely heavy. They are generally rated for zero towing capacity.

But for Chump, it's a pretty awesome rig.

If you load the boxes with tools, they will outweigh the original intended cargo. THEN add the trailer and the car.

I have had 8 different utility body trucks, but never an ambulance. I always stop when it comes to the weight of the box vs the rated capacity of the vehicle.

I have a friend with an SCCA Bugeye that uses one to pull a 20' enclosed trailer loaded to the gills. It works fine for him. Once you strip out all the emergency gear they are not a lot heavier than a box truck

Just find a set of scales and weigh the rear. Then look at the sticker to see what rear GVW is. The difference is how much tongue weight you can have. I can't imagine a chump car and trailer weighing more than 6000 lbs. I can't imagine that you won't have 600 lbs of wiggle room. Think about how many oxygen tanks, bandaids, and other junk normally gets carried in there... plus two paramedics, and sometimes a patient who weighs 600 lbs.

The Tranny will go first, but it should be just fine until 200k at least if you keep it out of OD. Also check the door sticker for the axle code. Chances are since its a 450 and an ambulance, it might have 4.10s or 4.33 gears. If that's the case, towing out of OD will be pretty high revs. Towing in OD might be OK with those gears, but definitely install a tranny temp gauge. OD in a 4R100 doesn't have a ton of apply pressure on the clutches, nor does it have very much OD clutch surface area. You can fry it relatively easy if you're not careful. Some people rely on the check engine light to tell them if turbine speed is different from output speed, but once the check engine light comes on, you're already sitting on the side of the road.

7.3 is awesome. I've had several. Change the oil every 5k. The HEUI injection system is very reliable, but it uses 5-digit oil pressures to operate. This can wear out shear agents in the oil faster than other diesels, so its best not to "stretch" between oil changes.

Yep,

nickel_dime has one to pull around his 510. He's posted about it on here before.

I have a friend who does it. Technically his truck is a former Fire Truck. It has an ambulance body. It tows his Subaru Impreza (GC) rally car on an open trailer without a problem.

Take out some of the internal E36 M3 and most of them are just a fibreglass shell. Not much different than a cube van.

Upside of the fire truck, it only had about 63k kms on it when bought it! Ambulances up here often have 300-400 k kms on them when they sell them. Plus there are nice flat spaces where he can put a cot and sleep in it.

I bet the box allows the motor to be idled up to ensure that the alternator can keep all the lights and stuff running without killing the battery.

I was told that at least in MA, that after 9/11 no ambulances could be sold to private parties, just ambulance companies, schools etc.

Reason being is that terrorists could use them to get through to valuable targets with a huge truck filled with explosives.

This was a guy who makes his living selling them and had two I was inquiring about. He lost a sale if he was lying/wrong.

But... What about the E-Series vans for the same purpose? (Which these were btw)

NGTD wrote: Take out some of the internal E36 M3 and most of them are just a fibreglass shell. Not much different than a cube van.

There is a very wide variety of ambulance bodies, but generally speaking, most ambulance bodies are not fiberglass.

Once you include the inner walls and shelves, a utility body or ambulance body has pretty much double the surface area of a cube van.

They are very overbuilt.

Curtis has the right answers (except I doubt that much effort will be put into calculating the weights for a Chump tow vehicle!) .

I've spent an hour trying to find Nickel_Dime's write-up, can't find it If anyone else has better luck, please share GVWR is 14K, rear axle rating is 9450 lbs. They're available on govdeals.com, so I don't think we can't buy them :) I think they're required to have radios removed & lights inop if they go to an individual.

I have an ambulance that I use for my tow vehicle and trackside camper. It is an awesome, an F350 7.3 Turbo with 106k on the odometer that will tow a house. The back is all ambulance and has been converted to a camper. It has a TV, Microwave, coffee maker and a fold out queen bed. A/C runs on 30A, Diesel or a generator. Bought it at a city auction for a ridiculously low price. You gotta get rid of red and blue lights but otherwise there is no restrictions on owning one although I'd think twice before I drove it to an airport. I'd post a pic but I can't figure out how to do that on this site.

ebonyandivory wrote: I was told that at least in MA, that after 9/11 no ambulances could be sold to private parties, just ambulance companies, schools etc. Reason being is that terrorists could use them to get through to valuable targets with a huge truck filled with explosives. This was a guy who makes his living selling them and had two I was inquiring about. He lost a sale if he was lying/wrong. But... What about the E-Series vans for the same purpose? (Which these were btw)

This is not true AFAIK since I bought mine a month ago and the State had no issues registering it as a private vehicle.

[URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-41.jpg.html][/URL]

TxCoyote wrote:

ebonyandivory wrote: I was told that at least in MA, that after 9/11 no ambulances could be sold to private parties, just ambulance companies, schools etc. Reason being is that terrorists could use them to get through to valuable targets with a huge truck filled with explosives. This was a guy who makes his living selling them and had two I was inquiring about. He lost a sale if he was lying/wrong. But... What about the E-Series vans for the same purpose? (Which these were btw)

This is not true AFAIK since I bought mine a month ago and the State had no issues registering it as a private vehicle.

Yeah... every state has laws for "decommissioning" emergency vehicles. Some states require the end user to remove the lights and insignias. Other states have to remove all that stuff before they sell. I've seen emergency vehicles ranging from police to fire and ambulance that had simply covered the insignias with an electrical-tape "X". Other areas require a complete paint job and covering of the vehicle's origins.

[URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-42.jpg.html][/URL]

In reply to TxCoyote:

Any idea what the curb weight of your rig is empty?

I see ambulances for sale all the time, and have considered them as alternatives to the utility boxes I drive.

F450 with 7.3 drags a 26' enclosed trailer full of pit cart and super late model adequately. Sadly, no room for intercooler on the ambulance, so its a few foot pounds short of a full load.

Aerodynamically, its great. The box is almost identical in size to the trailer.

SVreX wrote:

NGTD wrote: Take out some of the internal E36 M3 and most of them are just a fibreglass shell. Not much different than a cube van.

There is a very wide variety of ambulance bodies, but generally speaking, most ambulance bodies are not fiberglass. Once you include the inner walls and shelves, a utility body or ambulance body has pretty much double the surface area of a cube van. They are very overbuilt. Curtis has the right answers (except I doubt that much effort will be put into calculating the weights for a Chump tow vehicle!) .

This is the type I am talking about:

Body is either fiberglass or aluminum. Gutting some of the insides can drop the weight. This was another one used by a Fire Dept. I found it at a local recycler. It was a 7.3 Powerstroke.

Streetwiseguy wrote: F450 with 7.3 drags a 26' enclosed trailer full of pit cart and super late model adequately. Sadly, no room for intercooler on the ambulance, so its a few foot pounds short of a full load. Aerodynamically, its great. The box is almost identical in size to the trailer. Mine is a F350 and I agree on the Aero. I get 12 around town towing or not and 15-16 on the highway towing unless I'm fighting a strong headwind. My former Expedition 5.4 gas got 7-8 towing.

SVreX wrote: In reply to TxCoyote: Any idea what the curb weight of your rig is empty? 4500 lbs five or take a few hundred. It'll tow my box trailer loaded with car and spares. Only drawback is top speed is about 75 on the highway. I'm sure the pickups can do better but then again I can sleep at the track in my Funbulance! I see ambulances for sale all the time, and have considered them as alternatives to the utility boxes I drive.

"Funbulance"

In reply to TxCoyote:

Do you have tools loaded in your ambulance, or just camping?

In reply to TxCoyote:

You sure about that 4500# number?

An F-350 Powerstroke without the ambulance body should weigh more like 7400#. More with the body.

A base model F-150 with a V-6 weighs over 5000#.

4500# doesn't sound right at all.

In reply to SVreX:

Sorry, haven't had my third cup of coffee yet. Doing it from memory but 7k sounds about right. That would be unloaded.