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GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE New Reader
4/10/18 12:10 p.m.

Hey, I've been a paramedic for 5+ years and I can give you some pointers on these.

Be very weary when you buy an old ambulance, because the standards for their construction have not progressed since 1973. Worse, many have been "bubba-fixed" by volunteers to keep them working, so a small-town rig might have some questionable fixes. I worked for a department in south Nebraska that used two "Crestline Arctic Package" rigs that included heated floors and odd cubbies for Canadian standards- when we scavenged all the valuable radio equipment from them, we found their 3 county 911 radios had been grounded to the chassis by driving a single long wood crew through the cabin's floor into the frame rails. It was completely unprotected. To also add- any squad owned by a private ambulance company should be treated as a HUGE project, as few truly take care of their rigs. Watch out for the transmissions and brakes on these, few drivers properly use the parking brakes and the gearboxes end up taking the strain of several tons.

Also, if you do buy one know that the "box" on the back- the patient care area- has it's own maintenance procedures, with it's own bushings and mounts. You should call the coachbuilder who will have some record of what to do and who bought the rig. Blown/damaged/worn-out mounts are easily felt- the box sways and it is HORRIBLE for patient care.

Jaynen
Jaynen UltraDork
4/10/18 12:15 p.m.

That is a lot of good information!

So is there a type of service that would tend to be better? Larger city non private type maybe?

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