F450 surplus auction ambulance as equipment truck and tow vehicle???

I would jump on that if I could. What year? Which engine? If it’s not already equipped, you can get an inverter and run power tools and such off of it. The ambulance package should have two alternator/generators. A lot of cool options you could do with that.
 
Sounds interesting, but can it tow? Ambulance packages tend to be very heavy. Also, how many miles and hours are on it? Ambulances often do a lot of idling, and when they are driven, they are driven hard.
 
I'm on a rural volunteer fire department and as a result, close to the EMS side of things, but have more experience/knowledge on the fire side. In my ~12 years, both fire/ems have gone through a lot of trucks.

Unless used frequently for transports, they often have high idle hours and low miles, or low in both, meaning they spent most of their lives just sitting. Neither mileage or hours are a good indicator of condition. Sitting is worse than driving after a certain age. Ambulances ESPECIALLY have an incredible amount of additional custom electronics, that can lead to hard to track down power draws and problems down the road as they age. As Reach said, they are HEAVY which cuts down on hauling and towing ability.

Unless bought new, and look up the title history to see, small departments themselves buy these trucks at government auctions from OTHER departments getting rid of them. What that means is you can either look at gov auctions yourself to eliminate a possible middleman, or know the other department is getting rid of the truck for a reason. Usually age, but sometimes condition.

The fire department I am part of is so small, that other than a recent built-to-order brush truck, our type 1/2 engines are 30 years old and are often found at auction for under $10k. For a full fire engine that holds 750 gallons, has working pumps and carries 4 fire fighters. They are not especially 'valuable' trucks.
 
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I think you would be much better off getting something built as a 'service truck' as it will be more optimized for getting tools from the outside, which you will be doing 95% of the time, instead of internal life support space for a person on a gurney.

Super quick craigslist search in your area. You get external tool access, no huge heavy box on the back, some clean/internal storage and a more simple truck. https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/d/kent-2015-chevrolet-silverado-3500hd/7914261735.html

Edit: not especially recommending this one, just giving an idea what's out there.

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I think people shopping for trucks think too much about what clients think about the trucks. Doing a great job is professional presentation regardless of what the truck looks like. Find a truck that reliable works for the work you are doing and helps you do it more efficiently.

Ambulance for a PHC truck...that'd be kinda cool, actually.

There is a drain cleaning company locally who has one...with a "mean" looking tree painted on the side, so I'm not a big fan of that one.
 
Lights and siren on a tree truck, interesting idea…

@Reach is right about the weight on some of those even if they don’t look that heavy. When I used to work in towing I had to move a box one once and it had some weight to it.
 
ATH said:
I think people shopping for trucks think too much about what clients think about the trucks. Doing a great job is professional presentation regardless of what the truck looks like. Find a truck that reliable works for the work you are doing and helps you do it more efficiently.

Ambulance for a PHC truck...that'd be kinda cool, actually.

There is a drain cleaning company locally who has one...with a "mean" looking tree painted on the side, so I'm not a big fan of that one.
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My buddy has all older trucks that he bought used and while they aren’t the biggest or prettiest, they get the job done and he’s not paying a loan off each month.

There’s a guy on social media who is known for running a smaller alternative setup and he was using a van like what is typically utilized for delivery, and he had a Kubota with chipper mounted on the back that he would load into the back of the van, and then tow a dump trailer. Talk about quite the unique setup without having to have multiple vehicles or trailers. And he would do big jobs with it from the content I’ve seen.
 
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I’ve read two or three threads about people buying ambulances and converting them into RVs and rough area campers. It is a lot of work to make one serviceable as a service truck. Like somebody already mentioned there’s extra stuff in an ambulance that gets in the way of civilian use.

The drivetrain is all built heavy duty, which means extra expense that you don’t need since you’re not driving from full speed to stop you don’t need that extra equipment. Find a regular service truck like somebody else mentioned and go from there.
 
I have a f450 service body. It's not well-suited as a full on tool truck.



It will carry my mini, tow my chipper, and has a chip box.



My f350 has a 5 door work canopy that is slightly higher than cab height.



I was thinking of a rainy climate jobsite workspace and drying space for to/ from jobs that can be plugged in at my shop.
 
One of the local hacks has an old ambulance that he uses for a gear hauler. Across the top of the box in front he has in backward lettering "Treemergency" so it can be read in your rearview mirror. Also the name of his business is "Shade Killers" I just shake my head.
 
oldoakman said:
One of the local hacks has an old ambulance that he uses for a gear hauler. Across the top of the box in front he has in backward lettering "Treemergency" so it can be read in your rearview mirror. Also the name of his business is "Shade Killers" I just shake my head.
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I sympathize with your feelings but my hats off to him for cleverness.
 
oldoakman said:
One of the local hacks has an old ambulance that he uses for a gear hauler. Across the top of the box in front he has in backward lettering "Treemergency" so it can be read in your rearview mirror. Also the name of his business is "Shade Killers" I just shake my head.
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We compete with such stellar companies as Backwoods Boyz, Angry Beaver, and Mighty Log, and of course the Amish powerhouse that is Sunny Slope.
 
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