I would consider ambulance service for any vehicle to be severe duty. If you think about it, they're driven by a variety of different people, who do not actually own the vehicle, so it's driven with no mercy. Pedal to the metal, no warm-up time, no cool down time. Ford gets credit in this department, 98% of all ambulances in this country are on their chassis.

Unfortunately, Cadillac no longer makes a high-top ambulance, so the days of 120 mile an hour ambulance transports, with a velvet smooth ride, are long gone...

 

i live right next door to the ambulance dealer for wheeled coach, and you guys are right most of the ambulances he sells are phurds, but he does have a chev come through there once in a while. it all depends what the person he customizes it for wants. he said that dodge doesnt cooperate well with the ambulance manufactures, i dont know why but they dont. im guessing that Dodge doesnt cooperate with the motorhome manufactures either cause i havent seen any of them on a dodge chassy. Welder27 your buddy is most likley driving one of the ambulances my nieghbor sold cause he does ALL of AK for Wheeled Coach

 

I think the problem with the chassis is that the Dodge has wider frame rails. Most add ons won't fit. That is the reason for so few Dodge tow trucks, for example.

 

As far as Dodge and wreckers, someone told me once that it was tried but the frames stressed in the middle and broke. When reported to Dodge, Dodge said the trucks weren't designed for that and would not warranty it.
I dunno how true that is, but that might explain few ambulances and why we don't see Dodge wreckers or rollbacks very often. I've only seen one as a wrecker here in Va.

Chris

 

Stamey wrote:
As far as Dodge and wreckers, someone told me once that it was tried but the frames stressed in the middle and broke. When reported to Dodge, Dodge said the trucks weren't designed for that and would not warranty it.



You're correct, there were frame issues involved in the 94's when they first came out. My shop swapped alot of wrecker bodies off those bad chassis and onto something else. Probably something like 30 or 40 of them, altogether. (I did work for a Chevron Wrecker Dealer) I don't know what the outcome was on the warranty issues with Dodge after the 94 nightmares, so I can't comment on that.

As far as ambulances go, I don't know a great deal of the 'why's' about that either, except that I HAVE noticed one thing about the Ford chassis. The Fords that are NOT designated for ambulance use have a tag in the door jamb that states just that, and they also reference the fuel tank and/or fuel system. I can't recall right off the top of my head the specifics, but it DOES have something to do with fuel. I don't think frame width would be a big influence in ambulance body mounting, because there are ALOT of ways around that issue. I have seen a few Dodge ambulances at trade shows and the like, so I know it's being done, I just don't know why they're not more popular. Possibly a cost issue?

chaikwa.

 

Actually, here in the state of Misery (Missouri) we are not required to have a CDL OR medical card. We are a political subdivision and therefore exempt from OSHA, DOT, and all that crap.

And Chevy does make a conversion. It is not a RV cutaway, however. It is a pickup front end.

As with all services (I hope) we keep a very strict maintenance schedule. If there is anything wrong with our ambulances, they go to the dealer that specializes in light duty trucks for repair. That is part of the reason we get 200k+ miles out of them.

We are also going through EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Training) every year.

That doesn't excuse 90+ mph on the road. If you have paramedics, there is no need to go that fast unless they REALLY suck.

 

ok im not going to argue with you guys anymore. its probably not the safest thing to do (90 MPH on the freeway) but everybody has their own circumstances. we, for example, live in a very ural area, and the strech of freeway we cover, is not heavy with traffic, and it is STRAIGHT, no turns at all. we are responsible enough to look at the situation and decide what would be the best solution to it. sometimes, if the situation is so, we will only do 50-60 MPH out there, it just depends. we wouldnt do anything to put ourselves in high danger, or anybody else for that matter. sorry to get everybody all defensive about it.

 

Not at all...we live in a very rurual area as well. We are 30 miles to the closest hospital. Our hospital closed in 1985.

We used to have heavy feet. In fact, we still have one guy that does. Makes it really hard to work. As I am all for the diesel, there was something about listening to that 460 open up and run. Still kind of miss that.

All I am saying is that with the advances in training, you shouldn't have to run that fast. Does that mean we always don't? Heck no! We are as guilty as the next guy getting to the scene as fast as possible. It is on the trip to the hospital that we don't run that fast.

 

Speaking as a volunteer firefighter, I can attest to the fact we allhave heavy feet when there is life at risk. However, this does not excuse us from the law, and we have learned that getting there safely is far more important than becoming victoms ourselves. All of the rigs in our hall are 3 ton and up. These trucks are able to exceed the speed limit easily and are not easy to manuver in an emergency situation. That being said, I think that anyone give the choice to wait 2-3 extra minuites for rescue as apposed to us not arriving at all would chose to wait. Just my .02 cents.

 

Hmmm, I've seen two Dodge wreckers, at least one Dodge roll-back, and one Dodge ambulance in my little town. SS

 

Our local ambulance authority is replacing all of its units with Freightshaker trucks. These units are not only larger, but have a lower entrance to the rear and more head room. The larger unit is welcome when you have 2 patients, 2 medics and a firefighter in full turnout gear in the back. More overall room in the unit for all of the gear required in an ALS rig. Remember back in the 70's Dodge had a factory wrecker called the retriever. We had one at the local garage where I worked as a young fella. 78 W350 440 4 spd club cab. Sweet truck. Wish I could find that truck somewhere and transplant the CTD.

 

sgrooms, we dont respond to the hospital, we are certified First responders, therefore we respond to the scene, and take care of them till the paramedics get there, help them load and what not then send them on their way. i dont think they run 90 mph to the hospital either, so i can see where your coming from.
Freddy2pipes the trucks that we run 90+ mph are Quick response truck, wich are exactlly that. (1 ton trucks with utility beds, 250 gal water, pump and extracation equip) so they are a little safer to cruise at those speeds than the 3 ton trucks. and sometimes that 2-3 minutes is their life, so there wouldnt be any need for us to respond.
Oh BTW we usually beat the ambulance there by 10-15 minutes so we DO need to get there if injuries are unknown, critical, or trapped victims. if they arent serious injuries then we do obey the law.

 

I guess every situation is different, as in our district the ambulance authority is staffed full time with 3-4 units in our area alone. This usually gets the medics to the scene before rescue and they begin to stabalize the patiant. As for rapid transport to the emergancy room, favorite choice is the red whirly bird, STARS air ambulance. 120 mph+.

 

There are times that I would love to just kiss those first responders. There are many times they are the difference in a good patient outcome and doing CPR. So for what you are doing, thanks a lot.

 

Another thing to consider with the speed issue is the speed of the traffic around you. If the speed limit is 70, and traffic is going 10 over that's 80. So to keep up with traffic you have to do 80 and at 85 you're onlu going 5 MPH faster than traffic. I assure you if you go the speed limit in any emergency vehicle (excluding law enforcement) with Lights and Sirens blaring people will wiz right past you. That being said I'm not advocating traveling 200MPH in any emergency vehicle.

You have to remember you are your own warranty station. If something unfortunate should happen on the way to a call it will be pretty hard to explain why you were traveling 98MPH. Especially if it turns out to be one of those many calls that aren't the same as when they were dispatched. It comes in as an overturned vehicle with people trapped. Then you get on scene and find out it was an overturned vehicle where the person is already out of the vehicle without a scrape on them and they refuse treatment.

I'm not saying I never speed or break the laws responding to calls. I'm just saying I think alot more about the liability and that I don't know the person whose emergency I'm responding to, and at the end of every shift I want to go home to see my wife and family. I love my career and would like to contine it for a long time to come.