M2 Freightliner Ambulance Conversion Project. 2007 Crew Cab

B85

Adventurer
Love the snow shot. I'm glade you let me leave when I did. Don't think I could do one more night with out real heat.
Thanks for making me apart of the show.
 

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
What is your lowest clearance in inches? (aka pumpkins?)

Glad things went great for you and friends at expo

When I get a chance I will get the tape measure out. But it’s much better than what is was and a few inches better than the LMTV with the same wheels/tires.
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Great list of thoughts....so often there is a killer build thread with no lessons learned or later changes.
This is a gold mine of real world experiences even for us little camper guys :)
 

patoz

Expedition Leader
Big Red was looking good sitting in that campsite!

After reading your list, I have a few questions...

1. You stated, "The 840W of solar and the batteries I have handled all our requirements even with the shade (parked under the trees) and the overcast conditions plus supplying charging/power for every man and his dog." What does your house battery bank consist of and what is the total Ah of the bank? If you're looking to add solar panels check out Northern Arizona Wind & Sun, they have some new panels rated in the 350W area, but with a smaller footprint than the older ones.

2. I am planning on mounting my Little Giant Steps to the inside of one of my doors also, so I would love to see a few pictures of how you did yours.

3. Did you find a use for the SCBA cylinder storage compartments in the wheel wells, and if so what?

4. Do you have any plans to add a winch with your new front bumper setup?

5. I would love to see some interior pictures of how you have the back set up now.
 

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
Big Red was looking good sitting in that campsite!

After reading your list, I have a few questions...

1. You stated, "The 840W of solar and the batteries I have handled all our requirements even with the shade (parked under the trees) and the overcast conditions plus supplying charging/power for every man and his dog." What does your house battery bank consist of and what is the total Ah of the bank? If you're looking to add solar panels check out Northern Arizona Wind & Sun, they have some new panels rated in the 350W area, but with a smaller footprint than the older ones.

2. I am planning on mounting my Little Giant Steps to the inside of one of my doors also, so I would love to see a few pictures of how you did yours.

3. Did you find a use for the SCBA cylinder storage compartments in the wheel wells, and if so what?

4. Do you have any plans to add a winch with your new front bumper setup?

5. I would love to see some interior pictures of how you have the back set up now.

Batteries: I have the 4 AGM class 31 I think in the slideout box under the drivers seat. No house batteries as such as all batteries are used for truck and box.

Little giant steps. They are mounted to the cabinet beside the entry door. They happened to nearly fit there and are out of the way but reachable from the ground.

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Scuba tank holders. I have used the passenger side ones to store an awning and also house the power outlet (110v) for use outside (mostly my espresso machine). Nothing on the drivers side yet. But I figure they will be great for accessing pumps or the tanks when I use that area for water tanks.

Winch: Maybe a 12000 lb Warn that I have in the container with a label “Fuso Recovery Unit”. I may consider a hydraulic unit later (pto off transfer case) but I doubt that I will be able to get anything that will drag my ******** out without putting too much weight on the front.

I am getting the grand daughter to do a short video of the whole truck. Hopefully this weekend. That will include the interior mods.
 

patoz

Expedition Leader
I'm planning on 1300W to 1400W of solar on the roof since they now have those smaller footprint panels, and I can get four on there without overhanging, and I'm using a house battery bank of four Fullriver AGM 6V batteries, wired in a series/parallel configuration, for a total of 500 Ah.

I have a set of those Zico electric steps under my side door, so I'm thinking about mounting my LG Steps on the inside of my left rear door.

Looking forward to seeing the video! You've come a pretty good ways on that thing since you got it. ;)
 

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
Sherpa offers a nice priced electric 24000lb winch

25000 lbs for me is just over 1:1 ratio. Couple that with the 20% duty cycle it does become impractical for recovering a truck my size due to needed a minimum of a single snatch block and double the rope length for any self recovery use.

Since I have PTO outputs on both my transmission and my transfer case and the pumps are relatively cheap I think the better option is to cobble together a hydraulic system which would give me both the extra pull capacity and 100% duty cycle.

Also one of my future plans is to split my battery pack and run the house batteries at 17 volts. So I would be relying on just the 2 cab batteries for power to the winch (and a big alternator).

In the immediate future I will stick with either no winch or the 12000 Warn I have and just use it for others. Plus the tractor fund for deep poo times.
 

java

Expedition Leader
25000 lbs for me is just over 1:1 ratio. Couple that with the 20% duty cycle it does become impractical for recovering a truck my size due to needed a minimum of a single snatch block and double the rope length for any self recovery use.

Since I have PTO outputs on both my transmission and my transfer case and the pumps are relatively cheap I think the better option is to cobble together a hydraulic system which would give me both the extra pull capacity and 100% duty cycle.

Also one of my future plans is to split my battery pack and run the house batteries at 17 volts. So I would be relying on just the 2 cab batteries for power to the winch (and a big alternator).

In the immediate future I will stick with either no winch or the 12000 Warn I have and just use it for others. Plus the tractor fund for deep poo times.
Good point.... What's the going tractor rate these days?

I May need to add more to my fund lol

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
We keep about $1000 in small denominations. That’s for the dozer/excavator times?

The other issue I have with a winch is finding anything big enough to winch from. There is little likelihood of there being a vehicle big enough to use as an anchor and the place I am most likely to need help is sand.
 

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