Suggested Upgrades

[Cubey]

Since I don't have an altimeter, I can only guess on altitudes. I've noticed that mine differs with speed. Going over Monarch Pass in Colorado, at 11,312', mine struggles. I can keep the speed up and the EGTs down, but I flirt with the governor a lot. Going over Cottonwood Pass, also in Colorado, with the same load, at 12,126', I didn't have anywhere close to as much trouble. The speed limit on Cottonwood Pass is 35 MPH for all but the eastern most 1 mile and then it's down to 25 or even 20 at the switchback at the top. I don't really recall, but I believe that Monarch Pass is 50+ MPH all the way except for at the top where it's 35 MPH. I'm sure that the grade comes into play some too, but I don't have a comparison. At lower elevations, I only had trouble on steeper grades. I know that there is a hill that's just west of Canon City, CO that always makes my N/A truck struggle. Going from Buena Vista, CO the Colorado Springs, CO last summer, I only had a couple of places that I had any trouble at all. It was dark and kind of rainy so I couldn't see how steep the grade was. I do feel that if I had been able to see them and build up a little bit extra speed, I would have been able to drive up them without the need to downshift.

Google the name of a city and "elevation" or use a site like this from your phone if you want to know the elevation where you are standing. https://whatismyelevation.com Apps exist for that too.

WB US-24 from Colorado Springs is where it was rolling coal for the first time. A bit further on past Woodland park it was still smokey. At the junction with CO-67, I took off the intake snorkel which seemed to help a tiny bit for my SB drive to Cripple Creek. A week or two later in Salida, I replaced the air filter to see if it would help.

At 10k elevation in CO along US-285/24 between about Nathrop and Leadville, my F250 didn't like to start if turned off. It drove ok more or less ok. If I turned if off even just to refuel, it would take tons of cranking to restart. This was after the air filter was replaced. I replaced the fuel filter too in case that was somehow the problem, but it wasn't. It's like it had bad air intrusion, even if turned off for only the time it takes to pump 10 gallons. It didn't do it at Cripple Creek but that's 9400ft, so even that 600ft made a big difference. Once I got to Avon, CO (7500ft) it had no problems. Never any starting problems until a few months later in WA where about half of the Autolite glow plugs were burned out, but that was a cold starting issue.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

WB US-24 from Colorado Springs is where it was rolling coal for the first time.

That is the way I'm going in a couple of weeks. Only the first steep climb west of Colorado Springs makes me a little uneasy. It's a 6% or 7% grade for a few miles. IIRC, it has a speed limit of 40 or 45 so I should still be fine. We are/were both pulling weight driving these roads, but I'm pretty sure that you were pulling more than I will be since you were living out of your truck and I'll just be camping and playing. Since' I'm pretty sure that I'll be driving through there at night, I won't see the smoke anyway.

 

[Cubey]

That is the way I'm going in a couple of weeks. Only the first steep climb west of Colorado Springs makes me a little uneasy. It's a 6% or 7% grade for a few miles. IIRC, it has a speed limit of 40 or 45 so I should still be fine. We are/were both pulling weight driving these roads, but I'm pretty sure that you were pulling more than I will be since you were living out of your truck and I'll just be camping and playing. Since' I'm pretty sure that I'll be driving through there at night, I won't see the smoke anyway.

It was probably about the same weight wise as yours, since your camper is a true slide in while mine is just a cap. It's 2 lanes each direction so people can safely pass you, at least. Yeah I had the hitch carrier too with stuff but I had maybe 300lbs extra cargo at most. Not sure that's enough to make much difference?

 

[Fredrickson]

Did I miss the part..Is it an F style or an E-style body?
And how many miles/hours are on it?

 

[idiambulance]

Its a F series I believe (it has a truck body). I have right at 48k miles on it. It being an ambulance I have no idea the hours that are on it. It was used in a small town and from talking to them it was stored at the firehouse. It was removed from service in 1994 as it didnt meet the requirement in the state to be a primary response vehicle. Dont know what that means but thats what they said. Heres a picture. View media item 952

 

[Big Bart]

Looks like it is in really nice shape! Lots of storage on the outside for your camping gear too!

 

[saburai]

Wes did a idi artic ambulance camper build, he added a turbo. It's a cool thread, search around, you'll enjoy it. I added a ATS kit supplied by Russ type to Diego, now owned by @chillman88 still running well as far as I know. These idi's beg for a turbo...

 

[JonD]

My son bought a 7.3 idi ambulance and is in the process of converting same as you. He got so much interest he created a group on FB called “Vanning”. Check it out for ideas posted by followers along with all his experiments.