I'm the new owner of a 1997 F-350 7.3L turbo 4x4 ambulance. I came across this rig at a parts supplier when I was fixing my wet abrasive blaster. The owner was previously employed by the local fire department and part of their dive team. He only owned the truck for 3-4 months, previous to that the fire department owned it since new. It was garage kept its whole life, rarely used except to tow their dive boats a few miles down the road to the marina. I was shocked when he told me it only had 65k on it. Anyways, after talking shop for a bit with the owner I asked if he would consider selling it. After some negations, I brought this bad boy home.

I was hoping some of you kind folks could help me run some maintenance on this as I want this to last the test of time. I plan to do some basic maintenance (change oil to synthetic, change oil filter, fuel filter, auto-trans fluid, transfer case fluid, air filter, etc) and was curious what else I should check and/or replace. I have the maintenance schedule from Ford but was curious if I should still replace some things due to age (for example, differential fluid says to change at 100k, should I do that anyways given it's 25 years old at this point?). What are the weak points on this model? Are there things that I should preemptively take care of to avoid headaches down the road? Upgrades suggested to help with performance and longevity? Literally anything helps, I just want to make sure my money is well spent to ensure the life of this truck!

 

If your rig is equipped like most ambulances, it has some very special electrical equip on board. Some had dual alternators, power shut off mounted to the side of the driver's seat, pull away for battery charger so driver didn't have to unplug it, going out in a hurry, but should,. plus all sorts of lights and controls.I would hope they removed the light bar and siren and PA system assy.
Because there was a lot of hurry up and go and quick stopping , the brakes took a beating.
If you can , try to find who did the upfitting and maybe they an provide some info as to how a lot of the accessories were installed . Properly Maintained they were made to provide good service, All had plenty of heat and the A/C was pretty good too. You could probably live in this thing if you had to lol.