Single wheel or dual wheel ambulance?? tire wear?

[carcrafter22]

I have an odd question for you guys. I have a 96 E350 ambulance, this is a cutaway van chassis with the ambulance box on it which of course is dual rear wheel. We are converting the thing into an offroad camper van with all the ammenities such as queen size bed, eating table, running water large screen tv with external 1tb harddrive worth of movies, 4.3cubic ft fridge, toilet, a/c heat and more. I am getting ready to install the new ZF6 spd and 271 transfer case soon then its on to the 4wd conversion.

The ambulance is getting a 4" lift (minimum required for the 4wd conversion) and we will be using a 99-04 superduty front axle. The superdutys run a different bolt pattern that what I have now so I will need new wheels and since I need new tires anyway I will be upgrading to something around a 33" tire size, preferably an all terrain since we will be driving alot of highway but still want something capable off road when needed.

I have searched high and low and the only E rated dual wheel tires I can find that are 33" and skinney enough to fit the rear is 255/85/16 BFG mt km2's which is a mud terrain tire. I dont really want a mud tire since they are louder than I'd care for and we will be driving 70% highway.

So I have been thinking of converting to single wheel. I've seen one other guy convert his ambulance to single wheel and he said it was fine but didnt go into any detail at all.

I expect this rig to weigh out roughly 10,000 pounds when all is said and done.

Do you guys think its stupid to convert to a single rear wheel using a 99-04 superduty rear axle and a set of 285/75/17 BFG a/t tires?

I think they will handle the load since there are alot of single wheel f350s running around pulling large loads, I'm just concerned with tire wear.

Will they wear funny? I wonder if I can just rotate them more?
People keep talking about stability but this isnt a full width F350 style rear axle its a cab/chassis rear axle which is quite a bit narrower so the new single wheel axle will put the tires out wider than they currently are.

Thanks
Randy

 

[L6powered]

I think with a SRW setup you should be fine. just make sure you have a good E rated tire that is capable of the load you are going to have. You could look at the toyo open country a/t has a 285/75/17 that is rated for 3,970lbs. I know those wear like iron and give a good ride.

 

[GOT-Torque]

More importantly, how close are you to the border?

I wouldn't want to be driving an offroad ambulance around in the backcountry, you are sure to be swarmed with illegals looking for food/water/etc. :hehe:

I wouldn't worry about the switch to SRW, get a nice E rated tire and move on.

 

[carcrafter22]

Great, thanks guys! I have also been looking at some BFG A/T's 285/65/18 E rated I think they are rated at around 3650lbs. They are almost a 33" tire and I know the bfg's ride good (I've had 3 sets on my 06 2500hd) and handle the terrain I travel in.

I feel much better about this swap after talking with guys that tow regular.

More importantly, how close are you to the border?

I wouldn't want to be driving an offroad ambulance around in the backcountry, you are sure to be swarmed with illegals looking for food/water/etc. :hehe:

I wouldn't worry about the switch to SRW, get a nice E rated tire and move on.

Thats why there is a pistol mounted on the lower right side driver seat as well as by the passenger side door entrance into the box. :hehe:

I'd like to see chico come suprise us in the wee hours of the morning (been known to happen further south) :kick:

Luckily I stay away from that part of Texas (filth hole that it is)

 

[Charger]

do you have a weight on the rig as it sits, then a weight on each axle, the ambulance cab chassis are speced to their finished equiped weight, by the sounds of your build you may be exceeding that, the typical ambulance body empty is a much heavier body than your typical camper body empty, go to a scale and figure it out.