GLASGOW — What may have been old is now new again for the Barren-Metcalfe County Ambulance Service.
The service welcomed back one of their units, which underwent an overhaul starting in July, specifically under the hood.
Ambulance service director Mike Swift said the work was done on the unit’s 7.3 liter turbo-charged diesel engine. In all, four vehicles are equipped with such an engine.
Swift added that two years ago, Ford Motor Company discontinued the use of the 7.3 engine and went to the 6.0 series, which he said has caused difficulties for the ambulance service industry wide.
Another temporary discontinuation led Swift to take action.
“There was a temporary discontinuation of the E Series that we use about the time that we were needing new ambulances,” he said. “So, rather than wait for a disposition on that, what we decided to do was I got with Bradley (Atwell of Gillie Hyde Ford-Lincoln-Mercury-Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth) and we researched it together and he came up with some information that basically we could replace ... we replaced the whole running gear, the engine and everything in it.
“This was a new experience for us. It was a new experience for the ambulance manufacturer too because, apparently, not anybody’s done this or if they have, it’s been very few and far between.”
Atwell, who oversaw the work, seconded the venture being a “new experience.”
“This was a new experience for us, actually replacing an entire power training at one time,” he said. “We replaced the engine, transmission, rear axle, all the suspension components, springs, everything at one time.”
Swift said the warranty on a remanufactured 7.3 liter engine is better than a truck right off the assembly line, with the former having a two-year, unlimited mile warranty as opposed to the standard one-year, 100,000 mile warranty.
Cost was also less, as Swift said the fees for the work were half what it would be to buy a brand new ambulance. The engine work cost approximately $21,428, while refurbishing on the rest of the unit was $23,065.
“We could do four ambulances for what it would cost us to buy two brand new ambulances,” he said.
This procedure has attracted the attention of ambulance services across the state, such as Marshall and Oldham counties, according to Swift.
“Even the Kentucky Board of EMS, the state regulatory agency, they’ve asked us to keep records,” he said.
In addition to upgrading the engine, Swift said other changes were added to the unit as well, such as installing a safety railing to the bench in the “box” of the ambulance.
He said it still has to be restocked and reinspected and will not return to service for another week.
Atwell said his team learned a great deal from working on the initial unit and hopes the task goes more quickly for the next vehicle.
“It was a new experience for us just knowing exactly what bolts and parts and that type of thing that we were going to need to do a job of that magnitude,” he said.
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