Keystone State Thread

Who's got a 3rd gen in DelCo that wants a free beer while I crawl under your truck with a tape measure?

 

I might be your guy lol

 

Thanks for the heads up! I was reading about the fuel tank filling issue but didn't see full review of all TSBs...but she was adement about getting this model and color... And it was a super weird experience doing this deal today at the dealership with this pandemic going on. But it was the best price compared to other dealerships.

 

Fire Service = Change is bad.

That being said, as a driver operator, I am not entirely sure how I feel about it, given that it can only sustain for an hour, and any significant call beyond that of an alarm system typically goes beyond an hour time frame, I don't really see the benefit. Not to mention, there are a significant amount of changes coming out of Peirce right now, unless this is their way to attempt to reduce the OBSEEN price hike because they are no longer building them with Detroits but are now going to Cummons. The only benifit I can see is the appeasement of "Karens". It also seems like one more thing to break.

That being said, our Ladder truck, a Pierce, because my Volly department only believes in Pierce, is from 2008, it came with a re-gen system that is a pain in the balls to maintain.

I'm a fan of Seagraves, and the old Mac's to be honest. My first department had Seagrave and Peirce, I've also run KME's, both at Nascar and another local department (aka, keep mechanics employed), not a fan of those tanks of lard.

Honestly, I'm not really a truck head geek when it comes to the fire service. If I can drive it, it has a true air break, and a simple pump panel that I don't have to worry about electronics failing while I got guys inside, I'm happy. Also red. Must be red.

 

LMAO: lower total cost of ownership.

Yeah, all those savings in reduced TCO for the diesel being run less are great. Until it's time to replace the battery pack, and they all get wiped out, plus some.

 

Quite honestly I haven't been around a fire truck since before the stupid DPF stuff became standard.

 

I can`t see it as a major selling point.

The price of fuel going down now if fuel goes $5.00 a gallon or more something to look at

 

I have a friend who is the Chief at local volunteer station.

New High tech pump quits hours and $1000.00 boards in just the control circuit.

Old school weld a new handle on go to go.

Being Just down the road from KME it might have been there salesperson.

These new kids look so shocked when I ask about KME exploding the Air Force Refuel tankers testing them.

 

I have to agree with you, their TCO model doesn't make any sense. Why not spend all those engineering $ on a better engine? My guess is that they don't buy enough engines to influence the manufacturer, and since the engine manufacturers have had to take a hard pass due to the US Cetane issues, the only (ugly) path forward is to push the glam.
Most likely an off-the-shelf crate engine.
The list of requirements for the battery pack to kick in are what killed it for me. It would have been better as a true hybrid that assists demand to improve efficiency.
Diesels like to run, and you have to choke them to shut them down. Use a smaller engine with two or three staged, or variable vaned, turbos like in a locomotive. This would give a low-consumption idle/charge state, with the battery to boost while accelerating, with the higher power output of a multi-stage forced induction at higher rpms.
The argument for muti-stage is that the pumps run off the pto, but at a lower peak rpm than the transmission. One stage that covers pto requirements, and a second stage to tackle hills.

 

Fire man dumb, new shiny toy take away realization of cost. Or does it?

Because it's about safety at this point I think, less fumes for us to breath in, we face a higher risk of exposure to carcinogins, then most, so reduction of fumes? I really can't say.

The truck we purchased between our 08 ladder truck and the one we are currently building has all kinds of issues. My personal favorite is when we have to try and figure out if our light tower is on fire or if its the building behind the engine is still on fire.

If you're saying Pierce needs to engineer the engine, they don't, they mostly just build the chasse, the engines were coming from Detroit, until now. Because they are no longer able to get them (or refuse to get them) and are switching over to the Cummins, the price has skyrocketed.

Ballpark numbers, we were expecting a new Rescue Pumper (Squad or however you'd like to properly identify it, the truck is designed for technical rescue capabilities as well as fighting a fire, meaning it has a water tank, pump and hose lines((for those who don't know)). The cost we were expecting vs our first quote after finalizing the drawlings was 85 something. I thought my Cheif was going to stroke out.

But like I said, spec-ing trucks out and googling over trucks isn't my thing when it comes to the fire service. If it can pump, wheel, and get the job done I'm usually happy with it. Talk to me about technical rescue stuff, that's my nerdy firehouse wheelhouse.

 

Things we hate, change and the way things are.

Also, no problem with piss yellow.

 

Morning PA peeps!!

If anyone needs to do their serp belt and pulleys, it’s a very easy job! I was worried the pulley bolts would be stuck but even with 224k miles they broke free very easily and even the OEM bearings were great!

 

Heh, you don't have the rust that I do under the hood. I look at a bolt wrong and it snaps under the hood. I need to do the same thing to my truck, but it seems this truck is always one bolt away making a 30 minute job into a day job. Thing was definitely rode hard and put away wet early on in its life.

 

haha I have a PA truck with a ton of buildup on the original components. I bought the truck still because they replaces the frame, and with it a TON of hardware lol. I will say I had to wire brush the fully bolts to get a socket to fit over them

 

Yea it seems like the salt and muck get their way into the engine bay quite easily. Hell this winter I had salt spray on the oil filter! I bought this truck because the frame looked clean and was coated. Boy was I a little blind to all of it. The coating is coming off the passenger side rather quickly. The rails beside the cats still sounded nice and solid. We'll see when they inspect it tomorrow. Don't expect anything, but while it's on the lift I'll have them take a look.

Still like the truck, checks off every box. Just wish I would have done more research. I'm already in too deep as I've put alot of time in effort in catching up on maintenance and repairs...

 

Morning folks, Happy Cinco De Mayo....
Have a good day and Be SAFE.

 

This is strange I have the tool catchers under the truck removed granted the only thing I see is my driveway and job sites it gets driven in rain and snow and every thing between I don`t have near the slop of some of these other trucks.

Quite Different if your driving in foot deep mud at 50 mph.

 

Sorry I don`t get into celebrating Mexican Independence .

Just goes to show any excuse for a party!!

 

But it's not celebrating Mexican Independence.....