Winter Contest Project# 1 from Sportbiket. Category: General Welding repair

[sportbike]

[JimMinKent]

Well Done!

And nice job of documenting the project.

That nomad table looks like the cat's meow for clamping up corners, good stuff.

Thanks for the tour,

Jim

[DaveO]

A tip of the welding cap to you- first for volunteering and then for bringing outside talent to the immediate benefit of the department. Saving $500 over retail is some pretty serious bucks! I'm going to keep that tip about the carbide moulding blade in my back pocket too.

[sportbike]

A tip of the welding cap to you- first for volunteering and then for bringing outside talent to the immediate benefit of the department. Saving $500 over retail is some pretty serious bucks! I'm going to keep that tip about the carbide moulding blade in my back pocket too.

Thanks Dave. I am a Mechanical Engineer and I often get involved with some projects that most folks would just buy new to replace as they would never have the confidence to "open the box and see what's inside".

This part of the repair was about a $1000 savings for the department. The rest of it will cost about $1300 in parts, but that will net probably another $1000+ in savings.

We have insurance of course, and it woudl have paid for this. The cost of the insurance is quite high as it is and unless it isn't practical, we usually don't turn in the "smaller" stuff.

These days you can barely scratch the surface of getting a new truck for under $250k, most are more in the range of $350+. Can;t really blame the insurance companies on the rates when the trucks are covered for full replacement value.

We have a 1986 American LaFrance that was purchased form a department in Carnegie PA. The truck was in a flood. The whole thing was stripped and repainted in-house (it was robin egg blue). The driveline parts were torn down, flushed adn re-lubed and the rear end was cleaned and re-lubed by a truck repair facility as a precaution.

The truck body is all stainless (othe than the top portion of the cab which is plain carbon) and it has a 400HP Detroit Diesel engine in it.

All told, I believe the total costs was about $35k including purchase of the truck. This is one of the last "real" trucks made as today they really aren't as heavy and robust. Even the Seagrave trucks which are quite nice, just aren't as robust, and repair costs are high. This truck has all mechanical pump operations, which I can repair or fab parts for as opposed to electronic, remote console operation.
The LaFrance was done before I move into town, but I have since added an extended front bumper to it to house the rescue tools.
It will need periodic maintenance or repairs, but will probably be around for another 20 years and will still pump with anything out there (and the sound of the Detroit can't be beat either).

I'm really not all that into the part of "being a fire fighter" (although I am the Asst Chief). I do it more because there is a need and I am able to do it.

Unlike quite few of the guys / girls involved with the department who are really into it, I truly wish the whistle (which I re-wired as well) would never blow again.

[DaveO]

Good ya again! Saving a fistful of dollars and not giving the insurance company the excuse to raise rates next time around. Let's hope the finance guys in your town appreciate your contribution!

In my county fire trucks come up at auction every now and again- I was thinking that might be of interest to you but from your description your American LaFrance will be around for quite a while. Do volunteer fire groups get first pick when trucks are available? (Or maybe the question is, *shouldn't* they get first dibs.)

[SeanMurphy265]

I've worked on several fire trucks for volunteer fire departments. I worked for a company that would build tankers with a dump valve so they could dump the water and go back for more. One volunteer fire department was given the tank from an old gas truck. We took it and cut out all the compartments, ran 4" black iron pipe, and plumbed everything up. It was hard work welding pipe under that truck. That's a cool thing about volunteer fire departments; they get all types of stuff donated, and will make a fire truck out of just about anything.

[Mr120]

This thread makes for some very interesting reading! My hats off too for volunteer firefighters and those who support them. Nice project and you certainly made very good use of your skills and your welder's capabilities.

[sportbike]

Well Done!

And nice job of documenting the project.

That nomad table looks like the cat's meow for clamping up corners, good stuff.

Thanks for the tour,

Jim

It actually works pretty well. It could certainly stand to be about twice as thick on the materials of course, but that said, it would also be nice to have a heavy setup table with all of the modular fixture options known to man.

It is nice for smaller jobs, which is pretty much all I really do.