1958 F.W.D.

The Detroit Diesel Fairy on speed dial hates them just as much (possibly more) than I do. And just because I hate them does not mean that I do not possess knowledge of them. Remember what Don Vito Corleone told Michael- "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

OK, the Detroit Fairy reports the following: 16- coolant level 31- engine brake 32- cel/sel 1587 communication problem 41- too many srs 42- too few srs 44- engine temp too high 46- battery volts too low 51- turbo temp (doubt it has one??) 62- output fault ecm connections 63- pwm pulse width modular (doubt it has one??) 65- throttle valve (check for air filter restriction) 16, 31, 32, 35, 41, 42, 44, 62 are all related to sensor harness. Maybe bad harness, maybe corrosion. All could be from connection issue at ecm. Detroit Diesel Fairy suggests running it without the air filter to see what happens. And as I predicted he also suggested draining all crankcase oil before you run it and quote "drive it like you stole it, and all of your problems will go away."

Actually the best looking truck is the Aussie ValueLiner but don't tell the F.W.D. I said that.............

Best looking truck in that parade is at 35 seconds!!

Let me see what the Detroit Diesel Fairy says about those codes. First thing he will say though is that the best thing you can do is to put that piece of shit out of it's misery- drain the oil out of it and firewall the governor. Then replace with a 300 Maxidyne. Is this in an E-Won't Hush? Have you checked all the simple stuff first? Bad load of fuel? Have you checked the fuel filters and fuel/water separator? Will get back to you.

DDEC 1 or 2 ??

Glad to hear everyone made it home OK.

Ya left too early, I would have let you take the FWD for a spin around the test track after the parade! It was good to hang with ya!!!

Note the pictures of the Australian ValueLiner......It was truly an AWESOME piece of Machinery.....It was on my bucketlist to see one at some point in my life, though I would rather have seen one IN Australia, I guess I can cross that off the list.

https://goo.gl/photos/gntpUxJWtBf9eEvh8 Ok if I did this right, that should be a link into my google photo album. Some photos were taken by "Large" and the rest were by myself. These are also posted in the fazebook.

Ken you misspelled "give me my nitro and drive me to the emergency room"

Doug- myself, the wife and the zoo will be there. Any idea what time???

Is this a trick question? Like anything else. If properly taken care of and maintained according to accepted practices and standards, and assuming the equipment is not abused- it should last indefinitely. Like others have said....If it's up there in mileage and is clickety-clacking like a railroad track, then an overhaul may be in order. An oil sample analysis will provide a wealth of information for a small fee. I see you are in Mn......Contact almost any large truck or farm or earth moving machinery dealer, most of the big places either have a lab on site or send their samples to a central lab. You can also try Giles and Ransome Caterpillar in Bensalem, Pennsylvania- they are who I use. They have a lab in-house and will analyze any make/model engine oil, tranny fluids, fuels, coolants, hydraulic oils, etc. Call them on the phone with your credit card handy. They'll send you a sampling kit- a sample bottle, an overpack bottle, a draw tube (to drop down the dipstick hole), a self-addressed/pre-paid UPS envelope to ship it in, and the paperwork. You draw your sample according to the directions, seal the sample bottle up in the overpack bottle with the label affixed. Fill out the paperwork, seal it all up in the supplied envelope, and drop in a UPS box or call for UPS pickup. You should have results in 8-10 days if that long. Last time I did it 4-5 years ago it cost me less than $20.00

If I am not involved in a Fire Dept related 9-11 memorial, I might be able to attend. Does this picture offend sensitive eyes? Taken on Monday, in honor of the nuns in training and their labors.

The Spartan system (which is what we have) is extremely reliable. As I'm sure you know, Spartan builds thousands of chassis a year, not just for the fire service- their big ticket item is motor home chassis- where IFS is desirable. The fire truck front end failures you speak of are probably the ones being experienced by Pierce Manufacturing, Appleton Wisconsin- given a lot of publicity as they have a HUGE share of the fire apparatus market- one of the "Big Three" of the fire service.

By the way if anyone is interested, I have the specs in MSWORD format, post or message me your email address and I will send them if you want.

No. We had a very tight budget to stick with, and the cost-benefit analysis of IFS lost out to a standard leaf-spring suspension which is a 20,000lb Meritor MFS-20. Our 2007 Spartan-Toyne Pumper has IFS and no one (other than several of us in the company that are used to running big trucks) do NOT like it at all. Not in the least. And they out-number us "truck drivers." Therefore I suspect that even if we had the bucks to get IFS, it still would have been shot down. And yes, I wanted dual MARS 888's on the corners of the cab. But again I was only one vote on the committee.

I have always stated that I am sick and tired of my tax money being used to fund the US Military as a "World Police Department." I have always stated "Screw em. Let these places fend for themselves, we can barely hold our own as a nation and now we want to spend untold billions to go patrol someone else's block?" But the pictures of the child on the beach- The day I saw those pictures, I thought "wow that's a pretty powerful image" and I was kind of upset when I read the story behind the image- poor kid's family was fleeing Syria to get away from ISIS. I thought to myself "That goddamned prick in the White House shouldn't have pulled out from Iraq so quick." And that was about the end of it. Then, later the same night (this was about a week or so ago....) I walked into the living room. Small was sound asleep on the floor, wearing a red t-shirt, shorts and sandals, and was laying in almost an exact pose as the poor kid on the beach. I about lost it. I was thinking- what kind of thoughts was this kid thinking when his mommy and daddy hurried him onto a boat.....The innocence of his thoughts...."Wow we get to go on a boat ride, yay!!!!" "I hope mommy and daddy remembered to pack my blue ball!!!" "I hope that they have my favorite food where we are going!!" Now this poor kid will never know the innocence of playing ball with his dad, or eating his favorite food in a free place.....What must have his thoughts been when the boat he was on capsized....What did he think when he plunged into the water? When he lost grip with his mommy and daddy's hands.......I hope that God (or whoever his god happens to be) was there to greet him and take his hand, and take away his fears when he arrived at his final destination. Now I am really re-thinking those "Why do we have to be the world's police department" thoughts." Or actually I am thinking "You know what, if we have to be the world's police department, tell the politicians to lay their hands off, tell the Military Commanders to do what they have to do- give them free reign, no rules of engagement, no holds barred. Just get in there and blow ISIS to Mars. Vaporize them.....In the name of that poor kid. In the name of all the people that have been beheaded, or burned alive in a cage, or dropped into water while locked in a cage..... Something needs to be done to ISIS. And the rules of engagement need to be: "Find them. Kill them. Period." -Oh, and any nation that is knowingly harboring ISIS.....And wants to cry foul??? Yeah....You should have thought about that before you knowingly harbored ISIS....Or Osama Bin Laden....Or whoever.....By the way, here's a few Tomahawk Missiles for you, look out your window, they should arrive in about 5...4...3...2...........

Not sure of the price. It is real 13K gold, however it is not traditional gold leaf in that it was hand-cut and then hand-laid and burnished onto the paint, but rather it was machine-cut by computer design, and then applied onto a vinyl backing, burnished, background and shading coloring added, and then finished with a clear sheet vinyl overlay on top. The whole thing is then applied to the rig like any other conventional decal. On the 1958 FWD, I have the two maltese crosses, plus the "Bryn Athyn Fire Company" on the hoods and the two unit numbers "1102" on each side. These are all the same as I described above however by a different manufacturer and done 10+ years ago. There was also a small composition charge to create the specific maltese crosses. If I remember correctly I have about $700.00 tied up in everything on the truck. And they still look as good as the day they were applied (by my father.)

This is true. Right now whenever I have old gas I pour it into the FWD- that Waukesha will burn piss with a high enough octane rating

Yes I always treat my gas with Ethanol-Formula STA-BIL (the orange shit....) Yes I do that with the mowers, trimmers, snow blowers, etc. The gen set though......I'd like to leave a gallon or two in it, so I was wondering if anyone has had issues with pure-gas going bad as fast as ethanol gasoline. I'll try a gallon or two (treated) and see what happens.

HarryS Yes I suppose it's time I bite the bullet and start buying pure gas. Have you ever let any quantity of it sit around for a while? Whats the max you would let it sit? I want to put some in my gen set (which I light up once a month for an hour) but not if it will go bad.......Does it tend to laquer like ethanol gasoline?

So....speaking of our thread about ethanol formulated gasoline........A few weeks ago I went to use my Homelite string trimmer.....It's about 3 or 4 years old. Not one of the expensive ones but not one of the cheap ones, either. The supply fuel line popped off where it connects in at the primer bulb. So I figure "eh I'll snip a bit off and just put it back on." WRONG. Went to snip it and the line was split laterally down the length. And brittle. And falling apart. GRRRRRRRR So I went down to the local lawn mower parts shop and showed the guy what I needed, figuring I could just get a length of replacement hose off the reel for a buck and be on my way. WRONG. They don't have it. Can get it, take 2-3 days and will cost $5.75. Uhhhhhhh no. So the guy was nice enough and showed me that they have been using Polish-American Engineering and inserting a short piece of smaller diameter line onto the brass nozzle, and then a larger diameter line around that to run back down to the fuel tank. He gives me what I need, $.75 I am out the door. Fixed it, runs great. Yesterday I go to fire it up, and the g-damned return line disintegrated this time. All because some fucking hippie doobie-smoking piece of shit thinks we should have this garbage in our fuels. It's going to be a lot harder to replace the return line. Do I say "fuckit" and fix it, or do I say "fuckit" and buy an Echo this time (little better quality of a unit but still....Ethanol gasoline and all that.......) I could run pure gas in it.....But to get the pure gas it's a 10+ mile ride one way......

That's a shame you're not coming through NEXT saturday- you could have caught "Trucktoberfest" at the Mack Trucks Museum in Allentown.

Timothy, I am located in Hellertown, Pennsylvania 2 miles from Exit 67 of Interstate 78- near the City of Bethlehem. I have had several members of BMT here at "The BMT Truckstop" for a meal. If you travel Interstate 78 please consider stopping for a meal. We can throw your laundry in the washer and dryer while you are here too. Private message me for my telephone number.