1971 MAXIM

[85snowdog]

I came across this truck today in my travels . I don't know the owner or much about the truck . I just found it very interesting and though some on here would appreciate some pics.

It had a gas engine originally . At some point it had a 6-71 put in it.  

Things I found interesting is , wipers on both sides of the windshield and the "pressure computer"  

Like I said, I don't know much about it . But if anyone knows anything interesting  , I would love to hear.

[85snowdog]

Something else I wanted to add, that I learnt today. I thought it was interesting.

 All you firefighters will know.

The button for ringing the bell ,if your riding on the back.   I realize they don't do that anymore . 

 

[tjc transport]

rear mount buzzer or bell button was a standard feature beck when we rode the back step.

all our trucks had 2, one on each side.

and i can understand the use of dual wipers on an open cab truck for when it rains hard. what is the sense of having wipers on the outside of the window if you can not see out of it because the inside is covered in water?

[70mackMB]

11 minutes ago, tjc transport said:

i can understand the use of dual wipers on an open cab truck for when it rains hard. what is the sense of having wipers on the outside of the window if you can not see out of it because the inside is covered in water?

Would someone explain what the hell was the idea of an open cab on a fire truck anyways. Thanks in advance, Hippy

[1965]

1958FWD can tell you something interesting on the 6-71

[41chevy]

1 hour ago, 70mackMB said:

Would someone explain what the hell was the idea of an open cab on a fire truck anyways. Thanks in advance, Hippy

Tradition  for one  also in a city with tall buildings, firefighters needed the ability to spot smoke,  a cab or cover would prevent those riding up front from simply looking up, and seeing the smoke. Same for arriving on scene. There are  storiesof ladder truck operators bemoaning the arrival of covered cabs, which made positioning apparatus that much harder since the operator couldn't look up. Paul

Edited October 27, 2016 by 41chevy

[cf685f]

Nice looking Maxim.

 

[fxfymn]

That is a Maxim S model, built from the early 70's to the end of Maxim in the 80's. Most departments had gone to cab forward designs by then, but the fire service is bound by tradition and some departments still stuck with the conventional cabs. Maxim was a big user of Waukesha engines, and I'm sure that is what was in this from the factory. Conversion to a 6-71 was very common.

The "computer" is for the mathematically challenged operator who did not know fire ground hydraulics. Hose pressures vary by size, length and gallons per minute of flow. This did the math to account for those variables to let the operator know what the pump pressure should be for each hose line. Since it was little more than a series of numbers on a series of wheels that you lined up it did not work for all layouts, just for the most common ones.

As for open cabs; tradition, tradition, tradition. The fire service is living proof of the saying "One hundred years of tradition unbridled by progress". When apparatus was horse drawn it was open, so early motorized stuff was open, so later stuff was open, and so on. I have heard a lot of so called reasons for open cabs as Chevy41 says, but none of them really add up. They were great on a warm summer evening or a pleasant fall or spring day, but they sucked in wet weather or when it was cold or very hot, etc. which was most of the time. You cannot get your fun meter to read low enough to express how uncomfortable it was to get back in an open cab in 34 degree rainy weather after it sat on the scene for a couple of hours.

The race riots of the late 60's were the final death knell for most open cabs when uninvited bricks started arriving in the cab while responding to incidents. There were a lot of hastily assembled plywood roofs on them in those days.

The back step buzzer was there mostly to let the officer know that everyone was on board since you could not see them. They also used it when backing so the members wouldn't have to get off of the back step to spot the rig. What it didn't do was tell you when a member had fallen off, which is why back step riding is now, thankfully, a thing of the past. And yes, we did ride back there by ourselves a lot.

[j hancock]

Interesting brackets to support the air horns on the top edge of the windshield.

[Mack58B42]

21 hours ago, 85snowdog said:

Something else I wanted to add, that I learnt today. I thought it was interesting.

 All you firefighters will know.

The button for ringing the bell ,if your riding on the back.   I realize they don't do that anymore . 

 

Actually, the '96 tanker in my local dept. still uses this type of buzzer system on the back of the truck so someone can stand on the back bumper and send signals to the driver while trying to cozy up to a portable tank to get properly positioned for a water dump.  And our '85 pumper (now retired), which had a large bed of LDH had one as well for use when backing up while re-packing a long run of 5" hose.  Obviously, riding on a back bumper while actually driving is very much frowned upon these days, but even on modern day apparatus, these signaling devices are still useful, and an excellent safety measure if used in the right circumstances....

[fxfymn]

Quote

and an excellent safety measure if used in the right circumstances....

Not to hijack the thread, but FF safety is a hot button issue for me. My comment...stand beside the truck to back it in, not on the tail board. No one ever got run over by standing beside the truck, not so for those who fall from the back step. 

And the dept. needs to add an extension to the rear dump that will pivot from side to side so you can drive up beside the tank; a much faster and safer way to unload and improve cycle time.

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 10/27/2016 at 6:32 PM, 1965 said:

1958FWD can tell you something interesting on the 6-71

you mean *other* than it's a piece of shit?

[1958 F.W.D.]

True story-

Back in 2001, I was freshly divorced with some cash from a settlement and a whole lotta overtime in my pocket (why be at the house, it was empty?) and I wanted an S-Model that a buddy had.....Two problems- the POS under the hood, and the fact that it was worth more than I had to spend. I knew my buddy would have sold it to me for what I had, but I didnt want to do that. So I said screwit.

Few weeks later, same buddy called me to tell me about the FWD being for sale. 

[Frank323]

On 10/27/2016 at 6:28 PM, 70mackMB said:

Would someone explain what the hell was the idea of an open cab on a fire truck anyways. Thanks in advance, Hippy

Some were needed to fit in small over head fire houses, but mainly simply tradition, some were delivered like this up to the mid 1970's! They were deamed unsafe and became hard to insure, NFPA also helped with the demise of the open cab.