Yardo's pictures of however often he feels like posting them November 25, 2020 Version

[1958 F.W.D.]

As many of you know, I am on the committee at my Fire Dept to purchase a new ladder/pumper truck. This has been a 3.5+ year project. Just shy of a year ago we awarded the contract to HME/Ahrens-Fox in Wyoming, Michigan. Many of you old timers know HME as Hendrickson Motor Equipment, and of course anyone who knows anything about trucks knows the name Ahrens-Fox, which at one time was the Rolls Royce of fire trucks. HME purchased the name a few years back. Along with the name came the AF collection of trucks (I will post pics in a separate thread), all the paper archives and all the rights and legalities that come with the name. 

Thurs Nov 12 I flew out to Michigan and spent Thurs afternoon and Friday at the HME/AF plant to see how they do things and check on the progress of our truck. They were not as far along as I would have like to have seen (covid delays) but I did get to see the cab which had just been sent to the final prep area to get the welds ready for paint finish. I also saw the engine, transmission and some other components. 

Here are the basics of our truck:
111' aerial ladder, 2000gpm Waterous pump, 500 gallon water tank, Cummins X15 (600hp) w/ Jake, Allison EVS4000 WorldSeries 6-speed trans, Raydan air bag assist walking beam suspension, Meritor disc brakes all the way around. We should be flying out to do the final inspection the third week of February +/- depending on any further delays if any. 

I took about 400 pictures. Here they are. Just kidding, here are some of them. 


Here is our 500 gallon water tank. "23573" is our job number, anywhere you see that it is a component for our truck being staged. 

Our cab in the final prep area, where the rough welds will be made paint-finish ready. Then it gets shipped to the paint shop. 


Someone else's cab being set square in prep for tack welding. .


This is a ladder truck chassis which is almost identical to ours. I studied this very carefully and took many pictures. The customer is Bennington, Vermont. The guys are assembling hydraulic hoses- the start cart is there so they can run the engine to do pressure testing of assembled hoses. 


Many of you know the Hendrickson name is synonymous with heavy trucks and heavy truck chassis components. This was on a gigantic print of many trucks in one of their administrative hallways. This was one of two trucks built for one purpose- to get some mine equipment from North Dakota way up into Alaska somewhere. That's it, one move, one time. Money was no object. After the move, they both sat at the mine site for years until the company called HME and said "Hey do you want these things?" HME sent an engineer up there and he cooked up a deal to buy them back. They were sent back to Michigan where they received a minor refurb and new paint. 


This is how the two trucks look now. They are overseas in a sandbox somewhere. 
Some other trucks on the big print in the admin hallway. 


Our Cummins X15. Set at 600hp. The truck will be governed at 62mph but it should get there pretty quick. 

"23573" Our Allison EVS4000 Trans (6 speed.) 

Our tires (Michelin) and the front and back of the tandems. I didn't want to unwrap the plastic to show one of the Meritor disc brakes.

Someone's cab out of the paint shop, in staging waiting to go onto a chassis. 

Both of these are going west, the Poospreader is going to an Indian Reservation. 

A tandem axle chassis for a 3000 gallon tanker. 

A pretty nice KW Chassis 3000-Gallon tanker. HME will build bodies on pretty much anyone's chassis. They recently stopped selling their own chassis to other body builders. If you want an HME chassis, you get an HME body.

The main assembly area in the plant. The Detroit-Green rigs are US Dept of Agriculture/Dept of Forestry Rigs- most are destined for California a little late. 

I saw this girl, she wanted me to help her adjust her bra or something but I was running behind, I had to get to Gladys Virginia before I was late. 

If you want to see more pics and are on bookface, there are tons more pictures there. Of the trip, not the girl. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by 1958 F.W.D.

[alex g]

Looks like a good trip. Thanks for sharing pics

[hicrop10]

Fwd,we did some work many years ago up at the plant that Kovat’s(my spelling may be off)used to make the airport rescue tankers.We actually brought one of his tank for an r model we made in to a water truck.Your truck looks great would like to see the final product.Big bucks.

[1958 F.W.D.]

58 minutes ago, hicrop10 said:

Fwd,we did some work many years ago up at the plant that Kovat’s(my spelling may be off)used to make the airport rescue tankers.We actually brought one of his tank for an r model we made in to a water truck.Your truck looks great would like to see the final product.Big bucks.

Kovatch (KME) up in Nesquohoning Pa? 

And yes the final tab is $1,072,000 & change. 

[RowdyRebel]

So with a 2000 gpm pump, and only a 500 gallon tank, that gives 'em about 15 seconds to get the truck hooked up to a water source before you're pumping air? Seems like a bigger tank would've been better...but then I'm just a truck driver with no experience on or around fire trucks. Not like you have to worry about DOT running you across the portables on your way to a fire...

[1958 F.W.D.]

39 minutes ago, RowdyRebel said:

So with a 2000 gpm pump, and only a 500 gallon tank, that gives 'em about 15 seconds to get the truck hooked up to a water source before you're pumping air? 

Not exactly how it works.....LOL 

There will be several pre-connected 2" hose lines. You pull up on a car fire, deploy a 2" line and go to work. 500 is plenty of water for a car. Especially if you mix in some foam concentrate. Or, going to a building fire, the Officer (guy in the right seat) decides to "lay in....." Truck stops at a hydrant, hydrant man gets off, grabs the end of the supply line that is laid in the rear hose bed. Throws a loop of rope over the hydrant and hollers for the driver to go. Truck takes off and heads to the address. Supply hose flakes out the back. Pull up at the building, crew deploys the preconnected hose and charges it with the tank water until he can break the supply line at the next available coupling and connects into the pump intake. Then he tells the hydrant man to charge the hydrant- positive water source. 

The 2000gpm is to move lotzza water through lotzza discharges. The aerial ladder will have a waterway- that alone is about 1200gpm. Add in a ground monitor....there's 500gpm. 

We had originally spec'd a 1750 pump but the price difference between 1750 and 2000 is pennies. And they are the same pump housing, one just has more discharges than the other. 

[mowerman]

Excellent thanks for sharing.bob

[Red Horse]

Thx-very interesting.  About how many employees work in that plant.  Judging by all the trucks in the shot of the green F'liners, plant must have some serious sq.  footage.  So "Hendrickson" chassis for non-fire  use are still built?

[Vladislav]

Really interesting to see. And those "custom built" or hand built cabs are surprize to me. Probably make sence with low production and expensive equipped units.

Many thanks for sharing that bra.

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 11/26/2020 at 6:27 PM, Red Horse said:

Thx-very interesting.  About how many employees work in that plant.  Judging by all the trucks in the shot of the green F'liners, plant must have some serious sq.  footage.  So "Hendrickson" chassis for non-fire  use are still built?

I am not sure. They have several buildings all on the same block of a long street in Wyoming, Mi. next to Grand Rapids. There is a separate building just for paint, another building for constructing aerial ladders (and then assembling onto completed chassis) and they also have some other warehouses. And HME is also an Allison factory dealer- they do complete tear-down and rebuilds of all Allison products in a separate building.

As for completed commercial chassis, I am not sure. I do know that the still make commercial suspension components- mostly for cranes and the like. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

A quick side-story about my confidence in selecting HME as our builder (we received six bid proposals.)

I wrote the majority of the specs for the truck. One of the suspensions I called out for in the specifications was the Hendrickson Firemaxx, a proven suspension in the fire industry. So naturally when HME submitted their bid, I suspected they would have called out for their suspension. Imagine my surprise when they suggested a Raydan air-bag assist walking beam. My jaw hit the floor. I called the salesman and said "WTF?" Apparently he didn't see that either and said he would make some phone calls. 

He calls me back 2 hours later and said he spoke to the lead engineer- they called out the Raydan as they believed it would be a superior suspension for our particular application. Imagine that- a manufacturer calling out a competitor's product because it would be a better fit. That was one of the things that sold me on HME as our builder. 

[Red Horse]

44 minutes ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

A quick side-story about my confidence in selecting HME as our builder (we received six bid proposals.)

I wrote the majority of the specs for the truck. One of the suspensions I called out for in the specifications was the Hendrickson Firemaxx, a proven suspension in the fire industry. So naturally when HME submitted their bid, I suspected they would have called out for their suspension. Imagine my surprise when they suggested a Raydan air-bag assist walking beam. My jaw hit the floor. I called the salesman and said "WTF?" Apparently he didn't see that either and said he would make some phone calls. 

He calls me back 2 hours later and said he spoke to the lead engineer- they called out the Raydan as they believed it would be a superior suspension for our particular application. Imagine that- a manufacturer calling out a competitor's product because it would be a better fit. That was one of the things that sold me on HME as our builder. 

Very good example of building credibility.  Be interesting to understand why?  Is the Firemaxx air?  I know nothing about aerial ladders but if I was 85' up a ladder that was perpendicular to the chassis would I want to be held up by air bags or a stack of steel springs- I think I would feel better with steel springs😃

[Brian L Blaylock]

Hey FWD with 111 feet of ladder does this truck have one or two sets of outriggers 

[other dog]

Any more pictures of the girl?

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 11/27/2020 at 10:29 PM, Red Horse said:

Very good example of building credibility.  Be interesting to understand why?  Is the Firemaxx air?  I know nothing about aerial ladders but if I was 85' up a ladder that was perpendicular to the chassis would I want to be held up by air bags or a stack of steel springs- I think I would feel better with steel springs😃

 

On 11/28/2020 at 12:09 PM, Brian L Blaylock said:

Hey FWD with 111 feet of ladder does this truck have one or two sets of outriggers 

Red Horse: All fire dept aerial ladders have outriggers, just like a crane. See pics below with descriptions. 
Brian: Two sets, see below. 


Factory demonstrator which the salesman brought to us a few weeks ago to "try out." This demo is almost identical to our truck 
A truck very similar to ours (also seen in the pics of the original post.) Note the outriggers which are connected directly to the torque box, which supports the aerial cradle and turntable (at the top.)

The demo seen with the two sets of outriggers deployed. 
 

[Red Horse]

1 hour ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

 

Red Horse: All fire dept aerial ladders have outriggers, just like a crane. See pics below with descriptions. 
Brian: Two sets, see below. 


Factory demonstrator which the salesman brought to us a few weeks ago to "try out." This demo is almost identical to our truck 
A truck very similar to ours (also seen in the pics of the original post.) Note the outriggers which are connected directly to the torque box, which supports the aerial cradle and turntable (at the top.)

The demo seen with the two sets of outriggers deployed. 
 

For sure on the outriggers-should have thought of that.  Only issue then is WHAT the outriggers are sitting on.  I hate to tell you how many tree guys around here have put big new cranes (and bucket trucks) on the ground because they really didn't pay attention to what MIGHT be under the outrigger or they should have used a larger pad

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 11/29/2020 at 7:05 PM, other dog said:

Any more pictures of the girl?

Sure. How many do you want?

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by 1958 F.W.D.

[1958 F.W.D.]

I am trying to upload some more build progress pictures but am having trouble. Here is the 2000 GPM Waterous pump itself, set into the frame of the pump housing module. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

The cab

A few weeks ago- looking down the frame from the front. Yes the frame rails, the cross members, the torque box and outriggers are all galvanized. 


The pump housing, about 85% complete


The Raydan air bag assist walking beam suspension. Note the Meritor disc brakes on the tandems.

 
 
Most of the suspension components are installed. The engine (X15 Cummins/600hp) and the Trans (Allison AVS4000) have been installed. 

[Swishy]

Luv L@@kn @ time n munee been spent

n also ( o ) ( o )

LOL

cya