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.

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.

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.

Used to see the Barnes and Reinecke dynos all the time out on the road courses when I was a Firefighter at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Kovatch (KME) up in Nesquohoning Pa? And yes the final tab is $1,072,000 & change.

I was recently privileged to have seen the Ahrens-Fox truck collection. It is owned by the HME Corporation in Wyoming Michigan. You may or may not know that HME purchased all rights to Ahrens-Fox a few years back. They now have everything- the truck collection, paper archives, all legal rights etc. Here is the truck collection which is stored in one of HME's buildings.

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.

I have been to three building implosions in my time and it never gets old!!! -Campbell Soups, Camden NJ 11/3/1991 -Sears & Roebuck Warehouse Complex (25 million sq feet) Philadelphia Oct 31, 1994 -Martin Tower (Modern HQ of Bethlehem Steel) Bethlehem Pa. 21 stories 5/19/2019

Check your email.

You take pictures of every girl in a car between Pittsburgh Pa and Atlanta, Georgia........Where in the heck is THIS picture?

Scrapple?

Wow!!!! That is the first time I can ever remember them NOT having a set for a specific cab!!!

Come hang here. On a non-covid year, four large industrial sized bags of candy gone in two hours.

For you (old) Saturday Night Live fans:

I was saddened to hear the news of his passing. He was one of the greatest actors of our time. No matter the roll he played, he did it with passion, pride and excellence. I never heard anything about him being one of those typical elitist Hollywood types which leads me to believe he may have been a good guy to talk about life on a barstool somewhere over a few beers. My personal favorite of his was Captain Marko Ramius in the movie "The Hunt for Red October." followed by his portrayal as Police Officer James Malone in the movie "The Untouchables." His role as Ramirez in the movie "Highlander" was good too, and of course as James Bond in the early movies. I was just told the other day of the movie "The Molly Maguires", I never saw it but want to check it out now. And for those of you who are not aware, he was a Veteran of His Majesty's Royal Navy having served as an Able Seaman from 1946 to 1949 aboard the HMS Formidable. What are your favorite Sean Connery flicks?

Wife was happy, she sat out at the end of the walk at the sidewalk and handed out the goodies. I was at the firehouse (we are in the middle of a residential neighborhood) and handed out goodies. Had a few hundred kids. Not as much as years past. Was good to see parents letting their kids get out there. The local church also had a "trunk or treat" in their parking lot.

Check with York Corrugated in York, Pa. They have stainless fenders for many cabs.

Did you take the proper safety precautions and move the grill away from any structures and rake away any errant leaves on the ground before you cooked the chicken?

Contact Waterous with your Waterous serial number, and they will send you SN specific manuals and parts diagrams for free (if you don't already have them.) Waterous is just as good at record keeping as Mack is.

The No Hood Mafia is making a comeback..................

I'm ignoring you.

Wow I really like that 4WD Poospreader pickup with the bumper winch.

Two Stroke Joke. Two Cycle Mechanical Asshole. Yamaha Wanna-Be. And a quote that I cannot take credit for, this is out of the mouth of the Esteemed Herb Maney: "A Crosley heater blower motor has more torque."

I think I have seen some kind of reproduction rubber products company in Hemmings that advertises brake pedals. Can't remember a name or anything, apologies.