ddoyle195

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Posts posted by ddoyle195

  3. Posted

    I'm up here in Western New York, anybody know what the status is of the R.D. Murray facility and if they are back to work there?

    American La France Hamburg "Furloughed" 20 employees last friday. They are due to come back mid February. However all plants are working with bare bones crews and nothing has moved out the door, meaning their first quarter looks pretty sad if you've put nothing out the door. Also ALF will not be at Fire Rescue East in Jacksonville later this month. They pulled out their inside display and will not be there at all. Very Interesting!!!

  4. Posted

    What upsets me is we seem to settle for less. The pure mission of the F-15 Eagle has always been air to air combat. The navy decided to replace the F-14 Tomcat with less of a fighter the FA/18 hornet. Even with the upgrades of the Super Hornet that cannot fullfill the tru roll the Tomcat did, and go as fast.

    Same story with the F-15 Eagle. The F-22 Raptor is a very impressive aircarft, and very technologically advanced. But in a dogfight how does the F-22 compare to the F-15?

    Fighter jets take much more beating on the airframe and structural components than any other aircarft in the aresenal. It just sucks seeing the best dam fighters in the world period being taken out of service, I just hate settling for less.

    FF Nick I'm going to miss the A-10 as well, and what kills me in that respect were settling for second best again. No aircraft in the US aresenal can take the pounding the A-10 does from enemy fire and explosives, and no other aircraft can COMPLETELY do what the A-10 does. Ground troops feel much easier knowing an A-10 is loitering in the target area vs. an F-16, or FA-18.

  5. Posted

    Enclosed is the only picture I have of this truck. Here is the pertinent info for the Excursion:

    FOR SALE: U-Crest Fire Chief SUV

    Requesting Offers

    The U-Crest Fire District is accepting offers for the sale of a 2002 Red Ford Excursion Fire Chief’s 4x4 truck. Minimum offer $5,000.00

    The U-Crest Fire District reserves the right to reject any and all offers received. Offers will be considered as they are received by the U-Crest Board of Fire Commissioners. The vehicle will be available for delivery in Late February 2008.

    Contact Fire Commissioner Michael J. Graczyk at the below contact information with any questions and/or to schedule an appointment to view the truck.

    2002 Red Ford Excursion 4x4

    - 7 Passenger

    - Triton 5.4 L Gas Engine

    - Mileage: Approx 70,100

    The truck will be sold as is with all emergency lights and siren. The Fire radio and radio scanner will be removed prior to delivery. The purchaser will be responsible for the remove of all U-Crest Fire District insignias. The seller reserves the right to remove all emergency lights and siren if vehicle is being sold to a private individual.

    Contact: Michael J. Graczyk, Fire Commissioner

    Cell: 716-583-3461

    Ph: 716-634-2620

    E-mail: graczykm@erie.gov

    Address: U-Crest Fire District #4

    Attn: Board of Fire Commissioners

    225 Clover Place

    Cheektowaga, NY 14225

    Fax: 716-565-1938

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  12. Posted

    I have to say this department has been very interesting to me. These pictures may cure some people's curiopusities where this rig ended up. Anyone recognize this former Rye, NY tiller? It is located at a scrap company called Stanley Staba & Sons., 1933 Broadway Road, Darien Center, NY (585) 547-2219. I'm not sure what he would sell the truck for, anyone interested call up and see. Darien Center is located 45-50 minutes east of the City of Buffalo, NY.

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  14. Posted

    I am now officially accepting offers for both my 1975 & 1976 Ford C/Young pumpers. If you need pictures of each rig and or have an offer please e-mail me at doyle195@bellsouth.net or contact me at (716) 863-0447. Both trucks are located in Buffalo, NY, Here are the pertinent info on each rig:

    1975 Ford C/ Young pumper, young serial # 75-657. The truck is 27ft. 9in. overall length, width 96in., an overall height of 8ft. 10in., and a wheelbase of 175in. It has a Ford 534 gas engine, an Allison MT640 transmission, and a Hale QSD100 1000gpm single stage pump, and a 500 gallon steel water tank.

    The truck served the Pine Hill Fire Company of Cheektowaga, NY from late 1975- approxiametly 2000/2001 as Engine 2. The Village of Silver Creek, NY fire department ran the truck from 2001- early 2005 as Engine 171. I bought the truck from the Village of Silver Creek, NY in December of 2005. I had the truck relettered as Pine Hill engine 2, this is how I remember th truck growing up as a kid.

    The truck was a dream come true, it ran great and pumped fantastic. On a friday night in late June coming back from a parade in Niagara County, NY (Shawnee fire company field days) the motor blew up on the truck as I was driving it home. This happened within a matter of 1 minute, it happened very fast and showed no warning signs much before it happened. My itention was to get the motor fixed, however I have run out of money to fix the truck.

    Origianlly the truck was all red. Back when Pine Hill owned the truck they had it repainted in the mid 1990's by Saber Collision of Orchard Park, NY. Also they added a white reflective stripe down the entire truck. When Silver Creek bought it they added two amber marker lights on the middle of the rear body, they added two red halogen warning lights on each side of the front bumper, a green hydrant light on top of the pump panel which is on top of the ladder storage tunnel. Silver Creek also added a Saber ventilation system the goes through each rear body compartment, and the fan motor is inside of the pump housing of the officer side of the truck. Silver Creek had the carburator rebuilt and new tires put on it, I think the tires are like 3 years old now.

    When I got the truck I did the following to it:

    I fixed the exhaust from the muffler back. The exhaust is 2 years old.

    As I said the truck was relettered back as a Pine Hill pumper. The new lettering is a vinyl gold leaf, the original gold leaf is is the words engine on each door, and the fancy gold leaf stripe down the whole truck is original gold leaf.

    I had to deactivate the alternating headlights so that the truck would pass NYS inspection, however they can be re-hooked up if needed.

    The airhorns are from a 1974 Ford C/Young pumper that belonged to the South Line fire department of Cheektowaga, NY.

    The deck gun and base plate were also from that South Line pumper as well as a gate valve for one of the steamers.

    The deck gun and gate valve was repainted from yellow to red.

    I added a license plate light with bracket on the back of the truck so that it would pass NYS inspection.

    I added two grab handles inside of the cab on the officer's side of the truck so that people getting in and out would have an easier time.

    I have also had snaps on the hosebed and hosebed tarp replaced.

    The alternator was rebuilt on it last year.

    The only other things wrong with the truck is it has a couple of rust sopts above one of the compartment doors, and at the compartment top on the drivers side of the body. Also along the rear body fenderette's there is some bubbling. There is also a dent on the driver's side fenderette and was like that since I bought the truck from Silver Creek. The speaker on the drivers side front bumper went bad at that last parade I had it in, the other speaker is fine and siren does work. The pump under the rear crew jump seats does not work. This pump recirculates air into the air brake system when the shore line is plugged in. You probablly would need a new pump, if not just let the truck build up air pressure. Lastly either the Intake or residual master pump gauge is bad and needs to be replaced.

    I have a NYS title for the truck, and many spare parts to help you out with further restoral.

    The other one is a 1976 Ford C/ Young pumper, young serial # 76-669. The truck is 27ft. 9in. overall length, width 96in., an overall height of 8ft. 10in., and a wheelbase of 175in. It has a Ford 534 gas engine, an Allison MT640 transmission, and a Hale QSD100 1000gpm single stage pump, and a 1000 gallon steel water tank. The truck served the Pekin Fire Company of Sanborn, NY from 1976-2007 as Engine 17E-4. For this truck I have a certificate of Origin from Young Fire Equipment. This truck needs new batteries and for the carburator rebuilt. This truck also has some corrosion, but it does have newer tires on it.

    Sincerely,

    Roger Wnek

  15. Posted

    Spring Valley, NY, Rockland Hook & Ladder company. This is a RD Murray/American La France Rescue pumper, 1000gpm, 500gal., Rescue 17. They just recently bought a mid mount American La France/LTI aerial that's the same color. Once this truck was gold leafed and the graffics added it looks sharp! I like it because it looks different. When you see red fire trucks all the time it's nice to see something unique once in a while.

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  16. Posted

    My personal preferences are the following:

    1) American La France

    2) Pierce

    3) 4 Guys

    4) Seagrave

    5) Crimson

    6) Sutphen

    If they were still around my 1 & 2 would be Young & Maxim B)

    Remember 585 hit the nail on the head perfect by saying this right off the bat:

    "First off, I think a lot of it has to do with the way you spec it out. People complain about the apparatus but when you really look into it you see that their specs weren't very specific leaving room for "cheaper" design."

    Oh how true it is! There are many variables to speccing out a fire apparatus that can go wrong. Sales, Engineering, production, service, and yes THE FIRE DEPARTMENT!

    What the fire department? I think the fire department in a 1/4 of the cases are their own worst enemy when you spec out a rig. Some departments are phenominal, have done research for a few years and come up with the following:

    Vehicle desired- what is it your looking for?

    Apparatus Budget

    Requested delivery

    Maximum height, width, & length.

    What is the functions this truck will be expected to do for you (Ex. 1st out piece, mutual aid, mva's, multi tasking, etc.).

    What type of Engine & transmission

    Crew capacity

    Steel or aluminum wheels

    Flat or raised roof cab

    What size pump you want and what brand of pump you want

    Is the pump housing going to be midship, top mount, or rear mount

    Water tank size and material of the water tank (Traditional you"ll have fiberglass or polypropolene unless you get into tankers.)

    Is the truck going to have a foam system or is your department going to carry foam on the truck and the firefighters dump the foam in the water tank.

    What body material do you you want to go with

    Equipment data- Where you want your present equipment to be located. Also what is the proposed new equipment to be ordered with the new vehicle.

    Two other big ones to consider is a generator for the truck. What size of generator, hydraulic, disel, and where the generator is to be located. Believe it or not where the generator is to be located is big! For example putting a generator in the upper dunnage area of your pump enclosure may take up space for extra equipment. Also make sure the manufacturer gives adequate ventilation for the generator to run properly. Hydraulic generators especially run hot and need proper ventilation for the unit to cool!

    The other is the rating of the front and rear axles. This is a simple theory, if the truck is sagging without any equipment just imagine what it would weigh once you jam all your equipment in it. Is it the engineers fault for not designing the truck properly, partially. The other problem comes with the information the truck committee gives the sales and engineering department. Here's a hypathetical example: If the fire department says well we have about 4000lbs of additional equipment to put on the truck when in actuality it weighs 10,000lbs. thats going to make the truck much heavier.

    Remember 585 also hit it on the head which most fire departments don't understand is all fire apparatus manufacturers use the same vendors for a majority of the things you put on a fire truck. I think the biggest variance is with pumps and Pierce only builds on Waterous pumps last I knew.

    Servicing of your new vehicle will also make life a little more difficult. Saying "I won't go with an American La france because we can't stand dealing with their service" is bogus in my opinion. Or saying "We're not going to buy a 4guys because where are we going to get it serviced?" Thats bogus too. Yes each manufacturer has warranties on these vehicles. In my opinion If you don't like a dealership don't take your truck to them for service, take it to another dealership you like, or take it to an independant dealership. Ya for warranty work your going to pay for it rather tan being covered by the appropriate dealership but thats up to the fire department on what they do. Back home there is a fire department who has a fleet of Sutphens, but will take their trucks to an ALF dealership because they like the service.

    In closing what I am saying is this:

    A) Come to the table with your truck commitee with an open mind and with people who have strangths in each area. Yes we all want our names on that plaque that will be on that truck for 20 years, and 9 out of 10 times your commitee is made up of line officers, but put people on that commitee who have backround in electrical, who are auto tech's, who are truck drivers and let them voice their opinions.

    B) Take your time with this. Remember this vehicle is serving your community for at least 10 years if not longer. If you rush and slap a truck together and once you get it realize this is not what we wanted, guess what your stuck with. That usually starts the bad mouthing about apparatus manufacturers. If it takes you 2-3 years to spec a vehicle between the time of going to trade shows to see whats out there and to meet with respective salesmen, then do it! Things will always change within the time span you have your rig. You"ll add, delete, reconfigure a truck, you"ll never build the perfect truck that will never change. Also narrow your search down at some point after you meet with the respective salesmen and take the pro's and cons of each company and see what best fits your fire department.

    C) When you talk to salesmen for each manufacturer give him as much information as possible to work with. Chances are the more you give him to work with the better he or she can help you build the right truck for your department.

    D) If there is something you want, make sure it is in your spec!!! Come May when you have one month left to go before the truck gets to your station and you want addional lights put on, chances are the manufacturer will charge you for it. Most manufacturers will charge you for additional items after a specified date that you can make change orders. This is done because your truck was bid at a certain price, and the manufacturer doesn't want to loose money by giving a department items for free. Also the more stuff you add during the production of the truck, the longer it will take to build and get delivered to your staion.

    E) Another good tip is have all loose equipment you want to be mounted on your new vehicle at the plant or respective dealership by a certain date. For example if a manufacturer or dealership has to mount your hydraulic tools they not only need to know where they are going but what type of tool it is. Some shops use pre manufactured mounting, some fabricate mounting stuff, and not every tool is the same.

  19. Posted

    Tallman Young Crusader Snorkle- Still in service ! It serves with the Randolph, NY fire department out my way in in the Southerntier of Western New York. I have photographed this rig while getting service work at my work, I is quite a sharp looking and running rig!

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