Spartan/Quality/Ai 85' platforms

[Guest]

And to me, it appears that the bucket/basket appears to extend considerably farther out over the front of the rig on Ladder 16 than Ladder 18's bucket/basket....just sayin

Here's the story on the different body lengths:

 

The photo of Ladder 16 above is the "as built" photo prior to delivery. At some point after being built, it was discovered the manufacturer did not figure the weight of firefighters and equipment in the cab when designing the apparatus. As a result, the front axle was way overweight.



 

As a fix, AI/Quality determined the bodies needed to be longer. Since two straight stick 105’ aerials were on order, AI removed the platform aerial devices from Ladders 16 and 18 and replaced them with the 105’ aerials. It fixed the front end weight issue since there wasn’t a bucket. These apparatus were assigned to Ladder 2 and Ladder 13, respectively.



 

The platforms sat on the ground for several months while the new bodies were built at Quality. The picture of Ladder 18 above is the longer body that was delivered and in service at 16 and 18.



 

While a good idea on paper, the platforms were a nightmare. The 105’ sticks were not much better. Ladder 2 was plagued with horrible electrical and aerial problems. I’m sure the majority of the issues were a result of swapping the aerials and bodies.