Syracuse Mini-Pumper History

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After about a year and a half of experimentation, some interesting lessons were learned. First of all, the vehicles were MUCH too heavy. The combination of the steel body, the pickup-truck automatic transmission, and the not-too-surprising overloading of the compartments in an attempt to enhance the vehicle's usefulness all conspired to make the first two Mini-Pumpers pretty poor performers. Also, as mentioned, the flotation-type tires were a poor choice and the "pulpit" on the front bumper was pretty useless. The twin booster reels became one rear step-mounted reel, the bodywork aluminum, and a simplified equipment list developed. An initial group of ten "2nd Generation" Mini-Pumpers was put out to bid in November of 1972, and the bid was awarded to Pierce. The vehicles began arriving in March 1973, and still featured the same 392 V-8 as the first units, but with a 4-speed manual transmission. The 300 gpm pump, 200-gallon tank amd twin crosslays stayed the same, along with 750' of the 3.5" LDH we were using for supply line at that time. These units proved to be much more satisfactory in service, and one additional unit built to the same specs was acquired from Sanford in 1974.

 

   

 

At the end of the day, the biggest complaint with the Mini-Pumpers was that they were still overweight. They were using up clutches and brakes at a pretty significant rate, and a decision needed to be made as to which way to go next - make them much, much lighter with much less equipment and versatility, or seek a larger, heavier-duty chassis with air brakes and a heavier-duty transmission on a larger chassis.