Second career for 1992 Pierce Dash

[Guest]

Very nice I like the looks of her now.  Very interesting to see all the work you guys put into her, I'm sure she will continue to serve for a long time.

 

Kris

[Guest]

Looks GREAT. A Super job by y'all!!

[DaveYoung]

Money well spent! 

[Dickey]

Sure is money well spent!  Better than $350,000 for a brand new one. It's tough to get city councils/town boards to understand that even at that cost, for the most part, they will last 10+ years. A new truck for us will last 20 years if we treat it well. The truck that this one replaced is 42 years old. We purchased it back in 1970 for just over $27,000!!!! Times have changed huh?

 

One thing I have noticed is that with this Pierce truck...the doors still close nicely like they are still new. The doors on our newest truck, a 1997 Darley, you have to slam them shut. Also, this is the first Pierce truck ever in the City of Altoona because we have had a very big connection with Darley. Not only is Darley 12 miles away from us but one of our Assistant Chief's in the past used to sell fire trucks for them for over 25 years. We have the first top mount enclosed pump panel Darley ever made that for years people from all over the world came to look at it.

[B95MACKFIRE]

Your out of touch with the price of a new Engine try $500,000 with just a few bells from a major builder.

[Dickey]

Your out of touch with the price of a new Engine try $500,000 with just a few bells from a major builder.

 

Once again, I get some education from this site. Makes it even more painful.

[BFD190]

Nicely done... looks the like the body work guys new what they were doing and took theyre time.

[Roto-Ray]

You all did a great job with this piece, and it will surely last you quite some time!

 

A basic custom cab pumper demo model can be picked up for around $375,000, but my VFD just laid out $536,000 for a CAFS-equipped extruded body custom cab rescue pumper.

[Dickey]

YIKES!!!

 

I read somewhere online that the national average in 2012 was $383,000 for an engine.

 

Now there are lots of variables there but yea, we saved a TON of money and we have done a good job informing the city council, mayor, and city administrator. They have just agreed now to start putting away money for a new engine in about 5 or so years to replace our oldest one. Saving up at least enough for a down payment on one.

[Juice]

This looks great! So it appears as for wheels, lights, etc. you kept what was originally on the truck correct?  Is the company that did it a fire apparatus type of company or local shop? I saw the Blue Workstar in the background of one of your first shop pics. and it made me wonder.

 

Best of luck with this piece, Blue and White is ALWAYS the answer

 

Trav!

[J. Dexter]

Wonderful rehab of this piece which will surely serve for many more years. Here's hoping your community leaders know what great value you have provided them...thanks for sharing. Would make a great story in "Fire Apparatus Journal"


-Jeff

[Dickey]

This looks great! So it appears as for wheels, lights, etc. you kept what was originally on the truck correct?  Is the company that did it a fire apparatus type of company or local shop? I saw the Blue Workstar in the background of one of your first shop pics. and it made me wonder.

 

Best of luck with this piece, Blue and White is ALWAYS the answer

 

Trav!

 

Yes, almost 100%. We changed the rear rotators. These were spares and in better shape than the originals. We also changed out a quartz flood light on the passenger side. It didn't want to come up and down nice and you could tell it has been struck sometime like maybe the garage door came down on it one time. We are still debating if we should change the lightbar to LED. This one makes a lot of noise but it still works I guess. The of course is the back bumper and a couple of pieces of diamond plate are new too.

 

Everything else is orginial yet. I think it would be cool to get chrome wheel covers to top it off.

[Dickey]

This looks great! So it appears as for wheels, lights, etc. you kept what was originally on the truck correct?  Is the company that did it a fire apparatus type of company or local shop? I saw the Blue Workstar in the background of one of your first shop pics. and it made me wonder.

 

Best of luck with this piece, Blue and White is ALWAYS the answer

 

Trav!

 

Oh....didn't answer your other question about the shop.

 

It was a shop about an hour away that is a big truck body shop. They did the body work and paint. A local mechanic we use for our fleet did the mechanical work and updates.

[Frank B]

There seems to have been a lot of rust for the age of the rig! great job, thanks for the detailed photos.

In reference to the Pierce doors, I agree, they are made very well. This is one of the first things that i noticed about Pierce when I seen one for the first time back in the early 80's. You can hang all your weight on the door and still open it, with out lateral movement. Don't do this with a cheaper built truck. (no names needed)

[southwheatland514]

Looks nice.  THANK GOD you did away with the ugly yellow paint, but that is just my opinion.  I do have a question though, and that is why you decided to keep the steel tank instead of replacing it with a lightweight poly tank?  Just my opinion, and could be flawed for all I know, but I would think it would be better weight wise to switch out to a poly when refurbing.  All in all though, it looks really nice.

[Dickey]

Looks nice.  THANK GOD you did away with the ugly yellow paint, but that is just my opinion.  I do have a question though, and that is why you decided to keep the steel tank instead of replacing it with a lightweight poly tank?  Just my opinion, and could be flawed for all I know, but I would think it would be better weight wise to switch out to a poly when refurbing.  All in all though, it looks really nice.

 

I agree, we didn't like the "safety school bus yellow" color either.

 

We checked into getting a poly tank and got two different bids to do it but it was way to expensive. One bid was for $12,000 and another for $13,200, and then it would not be a true 1000 gallons but rather about 900. It cost a total of $350 for patching the existing one, and that includes labor for 2 of my guys too!!

 

If the existing tank was in worse shape then yes, we would replace it with poly. It really only had a few small holes on the bottom side where the bands go that attach to the frame. If say it gets worse in a couple of years then we can always go with the poly. I just think that we should save that money and put it towards a new one. We will have to replace our 3rd out engine within the next 5-8 years.

[southwheatland514]

Oh wow, I didn't realize the cost would be that much.  I don't blame you for patching and re-using the steel tank.

[Dickey]

I know, I about fell over when I got those prices!!

[Guest]

Looks great!!. Hope it gives you many years of safe service.

[mdmodeler]

Very sharp looking rig !