Libertyville Fire Department news (more)

LT461 ready to serve the community for another 20 years….

Libertyville FD photo

Tags: 20-year-old pierce tower ladder refurbished for $647000, chicagoareafire.com, Libertyville FD Ladder Tower 461, Libertyville FD refurbished their tower ladder, Libertyville Fire Department

This entry was posted on September 18, 2020, 9:11 AM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Comments

#1 by Ted on September 22, 2020 - 5:52 PM

I believe the biggest issue here, is picking the correct company to do the work, I suggest Firetrucks Unlimited in Henderson NV. I clearly stand behind them 100% as the most comprehensive fire apparatus refurbisher in North America. Every component is removed for inspecting, then rebuilding, and installment. Any alterations that might want to be made. YES, I just purchased a 1999 Pierce Quantum and received it with the same condition it was delivered in 1999. the total price was $225,000. I priced it at today prices and it would have been $604,000 and I do not have to worry about the emissions garbage that plaque all new apparatus. This company does it all from Aerials to ambulance remounts. Suggest going to their website to see the work they do! They started refurbishing ARFF trucks for the military and expanded their business into structural fire apparatus, I have worked with them on 6 projects and impressed with the results on all!
#2 by Tim on September 20, 2020 - 8:47 PM

Ron, very well put. What you forgot was….those quints are also chasing ambulances.

Many tower ladder quints are over 80,000lbs.
#3 by Ron Antor on September 20, 2020 - 10:31 AM

Lots of interesting comments. Having been responsible for purchasing apparatus, including refurbs, I have one question for everyone. How many of you would be interested in taking your 7-10 year old car and send it back to Ford, Chevy, Toyota, etc. for refurbishment?

The pluses and minuses are the same, but who would really do it? And where where cost saving measures taken to keep the cost of the refurb down? Would they have been items included in a new rig. There may be a place for refurbs, but the refurb will not provide the service life of a new vehicle.

The real problem is the demands placed on the apparatus. More and more equipment is placed on the apparatus and the role of the vehicles have changed. Before a separate Truck and Engine were used, now a quint is used to reduce staffing. This has led to larger, heavier, and more expensive apparatus. As an example, an early 1970’s 100 foot steel ladder quint had a gvw around 22,000 pounds (+/-). This is around the gvw of a new medium duty Ambulance while a new 100’ quint has a gvw in the 70,000 pound range.

I hope it works out for them, but all things being equal, a refurb is a short term solution and not always as cost efficient as it seems.
#4 by Rj on September 20, 2020 - 9:10 AM

Libertyville runs this 100 foot tower and a 75 foot quint. They don’t have reserve trucks and probably won’t.
#5 by Michael m on September 19, 2020 - 12:40 PM

Looks great! I give it 12 to 15 years frontline and 5 to 8 as a reserve. It will be interesting to see what they do with the quint . How is the new engine and the tanker working out for them?
#6 by Mike C on September 19, 2020 - 12:05 PM

Depending how much this truck rigs will determine its lifespan. 20 additional years is a long time! I hope it works out for them for the next 20 years but even if it doesn’t the current administration will be gone and this experiment will be long forgotten. Did Pierce upgrade this truck to the Command Zone or leave it hardwired? When the frame was replaced, did Pierce also replace the torque box?
#7 by Rj on September 19, 2020 - 9:26 AM

This is essentially a new vehicle, they could get another 20 years out of it. It doesnt chase ambulance calls, service calls or accidents. Really only runs on fire alarms and fires as a jump company.
#8 by Austin on September 19, 2020 - 9:17 AM

It looks like it turned out really well. While another 20 years seems a long time, I doubt it will be in frontline service more than 15 more years, then it will sit as a spare. I guess we will have to check back in 2040 (let that sink in) and see if it indeed lasted 40 years. If it did, the city saved an astronomical amount of money. Either way it looks great and I’m sure they will have no problem getting at least 10 years out of it.
#9 by Lfguy on September 18, 2020 - 11:19 PM

Libertyville got a full frame off refurbishment on this truck. Id image that come time to replace q463 that they will add a new tower. Skokie refurbished their tower with minimal issues. I appreciate what Libertyville did to save money and add additional time for this rig which is a jump company along with an ambulance and engine so it probably wasn’t used as much as everyone thinks. It came out phenomenal.
#10 by crabbymilton on September 18, 2020 - 2:58 PM

Looks great for age 20.
#11 by Rusty on September 18, 2020 - 11:16 AM

You get what you pay for. Between the frame rails rotting away, the boom rusting from the inside out and the electrical components lasting another 20 years. That is very wishful thinking.
#12 by Marty Coyne on September 18, 2020 - 10:54 AM

No matter how well you refurbish, I fond it hard to believe a modern fire truck with electronics will last 40 years.
#13 by Mike on September 18, 2020 - 9:55 AM

This is a great idea both financially and functionally. The new trucks are nothing but electrical problems and this is a pre-emission motor. So they basically paid 650k for a new truck. Hopefully it works for them, which I’m sure it will.