New truck for Elgin FD (more) « Page 1

New truck for Elgin FD (more)

Pierce, Elgin Fire Department 38184-1

#chicagoareafire.com; #firetruck; #ElginFD; #Pierce; #PUC; #Enforcer; #Ascendant;

Pierce composite

thanks Martin

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Elgin FD Truck 2, Elgin Fire Department, new truck for Elgin FD, Pierce Enforcer PUC Ascendent quint, Pierce Enforcer quint

This entry was posted on May 30, 2023, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos, New Delivery. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Comments

#1 by JOHN TOBIN on June 6, 2023 - 9:30 PM

Interesting how with some, is the greater concern is now the engineering required to take the weight out of the Aerial, torque box and outriggers. It’s actually been nic’ named a diving board.

The rest of the chassis is basically old news….as with any device, it must be maintained.

The “P” company is selling a bunches of these and in some of the ads they even admit it’s on 10 year rig at a cool million.

The bottom line is staffing is still more expensive than rigs, so we have to get used to the ol’ saying “do more with less”
#2 by Mike C on June 5, 2023 - 8:08 AM

I’m amazed that the color of the apparatus determines if someone is interested in the rig.
#3 by Harry on June 3, 2023 - 10:59 AM

Tim haha they will have an all seagrave fleet in about 5 years and even if they did I likely would not see it because I am done with that dept they are switching colors still bright green but with a black top not interested
#4 by Localguy on June 3, 2023 - 10:46 AM

Tim, bahahaha. Shots fired!!! Let me guess, they’ll have it in a month since it’s a special color???
#5 by Tim on June 3, 2023 - 6:18 AM

I heard Palm Beach Gardens is looking at one.
#6 by Harry on June 2, 2023 - 9:22 PM

Well many towns have these elk Grove village has one north Aurora Elgin of course oak Brook has the tower version and pk ridge same carpenterville and so on
#7 by Mike C on June 2, 2023 - 5:21 PM

I really don’t think there will be too many issues with the driveline on these single axle quints. I think this rig has a Jake so brakes shouldn’t be a problem.

If anything were to concern me about the long-term longevity of this truck, it would be the ladder and supporting components. The Ascendant ladders is built with lightweight material even though Pierce states it’s heavy duty. The whole hydraulic system and outriggers is very light weight stuff. I can only speculate since I haven’t worked on many of these, but I think the hydraulics and outriggers is where the weak link will be at. Maybe I’ll be wrong. Pierce is pumping these rigs out like crazy! Time will tell!

Elgin has some old rigs. They have a couple very high mileage and high hour Seagraves that have lasted a long time. Not that this is an entirely fair comparison since the Elgin Seagraves are pumpers, but there is no way these Pierce Ascendants last as long but by that point, the current administration will be long gone and nobody will be held accountable if it turns out buying these things were a good/bad decision.
#8 by Bob on June 2, 2023 - 12:17 PM

I get a kick out of this discussion….it’s another classic in the fire service. That single axle truck will never survive and it will take a beating because of all that weight on one axle. On the other side of the table, oh those guys are crazy running a dual axle tower/quint/ladder chasing ambulance calls, that thing is gonna be beat into the ground after 3 years and going to kill them on maintenance especially tires and brakes. one is to heavy, one isn’t built strong enough. Do they build a 1.5 axle chassis or maybe a vehicle where the aerial ladder can be left at the station if its not needed? i think it would solve all of our problems. I appreciate the discussion on this one, and it makes me laugh because i can remember having similar arugments that lasted well into the night time hours sitting in front of a fire house on a warm summer night. Makes me miss those days. Thanks guys, you truly made my day!
#9 by Localguy on June 2, 2023 - 11:23 AM

Harry, these guys are correct. You can’t compare a Boston ladder to a quint. There’s nothing to a BFD truck. The main and lots of ground ladders, that’s it. Well and some saws and hand tools.
#10 by Localguy on June 2, 2023 - 11:20 AM

The single axle is fine. You guys saying there’s to much weight on the back have no idea what your talking about. Look how heavy tower ladders are on a tandem axle. Our midmount has a gvwr of 86,000lbs 24k on the front and 62k on the rear. So 31k per axle. These single axle quints have 32-34k rear axles. If weight is an issue it’s bc the dept overloaded the truck. Which comes down to doing your homework during the specing process. Figuring out if you need a tandom or not. The biggest issue with these single axle quints that I’ve experienced is brakes. Definitely have a good Jake brake or transmission retarder. Or you will burn thru brakes.
#11 by Tim on June 2, 2023 - 10:47 AM

Harrry, Boston doesn’t run quints, so they can run all day long on a single rear axle.
#12 by Harry on June 2, 2023 - 10:43 AM

Boston since 1984 has used more single axle ladders than tandem axle and they have worked for years while they are eone not pierce but there roads are in way worse shape than Elgin’s are
#13 by Dan on June 2, 2023 - 12:49 AM

Too much weight on the back, with only 1 axel supporting it for starters.
If the truck runs medical calls, then it will put an unnecessary stress on the frame and axels.
If used just for fire calls, then it will last longer.
#14 by Steve Axis on June 1, 2023 - 12:28 PM

Sharp looking truck.

I haven’t built a lot of confidence in the Ascendant ladders but time will tell. My department also has the Ascendant ladder and it bounces all over the place. Other ladders I’ve climbed in the past seem more stable.

I heard this is a cookie cutter truck. Apparently Pierce engineers these things like so and produce many that are pretty much the same with minor variations.
#15 by Mike C on May 31, 2023 - 8:17 AM

Dan,

Why do you say that? Elgin already has one identical to this rig.
#16 by Dan on May 30, 2023 - 11:37 PM

Well, this rig will be up for sale in 10 years or less.