X-Frankfort engine up for sale « chicagoareafire.com

X-Frankfort engine up for sale

Kevin Griffin found this posting of an X-Frankfort FPD engine

Fenton FIre Equipment photo

Matt Schumann photo

Tags: Frankfort Fire Protection District, Frankfort FPD, Frankfort FPD Engine 4, Kevin Griffin, KME engine, KME Predator engine, X-Frankfort fire engine for sale

This entry was posted on March 29, 2013, 3:23 PM 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 BAT 10 on March 24, 2014 - 11:47 AM

Bob, I will be more than happy to give you some insight as to why we have 5 stations. About 10 years ago the district decided to plan ahead for the future.The 3 big projects that would effect us were (1)Peotone Airport (2) Phase 3 of 355 that would have run right behind our station 3 with a full interchange @ Rt. 45 & Manhattan/Monee Rd.(3) Dell Web was planning a seinor community in the area of Harlem & Steger Rd,not to mention the 5 subdivisions that I can see from my firehouse.The district has 2 more lots for stations 6 & 7 if needed.The village plan was for both Rt. 45 & Center Rd. south of Steger Rd to become commerical, sort of like Orland South.No one knew that the economy was going to take a dive but the district had the money & made the committment to the residents for better service & protection so station 4 & station 5 were built.
#2 by Crabby Milton on March 24, 2014 - 6:05 AM

Wow so other than that, it’s a wonderful rig? For all those problems, you can’t deny it’s a nice looking apparatus.
#3 by Robert on March 23, 2014 - 1:35 PM

Bob, people want to know what number is what.
#4 by Bob on March 23, 2014 - 8:51 AM

Who cares what engine is what number now, there is a huge waste of money in the local fire district. 5 fire houses in the town of Frankfort itself, sounds a little extreme. Talk about wasteful government spending… Money that we do not have to blow
#5 by Gary on April 1, 2013 - 4:56 PM

Thank you for the reply. I was wondering if it had issues. There appears to be quite a few issues with the KME units of that timeframe.
#6 by Chris Wolf on April 1, 2013 - 11:44 AM

Question as to why we are getting rid of a 2005 engine and keeping a 2002. Well, that should be obvious to most onlookers. Problem prone, poorly speced, poor MFG design and loss of safety. Like a lot of Spartans from the late 80’s and early 90’s, structural cracks at the top of the A-pillar posts, and front cent post is completely cracked through. Front suspension was under rated and could not carry the weight of the enormous cab size. Frontal spring capacity was rated just under 19k, and due to the size and weight of that cab (The first ever produced by KME of this size and style). The front suspension would bottom out onto the bump stops for the first year. After that “KME Solved The Issue”, they came in and cut off the bump stops on the front suspension, unfourtunatley it still bottoms out onto the axle assembly to this day. Build quality could not have been any worse. Most compartments leaked when out in the rain. All the electronics and wiring are in a panel on the ceiling between the Engineer and Officer, and when KME installed the split light bars, they ran the wiring through the roof and straight into this wiring bay. Unfortunately due to the cab roll and suspension problems, this always cracked and warped the caulk in those areas, thus fore letting water down into the electrical center for the rig. There were actually days when water would be running through the roof and through the electrical compartment, then everything from warning lights to the air horn would go off and on, on its own. After the second year of service, almost half the screws holding the wiring compartment up to the ceiling were stripped and zip ties used to hold it up. the wiring was so bad it actually caughter on fire while we were driving it back from a call. Door open alarms were wired through a Class One Multiplexing system. The door ajar switches were cheap pot metal tabs with depression plunger switches mounted on them. Shut the door too hard and next thing you know, everyone is shuffling around to see which door is open and pulling the metal tabs out to try and re-seat the switch plates. Overall design was from trustees Who were fire fighters in 1960’s, enough said. That is just the tip of the iceberg of problems. I Won’t even venture into the anti roll airbag system that KME tried to copy from Pierce. Long story short, it never would have worked properly, and that comment came directly from a rep from the airbag company. I only pray that they do the right thing and just scrap this thing for parts and metal.
#7 by Gary on March 31, 2013 - 9:06 PM

Why are you getting rid of the 2005 and keeping the 2002? It is a sharp looking truck.
#8 by BAT 10 on March 31, 2013 - 1:55 PM

Yes,We are running Eng.2 (2002 KME 1500/500) as Eng.4 The new rig will most likely be the same as Eng.3(2008 ArrowXT 1500/750/30) & Eng.5(2009 ArrowXT1500/500/30) the only difference will be a 2000gpm & 1000gals. it will be due this fall.
#9 by Kevin Griffin on March 31, 2013 - 9:33 AM

Yes it will be another pierce
#10 by Kevin Griffin on March 30, 2013 - 11:10 AM

Im not sure i just got the info this week that they were getting a new engine but that is all i heard. I will ask again
#11 by Rob on March 30, 2013 - 10:50 AM

Is Frankfort getting another Pierce?
#12 by Kevin Griffin on March 30, 2013 - 9:27 AM

they are using engine 2 right now the should be getting a new engine in the summmer
#13 by Michael M on March 30, 2013 - 9:08 AM

What engine is Frankfort now running out of station 4?