Township Fire Truck

[AMTAK]

I am working on a brush truck for the local fire dept. Things on the to do list.
The brakes are a little soft.
Something killing the batt. (might go all 12v)
They like the air steering idea.
Anyone know alot about the radios. They have three in there. I looked under the dash, what a mess.

 

[Crazyguypa]

That's a sweet looking brush truck

 

[Recovry4x4]

Wonder where they are drawing the 12V from?

 

[clinto]

Wow, I am astonished they bought new data plates. It looks good!

Kenny, I think you are on the right track..............

 

[Recovry4x4]

Clinto knows exactly what I'm thinking.

 

[steelandcanvas]

That's a sweet looking brush truck

 

[rockman]

Steve, this is Bill who bought a M35 about 8 years ago. I helped Jefferson Hills get a M35 for their brush truck. If you get a chance, stop by the station on 885 and look at it. They added most of that stuff.

 

[Armada]

Man that looks nice. Red is my second favorite color for a 6x6. I like the storage box in place of the spare tire too.

 

[dispatcher1011]

Post up a pic of the radio heads. I may be able to help you.

 

[Lorax]

Is that an electric winch mounted behind the front bumper?

Makes me want to go buy 30 cans of red spray paint...

 

[No.2Diesel]

Thats not a brush truck. This is a brush truck.

 

[texas-5-ton]

Nice looking truck. Do you have a master cut-off switch for all of your 12 volt stuff?? We put one on ours for the 12 volt and another for the 24. Two master switches will completely kill the truck.

 

[Rattlehead]

Thats not a brush truck. This is a brush truck.

Wow!! Mad Max brush truck!

 

[CloverFireCo]

What I did with ours, and seems to be working so far.

There is 4 batteries on our M813.

I pulled 12 volts from the first battery for all the 12 volt stuff except the radio, I ran this up into the cab to a 24V solenoid, powered the solenoid off the master switch. When you turn on the master it energizes the solenoid and fires up the 12 volt stuff. Right next to the solenoid I put the 12 volt fuse block and ran all the wires from there to the accessories.

The 12 volt for the radio is pulled off the other set of batteries, trying to even out the load a little, this wire is always hot and has a signal wire from the solenoid to turn the radio head on.

No issues so far with frying batteries, or 12 volt equipment. I did originally have a problem with the radio, would transmit fine when the truck wasn't running but would not transmit a readable signal when the truck was running. I just changed out the generator and that problem seems to have gone away.

Chris K
Clover Fire Co.
Heckscherville

Added note: I seen where you stated about going all 12 volt, If you convert the whole truck you have to watch the load vs. wire size, 12 volt will pull twice as much amps to do the same job, your existing wiring may not be heavy enough to handle that.

 

[country]

those trucks look alot like the one we have in our yard

ours is for sale

Dave
www.easternsurplus.net

 

[2027Deuce]

Yes Sir that Red is Very Cool!!

 

[nattieleather]

What is the problem with the radios? I might be able to help you.

 

[AMTAK]

I will start looking at it tmr. I looked at the batt setup today and they have several 12v things pulling off each one. I will have to check for a draw on each wire to see which one is killing the batt. They do have a master kill on it. It was funny. I turned on the normal power switch and hit the starter and the radios came on and scared the crap out of me.
They started having problems with the batteries after motarola (did I spell that right) installed the new radio. I don't think they are the problem. But there is a large box under the dash that feeds them all.
I was thinking keep the 24v, put two large batt in it with one under the seat. Make sure nothing is drawing on them when it is sitting and have them keep two small chargers on it when its in the station. I think this would be better than rewiring something someone else did.
I will PM some of you guys with some questions. Thanks.

 

[ptg530C]

Those may be brush trucks but this is a tacticle fire truck. I figure if you want a real fire truck, you should look for one of these instead of cobbling together one out of an old duece. They sort of figured out the best way to package these and no offense but why do you need a fence around your truck? If you want to knock down trees, I suggest using an m113. I have driven mine thru plenty of forests and corn fields and only suffered minor dents and scratches. Since I dont wax this truck, I really dont care about minor damage. I fix it when I give it its yearly paint job.

 

[motorolanut]

Radios

Radios for public safety usually draw around 3 amps on recieve and 30-50 amps on transmit. If you give me the Model # or name I can give you better information on installations or wiring problems....hence my screen name...LOL