Albion RI Ladder Truck Problems

[61MACKBR1 222]

Albion Rhode Island Fire Departments 2002 ALF Eagle Ladder Truck "Shake, Rattle and Roll" issue has forced its Department to look into taking legal action against American LaFrance as it pertains to Ladder 20. The issues, which according to the Cheif of the Albion RI Fire District, has been looked into by officials and engineers of American LaFrance on at least 2 separate times, without relief. Apparently the rig Shakes and Rattles once the apparatus reaches speeds between 25 and 45 MPH. The Fire District is now looking into purchasing a New Pierce Arrow Ladder Truck and Pierce is willing to take the ALF Rig in as a trade in. Go the following Web Site and then click on where it says "Albion Fire Truck Video" to see for yourselfs what their complaint is all about.

http://www.valleybreeze.com/

NOTICE

Albion Fire District

Special Taxpayers Meeting

Monday, January 22, 2007 at 6:00 pm

The meeting will be held in the apparatus bay

Albion Fire Station

38 School Street

Albion Rhode Island

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and vote to replace Ladder 20 as well as a vote to take legal action against the American LaFrance Corporation.

Registered voters in the Town of Lincoln residing in the

District of Albion are invited to attend.

Christine A. Morrissette

District Clerk

District Financial Officer

[IzzyEng4 427]

Can't view it with out subscribing to the online newspaper.

[61MACKBR1 222]

You can still view the Video by clicking on the Link on the Main Page marked Watch the Video, without having to subscribe

[Guest]

You can still view the Video by clicking on the Link on the Main Page marked Watch the Video, without having to subscribe

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After being so priviledged to get to use and drive some American LaFrance Eagle apparatus when I was in New Orleans s part of the FDNY deployment after Katrina...and being able to compare them to some older Pierce Dash aerials...I am not surprised at this. I thought that E-One made the cheapest fire apapratus until I drove a "top of the line" American LaFrance Eagle. E-One now has a direct competitor in that catageory! What a shame it is that these 2 companies have done so much damage to the 2 quality product lines of Saulsbury and LTI aerials.

[RDUNC67 1]

After being so priviledged to get to use and drive some American LaFrance Eagle apparatus when I was in New Orleans s part of the FDNY deployment after Katrina...and being able to compare them to some older Pierce Dash aerials...I am not surprised at this.  I thought that E-One made the cheapest fire apapratus until I drove a "top of the line" American LaFrance Eagle.  E-One now has a direct competitor in that catageory!  What a shame it is that these 2 companies have done so much damage to the 2 quality product lines of Saulsbury and LTI aerials.

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So what you are saying is that both LTI and Saulsbury should have died peacefully instead of being bought out, because i know for a fact that one of them was in the red so far that only a buy out was to save them, how good were they if they could not make money???, do you think ALF is the same quality as the original ALF products??? or the new Ahrens Fox for that matter, it is companies acquiring names trying to hold onto that customer base, change is evident with all of the corporate shuffling... just one opinion on a never ending issue...

[Arrowxt 8]

Sounds like a drivetrain issue. Probably an unbalanced drive shaft. I should read more into it , and wonder if the unit has a pump , and if it does what make and model the pump is. That to me sounds too simple, but with the speed being a factor they have already rebalanced the tires and checked the rims. (I hope) The driveshafts would be the next to check , but can remain a problem if the correct shafts are not used in conjuction with the correct pump. The next area to look into would be the rear.

Other than not driving it that would be my angle of approach, but I also question the axle weights and overall truck length and wheelbase. Too light a rear and trying to compensate with a heavy front will give you "rock and roll" .

Like I said , I have not looked into it any further than the original post.

Has anyone tried to seperate road speed and RPM of the drivetrain?

Arrow

[Arrowxt 8]

Just saw the video.

The truck is short, high and is fighting itself. I would love to see a spec on the unit , but watching the video( and the clarity is not that great) I have to go back to the part of my post that stated the axles are too light in the rear and they tried to compensate with a heavy front axle.

The rears are throwing the weight to the front axle and the front is throwing it back to the rears.

Arrow

[IzzyEng4 427]

I saw the video and man that is a major problem. It looks like a combination of a chassis and suspension problem. Going down the road, that chassis looks like its bending, I wonder if it could be torque issues with the transmission. Definately need to see all the specs on this one so Albion didn't over look something hopefully and I really think they got hosed. When we went to bid on our truck we looked at ALF since we had a 1981 Century, which. It was a really good and reliable truck for us. We had nothing bu problems with the dealer (who will remain nameless) with them giving us specs totally wrong or not what we want and we had to chase them where they should have been chasing us. Their attitude was we have an ALF so were gonna get another, NOPE!

Hopefully Albion will get this issue resolve, no manufacturer should let a truck acting like that out of their shops!