Rustyrelic, You may have the silver bullet with the historic plate suggestion. We will have to investigate if that takes out the GVW concern here in Washington. I really don't see myself jumping through the CDL hoops and after driving this truck for 20 miles, it seems like a rediculous requirement. With the automatic transmission and power steering this C900 is easier to steer and stop than my bone stock 1966 F100. My 5 foot tall wife even took a turn behind the wheel.
Redcat, You obviously know fire fighting equipment. Any info you can throw our way is appreciated. There was an offer of technical help from the seller at the auction. He claimed this truck was just "certified" before it was removed from service. It would be blast to suck up a load of water! Around here, I'm sure I would probably need an enviromental impact statement first though! It's been a fun day and I'm going to have a lot of questions. I appreciate all of the information I've picked up on this thread. A thanks to my son who has been a big part of making this all work today. Good to know there is another generation that loves machinery, the smell of fossil fuels, chrome and a little rust.

 

Oldblu, I was a volunteer for over a decade before circumstances forced me to quit. I'm a truck mechanic by trade with a better than average interest in fire equipment.

On that pic of the pump panel, on the left side, about half way down, there appears to be a rating plate. The plate should have the pump manufacturer's name and pump model on it. If you can post this info I can likely supply more info. The valve handles appear to be Hale units but other manufacturers used similar styles.

You might want to try tracing the rig back to the municipality it served. Service records on old rigs are usually pretty extensive and contain a lot of good info. You might even get lucky enough to talk with a mechanic who serviced it.

Unless the regs have changed the certifying process involves the truck pumping water at rated capacity for a set amount of time. If my memory is correct it takes a couple of hours.

 

Nice Truck!
Looks like it has a decent set of Radials on it, on good, welded 20" wheels, that's a big plus when buying this old gear!

Greg

 

Wow, that thing is SHARP!

Air or electric wipers?

 

Redcat, I wish I had your knowledge on this rig. I will pull the pump specs and post as soon as I get some honeydos out of the way (graduation weekend) At the auction there was a man from the fire district that offered all of the records and information they had on the truck. I will follow up on that. I do know it was passed around to several different departments within the county.
Grm61, I am completely ignorant on large trucks. You mention welded wheels. What was the option? I think the FD swapped the front wheels/ tires before it was sold. I can't imagine those unpainted wheels have been on there all these years. The tires look pretty good at a quick glance. I need to take a real close look before I drive it too much.
Krewat, the wipers are the only yhing I have fixed so far. They didn't work and in this part of the country, wipers are very important! I was afraid that they might be vacuum, but I found a missing fuse that got them working. They are 2 speed. I wonder if the electric wipers have been converted. The fuse holder sure looks aftermarket. I have replaced several missing inline fuses. I think someone pulled everything they could find in attempt to disable the gumball light and siren. The only lights I can't get to work are the 2 red lights on standards at the back of the truck.

 

Since it has air-brakes, it probably used an air-pressure wiper motor. However, in that year C-series, they used these funky looking APM-style wiper motors that look like a vacuum wiper motor on steroids. Not physically bigger, but used heavy-duty castings with bigger screws to hold it together. I know a guy who rebuilds vacuum wiper motors (wiperman) and he called them the "nuclear reactor" style.

I supposed someone updated it to electric ones, either that or Ford had electric ones for trucks without air-brakes.

Usually, when a truck has air-brakes, they use air-pressure driven wiper motors, like the Trico-Folberth motors which are cylindrical in shape. If air-brakes weren't installed, they either used vacuum or electric.

Either way, you're all set, so ... again, that's a SHARP looking truck

 

oldblu, I can see the front tires must have been swapped. Also I can see they are Firestones and with what I can see of the tread I'd guess to say they are FD663's. Size is prolly 9.00-20 or 10.00-20 . Those are ball seat, steel disc wheels. Often refered to as " Budd wheels " these have been around since at least the late 1920's. The heavy truck industry like other vocations is full of slang terminology. I've never heard Greg's (grm61) reference to welded wheels before but I'm certain it's common. A couple things that may interest you here. These wheels use a lock ring as part of their assembly and are made for use with tube type tires. If you have tire problems take them to a tire shop that has folks trained to handle them. Any tire has the potential to hurt someone but multi piece wheels greatly enhance the danger.

 

Here are some of the info plaques on this truck:
Pump

On door

Door jamb

I outlined and sharpened the text on some of these because the numbers didn't show up very well. I still have the high-res ones if something is unclear

 

PsychoVolvo, thanks for the additional pics. Now the first pics are starting to make sense in relation to the 1500 gpm rating you were told it has. In the first pics I couldn't find enough discharge valves to get 1500 gpm. The rating plate says 1000 gpm. Each 2+1/2" discharge must be capable of at least 250 gpm to meet standards. The flow at the valve is always higher than the 250 gpm to account for friction losses ( friction created by water rubbing on the inside ) thru hose and appliances ( fittings, nozzles, ect.) On the pump panels the large connections are the pump intakes or suctions. These are still referred to as " steamers" in some areas. Any hose connection below the center line of these is an intake or suction, any hose connection above them is a discharge. Now for some more questions. Look at the plates around the handles and see if you can find words like " crosslay" , " mattydale" or " preconnect". Also you might look to see if it has a discharge pointing straight up or nearly so. I can see one in the pic of the pump operater's ( correctly called engineer ) panel. This is for a crosslay but what I'm thinking might be there is a 2+1/2" discharge above the pump roughly in the middle of the truck.

 

Is there any way to tell what engine is in this beast from the info my son posted? There is a sticker on the valve cover lists a "family" of engines with 3 or 4 sizes.
I've never been around air brakes. Someone told me the system needs to have condensation drained from it. I looked around under the truck, but there seems to 3 or 4 valves that look like condensation drains. A couple of them seemed stuck. The ones I could get open let out a trickle, but there didn't seem to be air behind it. I'm thinking it should be a similar effect as when I drain my shop's air compressors.
Krewat, I'm back to the office tomorrow and I'm going to try and contact the fire dept. and see what kind of info they'll release. I'd love a manual for the truck and a manual on the pump aparatus. I have a lot of questions about switches and ***** like the one labeled "fresnal lights" I can't find anything that operates with that switch. Also, there is a fairly large red light on the far left of the dash that is labeled "compartment light" it is on all the time the truck is in operation.
While I'm asking questions, the automatic transmission seems to shift best if you drive with a heavy foot on the throttle. It seems very slow to upshift if you drive it lightly. Does that seem normal?
Redcat, thanks for the pump info. I'm hoping to get a few of the loose wires, switches and ***** sorted out. I'd never attempt any tire service on this truck. I recognize the budd rims as similar to light truck split rims. I've spent my entire adult life in the automotive repair business. ASE certified master for over 20 years and a shop owner for 15 years. This heavy truck business is very different. I don't have a jack big enough to lift this beast and I probably don't have an impact socket big enough for the lug nuts!
I have a shop building on my property at home I use for tinkering and storage. I've measured it up and I think I can fit the truck in with a little working room to spare. This project has taken on a life of it's own. I really appreciate the info you have all shared.

 

In reference to the welded wheels....If you look at one of the outside duals..You can see where the center disk is welded to the wheel...The older wheels were riveted there. The welded wheels are much stronger.

That is a good set of wheels, they are a 2 piece lock ring design, consisting of the outer flange, and then the lockring...the lockring has a taper that goes down between the flange ring and the bead of the tire.

When things are centered and seated correctly that outer flange ring comes up over the taper and actually holds the lockring into the wheel.

Nothing wrong with them, Just make sure that someone with proper training works on them.

Greg

 

You drains will be on the air tanks, under the truck, they should have a petcock on each tank...And you are correct, its just like draining the tank on your shop air compressor.

You are going to need to learn about your brakes...

That truck more than likely has manual slack adjusters, unless someone has changed them to autos at some point.

Brake adjustment is important on these trucks.and needs to be checked regularly.

If you roll under the truck you will see and air can at each wheel.
The rod that comes out of the aircan has a clevis on it, the thing that the clevis hooks to is your slack adjuster... that's where you adjust the brake.

If the nut on the slack adjuster has a collar that is up over the nut they are manual slack adjusters. These take a 9/16 wrench you have to push the collar down to turn the nut.

If the nut has no collar and is exposed they are autos.

Brake adjustment is quick and easy, and important.

Without going through all the book mumbo jumbo...

CHOCK THE WHEELS

Make sure the truck has at least 90psi of air.

RELEASE THE PARKING BRAKE

Before adjusting the brake, push the rod that comes out of the aircan, with your hand, towards the aircan,...brakes that are way out of adjustment will somtimes not return all the way, and appear to be in adjustment .

Turn the nut while watching the brake shoes to make sure you are going the right way.

You want to tighten the brake shoes all the way against the drum untill you can't turn the nut anymore..

Now back the adjusting nut off 1/4 to 1/2 turn, make sure the collar pops back out over the nut.

Shoes need to have at least 1/4 inch of lining to be legal.

These thing need grease to live...

Steering, spring bushings, U joints, S cams, slack adjusters, clutch linkage, clutch arm pivot in the belhousing, throwout bearing, check your front hub oils.

Stop into the DOL and pickup the Commercial Drives Guide,(free) read the Pre-trip section. And the airbrake section.

Those are things you should look for before driving your truck..To much for me to type...


Greg

 

Greg, Thank you for your very valuable advice. I will pick up that driver's guide and get more familiar with the braking system. I appreciate you taking the time to type this all out for me. I can appreciate your typing problem. I have come into the computer age kicking and screaming. I did not prepare myself for a life in front of a computer screen.

 

i would just put farm truck not for hire on it.

thats what i do, i could get a cdl and i probally should......but i gross 160k at the grain bins all day when im combining corn and beans, farm truck not for hire.....the commercial state trooper that lives down the road told me farmers dont have to have cdl's.

idk if you could get away with that in washington tho

 

Oldblu, on the engine, I don't have vin break down info for heavy Fords but I'd suspect it's one of the Super Duty V8's. They are 401, 477 and 534. Since it was sold to a Fire Department my guess would be it's a 534. On old gas engines Ford often put a metal tag under the bolt that holds the ignition coil. If the tag is still there it will have the displacement stamped into it.

The trans shifting sounds normal. How many speeds does it have?

The compartment light is to let the chauffeur ( proper name for a fire apparatus driver ) know that one of the compartment doors is open. Open doors can result in lost equipment and do terrible things to parked cars. The switches take a beating and are frequent repair item.

On the wheels, I hope I didn't come across as insulting as it certainly wasn't my intent.

Grm61, thanks for explaining the welded term. I too have seen both styles. Also nice job on the brake adjustment proceedure.