We wind up the Q2B to goodness gracious - HQ video

Here ya go.  What a lovely, lovely sound!

Q2B Installed

Well, that was more of a chore than I anticipated.

First off, let me just gripe a bit about the rats nest under the dash.  Surely some of this is leftover from the removal of radios at some point, but... really?  I looked it over when I brought 17 home and was annoyed at the time, but it had been a while and I forgot how annoying it was.  Look at this mess!

So there was a random, small, single-conductor wire sticking out where the Q used to go.  Much too small to be a supply for a Q, so I thought maybe it was for the siren brake.  Verified that there was power to the siren brake button, but wherever it went after the siren brake (disappeared into an anonymous wire bundle), it did not come out at the pedestal.  Starting at zero, then.

Also, there was still a wire to the Q's foot pedal, which also still had power.  And once again, the sending end disappeared into an anonymous bundle never to be found again.

Clipped back both the random wire at the pedestal, and the siren pedal wires, and securely capped off the hot ends until such time in the future the more complete rewiring can be done and those removed.  Unlike the old stewards of E17, who just disconnected random crap and left it to lay there, dead ends and random-access grounding lugs and such.  GAH!

Ran a new 4-gauge wire right from the battery selector switch to a new 150A circuit breaker, then under the cab to a new starter solenoid.  Stole a hot lead from the solenoid's source and ran a 12-guage to the foot pedal then back to the solenoid actuator terminal.

By the way, I found that my cheap hand tool cutters were no match for 4-gauge wire!  Glad that piece didn't put my eye out when it came off!

4-gauge wire - 1  ----  cheap wire cutters - 0

Then there was the siren brake needing attention.  Ran a new 12-gauge line from there to the pedestal before finding that I had a bad section of wire.  Tested for continuity, and it failed.  Wow, was that frustrating, how often do you get manufacturing defects in wire?  What a chore!  Removed the bad section and restrung it.  I am not a fan of butt-end connectors and prefer all-new wires and terminals, and the siren brake was no exception.  While attempting to remove the terminals from the old siren brake, the 43-year-old circuit board lost a chunk.  Thankfully you can still get this exact starter-type switch at NAPA for about $8.  Short delay, but onward.

Original siren brake switch, may it rest in "pieces"

Got it all finished late last night at about 9:30PM.  A little late to play without annoying the neighbors.

So here it is this morning.

Got a sweet video of the beast winding all the way up and waking up the chickens for miles around (sort of obscure C.W. McCall reference there).  Just as soon as we figure out how to get that video off of my son's iPod, we'll post it here.

Engine 17 has a SIREN, baby!

Parade Report

When we left off, I was trying to install the Whelen Commander strobe light and found things not exactly in a plug-and-play configuration.

The very next day the job was completed, with help from my very-helpful six year old. Seriously, this is no joke. He was a huge help, holding hardware in the right place for me on the roof while I fiddled with bolts and ratchets down in the cab. Plus, his random stories about unrelated topics diverted my attention from irritating but uninteresting problems that cropped up here and there.

Here he is on the cab roof, making sure we know where the new base is installed. You can see the dirty ring in front of the new base that shows where the previous light was installed, forward of the original beacon placement when 17 was new.


A couple of days later, 17 was patiently hanging out at my fire department's Station 1, out of the way, waiting for parade day. May I take you for a trip down Memory Lane, regarding the First Krang? On the day of the Krang, 17 was parked on this side of the building like this, but pulled all the way up by the yellow bollard guarding the corner of the building. Yes, that's the one I clipped. Embarrassing. Not at all a coincidence that she was parked so far back this time, either.


Finally, parade day! 17's role in this parade, besides being a, well.... a fire engine in a parade.... was to be the entry accompanying the New Blue Parrot drama troupe as they promoted their upcoming show Thoroughly Modern Millie. If you bother to ask if I play a Chinese laborer in this show, whose lines are pretty much all in genuine Chinese, I may or may not comment.

Unsurprisingly, there were other apparatus in the show. I was impressed with the work done to this old pumper by the Shriners, as can be evidenced by the weathered photograph on display showing how it looked when they started on it. It isn't at all faithful as a true restoration, but I can respect the amount of effort.



Another lime-yellow pumper was in the show, one I had not known about from this area. The driver, however, was merely a hired hand with no special interest, and the rig itself was borrowed or rented from its owner to ferry a political candidate.


I tried to make small talk and ask about their rig, sort of expecting some of the same in return, but they were totally disinterested. To them, the pumper may as well have been a rented Corvette of no special significance. Thankfully, though we started out parked side-by-side, we were far apart in the procession.

Here we are perhaps twenty minutes before the start, still setting up banners and other attachments for the run.


About to get underway. I don't remember what I was irritated about, but it probably had something to do with telling people to sit down for the umpteenth time. Whatever, it didn't last. Irritation doesn't last long when you get to drive your own fire engine in a parade.


And thanks for suffering this long post to see a picture of 17 in the parade, Millie cast members strolling along in front. It was a great day.


The one thing sorely missed? That missing Federal Q2B.... just gotta get my hands on one.

First Parade Detail Coming Up

Ready or not, the date is coming up fast.

The rotating roof light on 17 usually does not rotate, and it would be rather embarrassing for that to happen in a parade. Therefore, I decided to not wait to put the "new" strobe light up before the rig is painted, because who knows how long we'll wait for that.

I removed a bunch of screws from the aluminum strips that hold the interior roof panels in place, and removed the center panel, exposing the nuts that held the roof light in place. Removing it was not much of a chore at all.

It was not until I brought the original equipment Whelen strobe out that I realized that this was not going to be so simple. In the picture below, with the dome removed, you can see the Fresnel lens strobe unit resting on the base. The lens and strobe components underneath are held down by the clamp ring, along with the dome, when installed, but as shown below they just lift right off of the base. So for installation, all you have to do is secure the base, and then you tie everything down to that. Simple.



It was not until I had exposed the underside of the old light's installation that I realized it was mounted in a different location than the strobe had been. Reviewing old photos of sister rigs, along with considering the evidence of old holes visible from under the roof, I confirmed that the original strobe was mounted roughly in the front/back center of the cab roof. The newer light had been placed closer to the front.

OK, no problem. A little sealer, some new holes, we're good.

Then I looked at the Whelen base. It has three tabs spot-welded to the inside, about halfway up (not along the bottom edge). And there were only two holes in the original installation.

Fabricating something to make this work, or simply using long bolts, will not be a problem. But the two holes on the roof and three inside the base are not plug and play compatible, so I couldn't finish the job with equipment on hand. Probably will just go with three long bolts.

Here's a picture before the old "new" light was removed, and a picture of where the new "old" light will go that I snapped after realizing I couldn't get the job done that day. Until I cobble something together, poor Engine 17 is feeling a little naked without a roof warning light at the moment.



It isn't much, but some work is getting done at last.

17 Gets a Visitor

I am having a heck of a time finding the time to get work done on 17, as the best days of the season slip by with so many other things going on. Hence, the sparse updates, precisely when I hoped to have the most going on.

Disappointingly, of the four or five SPAAMFAA and collector's auto meet events coming up this summer in the area that I would have liked to have attended with 17, every single one is scheduled on a day that I am scheduled to work. What a serious drag! I haven't ruled out arranging the time off, but vacation time is precious, you know. Still, drats!

I still take 17 out every few weeks, though. And she received a visitor a few days ago when Engine 3 made a courtesy call up here to Station 6.

It's an art project, but 17 played a bit part

This is only barely related to 17, but it seems like forever since I've posted, and I have no updates on work or the project at the moment. Hopefully this will tide you over until more news comes along.

My daughter is a fantastic artist, improving by leaps and bounds every time she takes something new on.

So, do you remember this picture from the February post "Living the Dream"?

Well, the daughter took this picture to school and managed to create the following fantastic bit of work:
Having kids is so cool. So, so cool. They're amazing.

Maybe if you manage to catch a ride in 17, she'll sketch you too.

Pictures, a Phone Call, and Getting Over It

We're actually going to do those in reverse.

After re-reading the last post, seeing once again the oft-repeated apologies aimed to the Tacoma guys of days past for being essentially crazy back in the day near the end of it, I felt like those comments derailed the post. It's over. I'm just not going to do that any more. It was over twenty years ago. I was an idiot, I was lucky, some of the guys helped me, I'm way past it, and am now a veteran firefighter who has by now paid it all back. No more apologizing about it.

OK, then.

Last night I got an email from the current owner of one of 17's identical sisters in Florida. You can see a picture of that pumper in her new life here. It seems they might be willing to assist me in the work by sending along photos of their pumper, which theoretically has not been modified or abused as much as 17, so I can set things right and obtain proper matching equipment to replace missing things. That was Good News.

But that was just a precursor to today's out-of-the-blue phone call from the Tacoma Fire Department. Apparently.... apparently.... they may still have one of the other identical sisters in storage somewhere after all. The person I talked to thought TFD's was at the old Station 12, but I was at old 12's about a month ago on my own for this very purpose, and saw no apparatus in the building (though the old Truck 3, a 1980's Mack CF, is sadly rotting away in the weather out back). Still, the figurative door is open a crack that there may still be one of 17's sisters around, and now I know for sure that someone is checking into that for me and will help me arrange access to it -- if the rumor proves true. This may end up being Great News. We shall see. Fingers crossed.

Finally, another batch of pictures. The thumbnails are small because there are so many. Click on any of them for a big version.


I forgot to grab a picture of these before, but for some reason all of the tailboard clearance lights were removed except the corners. All three off the center, and both of the side lights. Did these disappear when the upper lights went away and someone put those amber ones on? Weird. Guess I'm looking for five proper-vintage red clearance lights now.

I was about to back her up from being out today, and asked my wife to spot me since the kids were around. Then I remembered all of a sudden the back-up horn buttons in the back. Before OSHA and whoever else declared the end of tailboard riding - even for backing into quarters - these pumpers had small horn buttons on the back for a riding spotter to signal the driver. How well I remember as a kid, Engine 8 would pull up, the officer would get out and go into the station, while the jumpseat guy would go back and jump onto the tailboard. the engine would pull forward across the road into position, the tailboard guy would give three honks to signal OK to back up, and the driver would acknowledge with three quick chirps of the air horn. When backed in, the tailboard guy would honk once for stop. If the tailboard guy needed you to go forward again, it was two honks, but that was rare.

Anyway, the memory suddenly splashed into my awareness and I went to check for them. Unsurprisingly, the buttons are gone. The picture above shows the hole on one of the sides in back where they used to be.

Here's the little speaker that the current parade siren is hooked up to. You can see that it is positioned effectively to freak out the guy in the jumpseat.

Another loose wire that went somewhere for something.

I thought one of the airhorns wasn't working, and checked the air lines, but they seem all intact. So I had one of my sons test the horns while I stood on the front bumper. To my chagrin, after reporting one of the horns disconnected, I have to report my error: They both work. But they are still out of tune and sound like delivery truck horns.

Another shot of the air line under the cab roof in back. This puzzled me. The air line is tapped here, but the tap is capped off now and goes nowhere. I cannot for the life of me figure out where a third line from the air horns would have gone, or why. To be clear, this is after the valve, so the capped tap shown would only get air while the horns were being blown. Anyone???

I have no idea what this access panel is for, there does not appear to be anything useful that can be seen or manipulated through here. But you get another view of the dashboard, including a better shot of the dash-top gauge with the broken housing.

I have no idea what this is for, either. It involves moving air for something. Another cooling air intake? It seems like every time I poke around on 17 I find something else I don't know about. This is a symptom of being a long time firefighter, too. After five years on the job, many think they know it all, but some of us spend every year realizing how much we still don't know, and it the more you learn the more you again realize you don't know. Seventeen years of this now for me....it's kind of scary and sobering, actually.

And my parting shot, fueling at the local country store up the road from my place. Always creates a minor stir there when I bring 17 over for fuel. The owner is a firefighter himself for a neighboring district, so we always seem to chat about the latest goings on.

Thanks for coming along on the ride. What else will we realize that we don't know before the day is over?

Pictures of the work to come

Had 17 out for some pictures today, as requested by the new insurance carrier. Here's all four sides. I made these thumbnails, and all those to follow, small, because this post has a lot of pictures. Click any of them for a larger version.

As long as I had her out, I did a walk around to once again get my head around the work to be done.

Mechanically, these are the issues I know of that one can't easily take pictures of:

• There is a minor but audible air leak while the brake pedal is pressed. - had this one explained in the comments.
  
• Major crack in plumbing from tank to pump, tank cannot carry water.
• Pump will not engage, prior owner indicated a (minor?) actuator problem.
• Engine surges up and down for about 15 seconds after a cold start. - also had this one explained in the comments.
• Primary air system leaks, takes about two minutes to build pressure to release the brakes.
• One of the air horns is not operating, the other is not tuned correctly. - turns out both work, but both are out of tune.
• Left windshield wiper operates only one direction. If you put it back and turn it on again, you get one swipe.
• The compression/retard brake pedal has no effect, and does not act to slow the pumper.
  
• Rotating red light on the roof sometimes stalls and will not rotate. Being replaced anyway, so no big deal.
• Officer's side spotlight power is tied to the same source as the high beam wig-wag flasher. Wig wags off = no officer's spotlight.

And then here are the visual items requiring attention of various priorities:

Capped outlet for Stang water cannon visible over the crow's nest. Just under that, a capped outlet into the hose bed, and right there in the forefront, a capped outlet at the rear step. The left side rear outlet is still in service, though.

Not sure why someone put amber DOT clearance lights back here, as they should be red. The directional alternating flashers used to be here, but Tacoma removed them and installed newer style 360 strobe lights (amber on the right, red on the left) around 1985 or so. The flat bracket just above the clearance light is a TFD custom job, installed to hold those new strobes. Unsurprisingly, the strobes are now also gone, skyped by a previous owner to use somewhere else.

Argh. Tire chain damage. This body/paint area is the worst of the entire pumper.

Rust on the tow hooks. Not hard to fix. There's incidental rust elsewhere, of course.

The Krang. A nice ALF Owners Network member sent me a clearance light to replace the one I sheared off. From the sounds of things that I've heard while figuring out how to fix this, it probably won't be too hard to handle. Also obvious here is the scratches and rust on the fender kick plate, and the naked pedestal waiting for a Federal Q2B to once again be installed.

A pathetic amount of booster hose, and an equally pathetic booster hose nozzle. The more I am around 17, the more I think she must have been relegated to mostly grass fire duty before her final retirement.

Hose bed needs a new oak tray. I forgot again to test to see if the electric hose reel rewind is operative.

Dashboard is a bit rusty, along with gunk from previous sundry things glued/taped to the dash, and the defrost air vent directional vane insert is missing from the officer's side.

Other side of the dash. Ladder rack down indicator light is missing. More rust. And one of the dash-mount gauges has a broken housing (but still functions).

Fuel gauge occasionally opts to tell me there is fuel, but usually doesn't. At best, with a full tank, it once told me I had a quarter tank.

I don't know what used to be in this blank hole. The little black box on the lower left is a momentary siren controller, connected to a wimpy electronic speaker mounted behind the left jumpseat. My guess is that it was intended to be used for parade sound effects. It makes four authentic sounds depending on the button pushed, but you have to hold the button down to keep it going. It's main use now is startling the yeebers out of a passenger in the left jumpseat. It will go away at whatever point I obtain and reinstall that Q2B.

I don't need to describe what here is non-stock. Several of these toggle switches now go nowhere or do nothing. The console light in top center comes on when it feels like it.

AO's spotlight does not work at all, and would be hard (impossible) to fully manipulate with that major piece of the controller handle missing.

This is not a maintenance issue, but a neat tie to 17's Tacoma past that I only noticed for the first time today. This is (or rather, was) the phone number to the Poison Information line at the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma. The age of this label is given away in that the first two digits are letters instead of numbers (BR2-1281 = 272-1281). This label is affixed to the inside center of the cab roof.

Hah! The hydraulic ladder rack works perfectly. Just need some ladders so it doesn't look naked.

All rear tail light, back-up light, and brake light lenses are cracked like this, though thankfully all are still intact with no gaping holes.

Missing a few widgets here on the pump panel.

So...... that's what I'm up against. It's so, so worth it, though.

Thanks for coming along on the ride. Don't forget to read the previous post below, still seeking your thoughts and opinions on the painting project.